STORY:
Unusual New Year's Eve in Taos

Drumming, psychic readings, séances are being offered in a state know for mysticism

If huge firework shows, loud bands and the threat of urban chaos from the computer Y2K bug have you questioning your New Year's Eve plans, think about Taos New Mexico. The state known for its mysticism is offering some unusual New Year's Eve activities.

At the Taos Inn, partygoers can spend 15 minutes for $15 with one of four local psychics. At the end of the night, psychics reportedly plan to evoke the spirits of the inn's resident ghosts - one of whom is well-known to hotel workers as Arthur Manby, whose decapitated body was rumored to have been found in the hotel in the early 1900s.

For those who want assurances that the phones won't go out and the power will stay on, there is the Dobson House in Taos. It's advertising that guests "can confidently continue to party after the big clock strikes midnight," assuring guests it has a well and solar-powered heating and electricity.

The All One Tribe Foundation in Taos plans to promote world peace by drumming in the millennium. The tribe is organizing people from around the world to drum simultaneously and sing "As We Drum, We Are One".

For those who want to work up a sweat to celebrate a new millennium, Taos is also planning an unusual triathlon with biking, skiing and rock climbing.

In nearby Santa Fe, more than 200 people will ride the rails in a four-hour train ride in one of Santa Fe Southern Railway's lounge cars that date as far back as 1936. For about $200 per person, passengers will feast on a four-course meal and will be entertained by Banded Geckos, an upbeat folk band, as they ride to and from Lamy, 18 miles southeast of Santa Fe.

A spokeswoman for the railway reportedly says passengers can ring in the New Year in the open air by stepping out onto a flat car.

DATE: 8/19/99

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