Location Description and History

This 1881 burlesque hall contains a stage, bar, casino, and Dance hall. Prostitutes enticed prospective clients from 14 red velvet draped cages hung from the ceiling. Although it closed down after only nine years, the birdcage is still a popular place with a bevy of spirits. Hundreds of witnesses have reported the sounds of invisible people singing and talking in the deserted rooms. The ghosts of a little boy who died hear of yellow fever and 1882 and a former owner who also died in the building are thought to be responsible for number of poltergeist effects. The apparition of a man wearing a celluloid visor and carrying a clipboard has been seen walking across the stage. In fact, encounters with the ghosts wearing old fashioned clothing have been reported by dozens of employees and tourists. In an article in 1882, The New York Times called this"the wildest, wickedest nightspot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast". It was the site of 16 bloody gunfights and 140 bullet holes riddle the walls and ceiling. Appropriately, Tombstone's original Boothill hearse, the Black Mariah, is on display on the premises.

Many famous happenings occurred in the barroom, which is indicated by the many bullet holes, but one of the most outstanding occurrences was the brutal killing of the lovely lady of the evening, Margarita. She was sitting on the lap of gambler Billy Milgreen when suddenly Billy's regular girl, another Bird Cage trollop by the name of Gold Dollar, entered the room holding a double edged stiletto. In a fit of fury, Gold Dollar proceeded to cut Margarita's heart out. She almost had the job done when she heard that the Marshall was coming. She then ran through the Bird Cage and out the back door, covered in blood. No murder charges were filed for lack of the murder weapon which she mysteriously disposed of as she fled the back of the Bird Cage. Ironically, 101 years later this stiletto was found behind the building and is now on display inside. The hand painted stage and orchestra pit, with its massive Grand Piano, still stands in tribute to the many great entertainers that once performed in the Bird Cage. You can almost and sometimes can hear the songs, laughter and the music of the great entertainers who once performed to the roar of the crowd. Entertainers such as Eddy Foy, Lotta Crabtree, Lily Langtree, and Lola Montez, were just a few of the famous performers of the past. The walls on the back stage are covered with photos and stories of the many entertainers that performed at the Bird Cage. The walls on the gambling casino are covered with photos and documents of the famous people who lived in Tombstone when it was a wild and wicked town.

The basement area is accessed by the old back stage stairs. In this area is the Poker room along with several other smaller areas. At the far end of the poker room the old iron gate opens into the liquor and wine room, retaining its' wine and whiskey casts. The different bordello rooms reveal those unspoken visions of the ladies of the night and their men clientele. The ruffled-up beds and scattered clothes are real. The original faded carpets and drapes and unique furniture are complimented by the different articles of a bygone brothel. It was in the end room where Wyatt Earp And Josephine Sarah Marcus carried on their illicit love affair; while she was working at the Bird Cage. You can see her original license, for a lady of the night, There are several thousand other exciting things one can see throughout this building. The Bird Cage Theater is Tombstone's most authentic attraction and one of the west's most famous landmarks.

The Bird Cage closed its doors in 1889, but it has not been silent. The sounds of laughing, yelling, and music have been reported to pour out of the theater at night. Visitors during the day have smelled fresh scents of cigar smoke and the sharp odor of whiskey, even though neither are allowed there now, nor have been for many years past. Testimonies by tourists and Bird Cage employees recount sightings of people wearing period clothing from the 1800s, and in particular, a man in black wearing a visor walking has been witnessed walking across the stage. Some of the sounds seem to come from the balconies above the main floor.

Strange sounds have been heard throughout the building, some resemble voices while others seem to be "singing".Objects have been moved around overnight when the building is vacant and locked up.Visitors in the building have often reported feeling sudden cold spots and the uneasy feeling of being watched.

Several different apparitions have been spotted in the backstage area. They appear suddenly and vanish abruptly. They seem to pay no notice to the observers or their surroundings.

This is a follow up ghost hunt to the one we did in 1998.

We started in the main hall and worked our way backstage and down into the gambling parlor. Intermittent spikes registered on our EM detectors throughout the ghost hunt. The most notable were located around the stage and downstairs in the gambling parlor. The readings averaged around 4 milliguass with a 38 HZ frequency.

Once again we had a mirror / reflection problem when it came to photography. The flash on the camera can create a false target on film if the light from the flash is reflected back onto the camera's lens. We compensated as best as possible but we were unable to solve this problem completely. It is definitely something that needs to be taken into consideration. Dust can also be a problem, especially in the lower areas.

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Recommend another full scale investigation of the site.