Buzz
The Wild West is legendary for its tales: Outlaws looting banks and trains, cowboys enduring lengthy cattle drives, and the frenzy of gold and silver rushes.
Dinosaurs, UFOs, wild camels, and giant cannibals likely aren’t the first things you’d associate with it.
Yet, every historical era has its oddities, and the Wild West is no exception. Some tales align with expectations, while others feel surprisingly contemporary.
1. ELMER MCCURDY’S POST-DEATH JOURNEY WAS FAR WEIRDER THAN HIS LIFE AS A CRIMINAL.
Elmer McCurdy isn’t a name that echoes in many households. Unlike notorious figures like Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, Jesse James, Frank James, or Billy the Kid, his train and bank robberies never earned him widespread notoriety. Even his role as one of the final Wild West outlaws, gunned down in a law enforcement shootout, didn’t cement his legacy. (He famously vowed never to be captured alive.)
Instead, Elmer McCurdy’s claim to fame came over six decades after his death, in 1976, as the memories of the Wild West were fading with the last generation who had experienced it.
This was when the production team of The Six Million Dollar Man rented an amusement park funhouse for filming. While moving a prop dummy, a crew member accidentally broke its arm—only to discover that the dummy was, in fact, a mummified human. An autopsy confirmed it was McCurdy.
After his death, a man posing as McCurdy’s long-lost brother claimed the body from the funeral home. In reality, he was a carnival owner. (Carnivals often used outlaw remains to draw crowds in the early 1900s.) McCurdy’s corpse was later used as collateral for a debt, featured as a mummy in a freak show, and stored in a wax museum’s backroom before ending up as a funhouse attraction.
McCurdy was eventually buried at Boot Hill in Guthrie, Oklahoma, 66 years after his death. If not for an accidental discovery by a prop crew member, his final resting place might have remained a mystery.
2. CALIFORNIA AND TEXAS TOWNS REPORTED UFO SIGHTINGS DECADES BEFORE ROSWELL.
Col. H.G. Shaw, depicted in a caricature by the San Francisco Call, Wikimedia Commons// Public Domain
When asked about the first major UFO event, many recall Roswell, New Mexico. In July 1947, the Army Air Forces announced that a “flying disk” had been recovered after crashing. Initially labeled a weather balloon (and later a nuclear espionage device), the incident cemented flying saucers and government cover-ups in public consciousness.
However, Roswell wasn’t the first UFO event in U.S. history—not even close. The idea of “Cowboys vs. Aliens” actually has deep roots in Wild West folklore.
Decades before Cold War-era UFO sightings, two men from Lodi, California, claimed an alien encounter in 1896. Col. H.G. Shaw and Camille Spooner were en route to the Fresno Citrus Fair when they allegedly met three extraterrestrial beings. Described as seven feet tall and unusually thin, these figures were far from human.
Shaw claimed that the extraterrestrial beings attempted to abduct both men, but their weight made it impossible. The aliens’ efforts failed, prompting them to retreat to their spacecraft and depart.
“I have a theory—purely speculative—that these beings were Martians sent to Earth to capture one of its inhabitants,” Shaw wrote in his account published in the Evening Mail, a Stockton newspaper at the time.
John Callahan, a Lodi resident writing a book about the incident, has documented subsequent UFO sightings in the area. He shares his findings, including Shaw’s original news story, on the Callahan UFO Report.
A year later, Texans reported seeing peculiar cigar-shaped airships (strikingly similar to Shaw’s description of the Lodi craft) flying overhead. One of these vessels allegedly crashed near Aurora, Texas. According to a 1979 account, locals discovered the pilot’s body at the crash site, describing it as “not of this world.” In a gesture of goodwill, they buried the being with proper rites.
In 1973, Mary Evans, an Aurora resident during the crash, recounted the event to a reporter. “The crash caused quite a stir,” she said. “Many were terrified, unsure of what to expect. This was long before airplanes or other aircraft became common.”
Although Evans’ parents didn’t let her visit the crash site, they recounted the discovery and burial of the alien pilot. In the same account, a physics professor mentioned finding iron near the alleged crash site—iron that lacked the typical magnetic properties of the metal.
Did these stories truly involve extraterrestrials? Unlikely. For decades, UFO enthusiasts have sought the alien gravesite in Aurora without success—though they’ve been denied permission to excavate the suspected burial site. These tales may simply reflect cowboys’ belief in alien encounters or their adventurous spirit, which once drew them to the Wild West and later to the skies as urban areas expanded.
3. TWO TOMBSTONE COWBOYS SPUN AN INCREDIBLE HUNTING TALE.
Library of Congress // Public Domain
Explore the western United States deeply enough, and you’re likely to uncover fossils. From ichthyosaurs in Nevada to an apatosaurus in Colorado, remnants of ancient eras are scattered across the West.
These creatures are long extinct. However, the beast two cowboys allegedly hunted near Tombstone, Arizona, in April 1890 was said to be very much alive before their encounter.
As reported in the Tombstone Epitaph at the time, “A winged monster, resembling a giant alligator with an elongated tail and enormous wings, was discovered on the desert between the Whetstone and Huachuca mountains last Sunday by two ranchers returning from the Huachucas.”
After a pursuit, they shot the creature, describing it as roughly 92 feet long with a wingspan of 160 feet. “The beast had only two legs, positioned just ahead of where the wings connected to its body. Its head, estimated to be eight feet long, featured a mouth filled with sharp teeth. Its eyes, as large as dinner plates, bulged prominently from its skull,” the Tombstone Epitaph recounted.
A photograph of the alleged thunderbird, resembling a prehistoric pterodactyl, was also taken—or so it was claimed.
The tale was likely a fabrication, and the photo was almost certainly doctored. Although some claim the photo accompanied the original article, it did not; the first reference to it surfaced in 1963. The story was never published by the Epitaph’s rival papers in Tombstone, and the 1890s marked the peak of sensationalist journalism in the U.S.
As far as hoaxes go, this one is quite compelling, especially given the prevalence of thunderbirds, winged serpents, and other bizarre flying creatures in the folklore of the Southwest.
4. THE RED GHOST SPREAD FEAR AMONG SOUTHWESTERN RANCHERS.
Larry D. Moore via WikimediaCommons //CC BY-SA 4.0
If not for the Civil War and a lobbying effort in Washington, the Wild West might have been dominated by camel herders instead of cowboys. Edward Fitzgerald Beale, a Texan war veteran, observed the struggles of horses in the Southwest deserts and proposed importing camels.
The idea gained traction in 1855 under then-Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. By 1857, the U.S. military had imported 75 camels and established a U.S. Army Camel Corps. One unit was stationed in Texas, while another, led by Beale, traveled to California.
As the Civil War approached, U.S. Congress was unwilling to fund additional camels. Mule breeders also opposed the idea. When the war began, Confederate forces seized the Texas herd and released most of the camels into the wild.
This is where the story takes a fascinating turn, as Beale and Davis were proven correct. The camels thrived in the desert environment, and since most cowboys had never encountered such animals, their presence in Arizona and New Mexico until the late 1890s sparked numerous bizarre legends.
One such legend was the Red Ghost. Settlers claimed it was a monstrous creature with a horrifying rider tied to its back. According to a Smithsonian article, the ghost was said to have killed a bear and vanished into thin air. However, when the Red Ghost was finally captured, it wasn’t by a skilled tracker but by a rancher who shot it in his tomato field. The creature turned out to be a ferocious, reddish feral camel, and the tales surrounding it were largely exaggerated.
Eventually, all the camels were either captured or killed, with the last feral camel, Topsy, passing away at a Los Angeles zoo in 1934.
5. THE WEST IS RICH WITH TALES OF LOST MINES.
The alleged site of the "Lost Dutchman Mine" by Alan English via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.0
Given the abundance of gold, silver, and copper in the Wild West, it’s no surprise that countless stories of hidden treasures abound across the western United States. Among these are the San Saba Gold Mine, the Wheelbarrow Mine, and unnamed deposits. Numerous lists catalog these locations, particularly in the Old West.
The most renowned of these is undoubtedly the Lost Dutchman Mine. Legend has it that Jacob Waltz, a German prospector, scoured the U.S. for gold and ultimately discovered it in Arizona’s Superstition Mountains.
“Near those mountains lies the world’s richest gold mine,” he allegedly told his friends. However, he passed away before revealing its exact location.
Over time, the mine has become a myth. Many dedicate their vacations to searching for the Lost Dutchman. Sales of maps claiming to guide seekers to the mine once flourished, and false leads have been reported.
Yet, the Lost Dutchman and other legendary mines remain undiscovered. Many likely never existed. However, if any are ever found, someone stands to gain immense wealth.
6. SOME BELIEVE RED-HAIRED, CANNIBAL GIANTS ONCE ROAMED NEVADA.
Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins. Image credit: Wikimedia // Public Domain
The Northern Paiute people recount tales of red-haired cannibals who once terrorized Nevada. Sarah Winnemucca shares this story in her 1883 book, Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims: “Our traditions speak of a small, savage tribe that lived along the Humboldt River centuries ago. They ambushed my people, killing and consuming them.” The Paiute, she explained, waged a three-year war against these “barbarians,” eventually trapping them in a cave, filling it with branches, and setting it ablaze. Despite pleas to abandon their cannibalistic ways, the red-haired tribe refused, leading to their fiery demise.
The Paiute tale resembles folklore and likely is. However, white settlers entering Nevada weren’t convinced—and some even embellished the story. Notably, Hopkins never referred to the cannibals as giants. This detail was added later, between her 1883 book and the 1911 discovery of human remains by guano miners in Lovelock, Nevada.
Many artifacts recovered by the miners during the excavation vanished, fueling rumors that they had uncovered giant skeletons. Although no giant remains have ever resurfaced, the tales of red-haired cannibals persist. Even reputable outlets like the Los Angeles Times have reported claims that miners discovered 7-foot mummies as fact.
7. THE BODIE CURSE LEAVES TOURISTS FEARFUL AFTER TAKING ARTIFACTS.
Chris Feichtner, Flickr // CC BY-NC 2.0
Souvenir collecting is a travel tradition. Popular destinations often sell tchotchkes for tourists to bring home, either as personal mementos or gifts for those who couldn’t join the trip.
However, some tourists go beyond gift shop items. For decades, visitors have been taking pieces of Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park. In February alone, an ore car was stolen from Joshua Tree National Park, and the Ahwahnee Hotel sign was taken from Yosemite.
Bodie State Historic Park—home to the Wild West ghost town of Bodie—is no stranger to theft. Established in 1877 as a mining town on the California-Nevada border, it was abandoned in the 1940s when mining operations ceased. California transformed it into a park in 1962, and since then, tourists have been swiping artifacts.
What sets Bodie apart from other parks plagued by theft is the frequent return of stolen items. Park rangers often receive letters from individuals who confess to taking artifacts, only to experience a streak of bad luck. These visitors blame car crashes, job loss, illnesses, and other misfortunes on the so-called Bodie Curse. (A book titled Bad Luck, Hot Rocks even compiles these letters.)
In 1996, rangers noted that some people drove from as far as San Francisco—a six-hour journey—to return items to their original locations. One tourist even returned a nail that had punctured her tire while driving through the town.
The origin of the curse remains a mystery, but many believe Bodie truly lives up to its ghost town reputation. Visitors have reported seeing eerie lights and hearing ghostly music. A ranger admitted he’s never witnessed these phenomena but confessed to feeling an odd presence while working on the town’s structures.
Is Bodie genuinely haunted or cursed? Logic suggests otherwise—but it also advises against stealing anything when visiting this historic mining town.
