It's another episode of the almost world-famous Cactus Atlas. On today's
episode we're in Tombstone Arizona, here
to visit the very famous Boothill Cemetery, which is actually located
right over there, beyond that fence. If you're
interested in seeing what it's like,
join us on this adventure and let's go
check it out.
So right behind this fence
is this very famous cemetery.
You can actually see some of the headstones
right beyond. Just so you know, currently
as of filming this, the fee is three
dollars for each person. So a very
reasonable fee to come see a piece of
history. Right as you enter you are
greeted by many graves. When you pay
your initial fee you will be given a
very informational pamphlet that tells
you about the graves here. Or some of the
graves anyway. Boothill Cemetery started
accepting patrons, I guess you could say,
in 1878. The cemetery is configured in
rows. Over here... this is row eleven I
believe, here in front of me, or the one behind.
So Row 1 is actually over on that side
down there. Boothill Cemetery. Not the
original name of the cemetery, but it did
get its name because back in the lawless
times of the Old West men died so
quickly, with their boots on, hence where
the name Boot Hill Cemetery came from.
Over the years the cemetery did fall into
neglect and nature, the surrounding
desert, did come back and claim much of
the cemetery but over the years many
folks interested in history
have restored the cemetery to what you
see today. Now when you enter the
cemetery you'll notice that a lot of the
headstones just simply say "unknown", just
because time and neglect made it that
way. So we looked up some information
from the Tombstone Chamber of Commerce.
Are all these headstones, these wooden
headstones, original headstones? It turns
out that they are not because the
cemetery was in such neglect that over
time they just naturally were not
readable anymore and deteriorated to a
bad state. It sounds like a lot of them
were replaced in the year 1950 and a
gentleman originally made steel versions
of these headstones but steel and the
Arizona monsoons and lightening didn't
mix so apparently there were one too
many lightning strikes that tore this
place up. Another interesting thing is
a lot of these graves are not the exact
spots that the folks are buried because
they had to kind of recreate a lot of
this. Although they do believe that they
may be just a couple feet off.
You only moved the headstones! Why? Why?
This guy was shot by Johnny Ringo over a
dispute over a woman I believe. Here's
another interesting one where you'll see
a lot of people, a lot of men died here
by being shot or hung. This is one
of those: "Johnny Wilson shot by King".
Guadalupe Robles. According to the
pamphlet, another man shot for harboring
robbers. One of them being his brother.
We're starting to see a pattern here
another person shot dead. Jack King. And
here's another one shot, 1878. This guy
was shot. He apparently was involved in a
train robbery and then shot by Jeff
Milton. Apparently after he was, shot he
was brought back to Tombstone and lived
long enough to tattletale on his friends.
Right off the bat, you know kind of
walking around and reading the pamphlet
it's like you go grave to grave it's
like, "shot dead", "shot dead". "Shot dead",
"murdered". It just doesn't stop. And that's
another thing about here at Boothill, is
that this cemetery was reserved for more
of your outlaw types, so makes sense I
guess why so many were shot dead. So one
thing that I would like to know
personally is, why were people such jerks,
back in the day? Why was that cool?
Think of our times. You know, we all die of
heart attacks now, we die fat in our beds.
These men died with their boots on.
And as with the Old West, as things go,
there's a little bit of fictional
narrative melded in with this cemetery.
We're gonna look at a couple graves that
they believe over time were
fictionalized by various owners in order to
favor tourism and to make it a
little bit of fun. So there are a few
graves that we just read are actually
fake, or not accurate. This would be one
of them. John Heath. There was something
known as the Bisbee Massacre that he
apparently was the ringleader of. We did
read however that he was actually moved
to Texas and is not actually buried here.
So it makes you wonder is there somebody
buried here that's unknown now marked as
John Heath, or is this just totally a dud?
Ah! One of my favorite epitaphs of
all time! You'll actually see it in theme
parks or in other places. "Here lies Lester
Moore. Four slugs from a 44, NO LES NO
MORE". Hate to be the bearer of bad news
apparently this is also a fake, created
probably by some owner of this to make
it more fun, interesting... to sell more
admissions into the cemetery. Yep,
unfortunately, as much as I'd like to
believe in that, apparently it's not true.
This is another pretty well known
epitaph here. We did read however that
this is another one of the ones that is
a fabrication and believed to be a fake.
So I'm no historian although the more I
go out to visit locations like this here,
I find sometimes there's definitely a
very blurry line between legend and fact.
Seeing all of these graves, knowing
that there's a lot of recreation here
out of necessity...
How much is truly fact? So I did ask a
couple questions. There's a gentleman
here that's kind of a, I guess a caretaker,
the one that we paid our entrance fee to.
And I was curious
to find out where are the
records? And apparently there are records
in the archives at the Tombstone
Courthouse. So that's where they found
out a lot of this information I think, on
the headstones.
I also inquired about a couple ones that
I thought might be fabrications like
Lester Moore. The gentleman here says
that Lester Moore was a real person and
there's information at the courthouse
maybe in the archives. So once again I've
read that a couple of these are
fabrications, some aren't, but if I get time
and that information is available I will
have to look that up.
Now, there are some
pretty well-known folks buried here, for
those who are interested in the history
of the Old West. A couple names that you
may already be familiar with will be two
of the McLaury brothers as well as a
Clanton that were shot down in the
famous shootout at the OK Corral. So what
you have here are some of the most
famous residents of Boothill.
Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury and Tom McLaury.
Note that they all died on the same date.
October 26th of 1881. These were the men
shot down by the Earp's and Doc Holliday
at the famous shootout at the OK Corral.
You can see too... very easy to find this.
Just a giant pile of rocks. This might be
one of the biggest draws here to this
particular Cemetery. And another
interesting one. Looks like "Old Man
Clanton" over here. Killed August 1881.
[Music]
Another one that I was specifically
seeking out: Marshal Fred White, who was
gunned down by Curly Bill Brocius. Died
in 1880. You may know that name if you've
seen movies like the famous movie "Tombstone" from the 1990s. He was actually
shot in that movie by Curly Bill. If
you're ever wondering where Curly Bill
Brocius killed marshal Fred White, I'm
standing here in front of the Birdcage
Theatre, and this is the spot. These are
interesting ones, the "Bisbee Massacre"...
these men participated in it and were
legally hung. This whole group of them
right here. And these two gentlemen also
totaling five all part of that Bisbee
Massacre. Hung in 1884.
If you ever venture into the town of
Tombstone, which is right down the road,
Tombstone Courthouse, that's where these
men were reportedly hung.
No wonder folks think this place might be haunted. Such a
grisly place in a way. Got a suicide,
you've got a murder. Killed by Apaches.
Killed. Now if you're a fan of the
paranormal this place is supposed to be
haunted. There are different legends and
things here if you're into that thing. So,
outside of the very interesting history
here that may be another thing that
attracts you to come visit Boothill
sometime. If you've seen some of my other
videos... I want to be clear. I'm not a
paranormal investigator, in fact, I
honestly don't really believe in that
stuff. This place though, you would think
if there's going to be something this
could be the place. With all of these
gentlemen and ladies here... buried, many of
you were probably very wronged. If anybody
wants to say anything or do anything
don't be afraid of the sunlight come on out
and let me know anything you want to
tell me. Does anyone here have anything
to say or to express? You've got a
willing ear, here to listen to you.
Alright, I want to give you a few
final thoughts about Boothill Cemetery.
Final thoughts... hmm... that doesn't sound
very good in a place like this. Anyway,
yeah, Boothill is awesome. I would say it
is the "mack daddy" of all Old West
cemeteries. If you're into the Old West,
if you're into Arizona, this is a must do,
if you're in Southeast Arizona for sure.
At only $3.00 to get in here, come on.
It's worth it. My favorite aspect of
this is that it really does give you a
glimpse into the lawlessness of the Old
West. When you see all of these men and
women shot or murdered, dying of disease,
it really paints a grim picture, but it
does really paint a picture of the Old West
and the proof is here. So, Boothill Cemetery...
come check it out sometime. Highly
recommended. If you're new here please
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name Cactus Atlas. Well, we got to hit the
road. Hope you enjoyed this one and we will
see you on a new adventure right around
the corner so stay tuned and take it
easy. It's old Weiners Anton! [Music]