Howdy, and welcome to another episode of
the almost world-famous Cactus Atlas!
Today, I'm on the road, journeying through
remote regions of Arizona. Southeast
Arizona to be specific, in search of the
grave, the final resting place, of Johnny
Ringo. So if you'd like to join me and
see what this is all about, stick around
and let's go find out together!
[Music]
There is some beautiful country out here.
A lot of just very dry, shrubby grassland
down here. This grave site is something
that I've wanted to see for years. I live
in Arizona in the region around
Phoenix, but this is way out there. So I
started my journey this morning at
Chiricahua, where I camped the last
couple nights. And that's where I'm
heading now... I'm heading down route 181
south. Ok, I came to an intersection where
181 very abruptly turns right and
there's a sign for Turkey Creek Road,
which I believe is the road we want to
take. And once you turn on Turkey Creek
Road this is what you're going to be
dealing with for a few miles heading off
that way towards those mountains where
you will find the final resting place of
Johnny Ringo.
So far you're driving down this road... I'm
in a very small Volkswagen Golf, my
wife's car, and I'm having no problem
with this road. It's pretty smooth so, so
far so good.
But, do know your car is gonna get
filthy, especially a smaller car like
this. It's covered in dust. Alright, I
found it! I can't believe it! I did it!
I drove miles down this road coming from
this direction. This is Turkey Creek road.
You're gonna pass a private road called
Sunglow Road, right down there. You're
gonna do a hard bank right, then left
and come around this corner and here you can
see there's a pull-off,
where you park your car. And it's hard to
believe that right beyond this gate and
through a short trail down to a creek
we're gonna see the gravesite of Johnny
Ringo... the final resting place of a famed
outlaw from the Old West. Now this is
private property but the owners of this
property are gracious enough to allow
folks to come in here so long as you
behave. "Ringo's Grave Site". Alright, so here
we go! I'm going to enter now. How does
this work? Oh, duh! And we just take this
path down here. Looks like the path has
been well-worn over time. And we're
coming up to a sign that has some rules
that we want to abide by. So they do have
hours here. 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is private
property.
There is no maintained trail... obvious
things. So kind of walking back here a
little bridge. Some old farm equipment.
It's very quiet back here.
There's a house over there I wonder if
that's the owners of the property? If it
is and you see this video thank you for
allowing us to come visit this! And
already I can see right off in the
distance, you could see the gravesite.
Let's go take a look!
This is really cool actually I am really
excited to see this! And the journey was
part of the adventure too, getting down
here, so makes it all worthwhile. And here
we are
coming up on the final resting place of
an Old West legend: Johnny Ringo. What a
beautiful place I guess, to meet your end.
I see deer! You see those mule deer out
there? In that meadow out beyond? What a
beautiful scene! There's a plaque here,
a historic site plaque. It gives you some
information about Johnny Ringo. So what
that plaque basically says over here is
what the historical record says. That
Johnny Ringo was found dead at the base
of a nearby oak tree. Not sure if it's
one of these trees or one of the fallen
trees, with a bullet hole in his temple.
His horse was found miles away and they
ruled it a suicide. So if anybody sees
this video and they know the answer... is
this the tree? Maybe this fallen tree?
Maybe this tree? Is this where he took
his life and his body was found? Now the
interesting thing is it seems looking at
other videos and reading a lot of stuff
on YouTube, people aren't satisfied
with the suicide explanation.
They think that he was shot. There's lots
of different theories. I've heard
anything from Doc Holliday. It's
portrayed that way in certain films, to
other folks. Being that he was an outlaw
and killed other men and apparently
had a bad temper, I could see, you know,
other possibilities.
But the suicide possibility also seems
very likely to me. Apparently he was
drunk out of his mind around the time.
He was seen by others around
the time when he committed suicide, drunk
out here. Maybe his horse got away from
him, and he's depressed and just decided
that's it. I'm done! In a drunken stupor.
You never know that does seem pretty
likely to me also. Although maybe it's
not as romantic of an end as people
would like to have. So of course when his
body was discovered as the sign over
here states, they pretty much just buried
his body where they found it. Right here in
front of us. Yeah, this is really amazing.
I wasn't expecting such a peaceful scene
actually, there in the background.
It's just so beautifully quiet out here.
We're just so far out away from
civilization. Not too many sounds
other than the sound of birds and the
trees, the occasional insect flying by...
yeah, this is a very serene place.
We'll come take a quick peek down here,
Down by the creek. There's a little trail
here. I don't want to go too far. I don't
want to outstay my welcome here, but this
is just too beautiful to pass up.
So quiet!
I have a long drive back to
Phoenix and I want to spend a few
minutes here just quiet, without filming
to enjoy the scene and the serenity, but
before I do, I want to give you a few
final thoughts about what I thought
about my visit here today at the
gravesite of Johnny Ringo. I'm a big fan
of the Old West.
The legends, the history... so this really
fills and checks off a box off of my
list of things to do and see when it
comes to that stuff. So if you're out in
this region... maybe you're visiting
Chiricahua National Monument, for example.
This is about a half an hour south of
there.
You could probably plan an itinerary and
fit this in if you do it right, and
you're probably not gonna spend too much
time here anyway. And they don't want you
to loiter around anyway so that works
out. I'm very, very pleased that I did
this. I feel like I finally can mark
something off my list that I've wanted
to do for a very long time, and it was
very well worth it to me, and maybe one
day I'll come back. If you're new here
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Cactus Atlas. Well, I'm gonna go pay my
respects to Mr. Ringo and then hit the
road. I hope this video is helpful to you
and that you enjoyed it and we'll see
you on a new adventure really soon and
until then take it easy!
[Sound of birds chirping]
[Music]