Editor’s note: This story about a trip to the town of Tombstone, Arizona is written by Playboy Club creator Griffin Maria.
The town of Tombstone, Arizona likely conjures images of gunfights and outlaws, where the sun sets on dusty roads and the clink of tankards mingles with the clip-clop of horse-drawn carriages.
The funny thing is, all of that still holds true. Much of the town feels like it has somehow slipped through time. There really are carriages that jostle their way over the unpaved streets, saloons are still slinging beer, and there are even gunslingers to be found roaming the vicinity of the infamous O.K. Corral (you can see them with a $10 admission fee three times daily, subject to change). And as a grim reminder to the outcome of those Wild West days, just down the road lies Boothill Graveyard where many notorious names lie buried to this day.
But according to certain inhabitants of the town, not all who died here wish to stay that way.
Seeing, however, is believing, so I decided to take one of the haunted tours and showed up at the designated corner on Allen Street with a small crowd of would-be ghost hunters just after sunset. We walked the quiet streets, listening to tales of old Tombstone and the many whose stories are left behind. The courthouse gallows still stand, and according to the devices we were provided, the temperature dropped significantly the closer we got. A lot of necks were stretched here, and whether or not spirits lingered, the location itself gives you goosebumps.
Despite all the people who have lived and died in Tombstone, it seems the majority of ghost stories revolve around the most popular names. There are claims of Virgil Earp, wearing his long black coat, stalking the location where he was ambushed and shot. Apparitions of the cowboys killed at the O.K. Corral are reported to be seen, guns still drawn before fading away. The Red Buffalo Trading Company, once the site of Campbell and Hatch’s Billiards and the location where young Morgan Earp was gunned down, is said to still be haunted by his restless spirit.
Personally, the best ghost story I heard was after the tour at the Crystal Palace Saloon. The bartender, a wonderfully chatty woman who’d worked here for only a year, reported hearing footsteps when no one else was around as well as seeing chairs move all on their own. As she showed me a trapdoor in the floor that once led to the underground tunnels that snaked through the town, a bottle of alcohol seemingly leapt from the shelf at the end of the bar and shattered. No one else was around. No one touched the bottle. Was it a ghost or just a poorly placed bottle of whiskey? After the tales and the tour, it didn’t really matter. I laughed nervously, finished my drink, and hurried on out.
But hands down, the most purportedly haunted spot in all of Tombstone is the Birdcage Theatre. I toured the theatre the following day, and I was lucky enough to have the place virtually to myself for a good portion of my time there. Bullet holes can be seen in the ceiling, Doc Holliday’s faro table is on display, and hundreds of relics are encased in glass for visitors to see. There are countless reports of ghostly encounters in the Birdcage, and without a doubt when you stand in that space, there’s a powerful sense of history that surrounds you. I didn’t encounter any phantoms myself or wander into any cold spots, but I still felt connected to those lawless days in my own way. There’s a romance tied to the Old West, and Tombstone, with its long history, is one of the last places where some of that romance still remains.
At the end of the day, it isn’t so much that the town is haunted by ghostly gunslingers and outlaws, it’s that we long to be connected to that past in some personal way. I don’t know if there are ghosts that roam the town of Tombstone, but I think it’s the town’s own storied past that lingers in both the collective conscious and the expectations of visitors. Tombstone may indeed be the Town Too Tough To Die, but it’s our longing to be close to that Wild West history that keeps tourists coming back.
Read more of Griffin’s adventures here and check out her Playboy Club page for more photos!
Griffin Maria is on The Playboy Club. Talk to her here.
