Ghosts Play in the Border Town

Wednesday, 26 October 2011 23:07

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Patricia and Jake met in March of this year. She was visiting the Bird Cage Theatre in Tombstone, Ariz., with her younger sister when she saw Jake standing by the dice table. When she came back a few months later to work, he was there again.

The pair quickly became close.

Now, he follows her around while she works, placing a hand on her shoulder as she addresses the crowds of tourists that flock to the historic site. While Patricia points out bullet holes in the theatre’s walls to visitors, Jake paces anxiously behind her. Sometimes he stands completely still.

Patricia and Jake met in March. But Jake has been dead for more than 100 years.

“They seem very content,” Patricia Kolsky, Bird Cage Theatre ghost tour guide says of Jake, an 1880s cowboy, and her other spirit friends. “They’re happy that we’re here."

Ghost tours are a common business in Tombstone, a town that is said to be one of the most haunted places in America. The Bird Cage’s tour is unique, Patricia says, because it includes a lights-out period inside of the theatre, which some people say brings out the spirits.

“That is what makes it real for people.”

Spirits seem to attach themselves to the historical artifacts stored in the Bird Cage, such as paintings, plates, books and bullets. Moving the items aggravates the spirits to cause more activity.

She says guests and staff have seen apparitions in many parts of the building, at all hours.

“Day time, night time. Really doesn’t matter. They’re not on our schedule. The spirits will come out whenever they feel like coming out.”

The Bird Cage isn’t the only haunted building in Tombstone. Guests and staff say they see lights turn on and off in the Tombstone Courthouse when the building is supposed to be empty. In 2006, the TV show, Ghost Hunters, picked up some strange activity at the OK Corral, the site of the famous 1881 gunfight that involved Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.

Despite the findings of the Ghost Hunters, some OK Corral staff remain unconvinced.

“The scariest things I’ve ever seen here have been the drunks trying to go home after the bars close,” Tim Fattig, an OK Corral employee, says.

While Tim sometimes hears unexplained creaking in unoccupied Tombstone buildings, he attributes these noises to the old age of the structures (some of which are more than 130 years old). He says he is open to seeing more research on the subject.

“To be in a town like this, with the history that we’re addressing, you have to be open-minded.”

If you’re thinking about visiting, be aware that the ghosts don’t always stay within the walls of the Bird Cage or the courthouse.

“I asked them a couple nights ago and they said, ‘yeah, we follow you home,’” Patricia says. “They kick my bed a lot.”

Patricia’s parents were very interested in the paranormal. She has been visiting haunted locations since she was seven years old.

“It got instilled in me that that’s just another part of life. You got to live with it.”

Even for those who don’t believe, working in a place like Tombstone makes the supernatural a fact of daily life and an area of intrigue.

“A lot of things can be explained away,” Tim says. “It’s the things that can’t be explained away that are interesting.”

Laura Shade, a Bird Cage ghost tour guide talks about an especcially creepy night at work.

Tombstone resident Kim talks about her strange experience in a gift shop.

Written by Madelaine Archie You are reading Ghosts Play in the Border Town articles

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