Mom & I got a chance to escape on a little Mother/Daughter adventure while James stayed home with Kayley. We decided to drive the 3.5 hours to Tombstone, AZ! The town to tough to die! Tombstone (in case you didn't already know) is famous for it's Silver Boom, the great fire, and the O.K. Corral Gunfight with Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday!
The O.K. Corral was not actually open to the public. Can you believe that? You had to pay 9 dollars a person to go in...and only when during reenactments...which were NOT going on while we were visiting... Talk about disappointing.
Famous Allen Street.
Look! Wyatt Earps saddle.
Look! Wyatt Earps saddle.
An original Butterfield StageCoach.
We spent the majority of our time in the World-Famous (and supposedly haunted) BirdCage Theatre. Open between 1881-1889, the BirdCage was "the wildest, wickedest night spot between the Basin and the Barbary Coast." It was so named because of the 14 cage cribs that are self-suspended from the ceiling overhanging the gambling casino and dance hall.
The entryway. In the 9 years it was open it never closed its doors. It was open 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. It was the site of 16 gunfights and over 140 bullet holes riddle the walls and ceilings.
The stairs leading up to the cribs.
The cribs inside were compartments where "ladies of the night" entertained their male guests. These "bird-cages" are virtually untouched from the 1880s.
The handpainted stage with it's original stage curtain is all original from 1881.
There were a lot of incredible artifacts on display. You can see the baton owned by Bat Masterson and the alcohol burner used by Doc Holliday. You can also see the tooth extractor used by Doc Holliday when he practiced dentistry. Yup...all true. Doc Holliday was a dentist.
The Faro Table.
This is for my dad. A pic of the ceiling...with an orb. They do say that this place is haunted. Ghost Hunters came here a few years ago and found a few unexplainable things. They have a picture of an apparition on the stairs. We didn't see any ghosts...but we did see something spooky...You'll have to check the videos at the end to see what you think.
The original Tombstone Hearse. Made several trips to Boothill a week.
Some of the other "ladies" of the Birdcage had private rooms to entertain their male guests...either by the hour or the entire night.
Part of the ghostly goings-on in the Birdcage is the rumor that when you take a picture of the mirror you will see an apparition looking back at you when you develop your film. I don't see anything. Do you?
Some of the most famous charcters of western history came to the Bird Cage to gamble, drink and be entertained by its lovely ladies. In fact, Wyatt Earp met his third wife Sadie Marcus at the Bird Cage. This was her room.
This area is actually behind stage and under the stage area. This is the poker room, where the longest poker game in western history occured. It was a house game and players had to buy a 1,000 minimum in chips for a seat in the game. The game ran continually for 8 years, 5 months and 3 days. Today the poker table stands exactly where it was left, with its chairs still on the dirt floor.
When disaster struck Tombstone by the flooding of the mines, the BirdCage was sealed and boarded up with all of its fictures and furnishing still in tact. It stood for almost 50 years, untouched.
Standing in front of Allen Street.
Oh...look we parked our car in the O.k.Corral parking area.
On our way out of town we stopped at Boothill Graveyard. Boothill was named because of the many violent deaths of the early days. It is said that the people here were "buried with their boots on."
Buried here are outlaws with their victims, suicides, and hangings, leagal and otherwise, along with hardy citizends from Tombstones' early days.
Self Portrait in front of Boothill Graveyard.
Here is the scary, spooky videos... Oooooo! Is it a ghost?
