Location Description and History

The early years of Tombstone's Boot Hill Graveyard (1879-1884) was originally called the "City Cemetery" After the city built the Tombstone Cemetery on the west end of Allen Street, the "City Cemetery" was then called the old cemetery. Sometime around 1929 and the towns first Helldorado Days, people started calling the "Old Cemetery" Boot Hill Graveyard. The name was given to the frontier cemetery because most of it's early occupants died with their boots on. The name has had an appeal as part of the romantic side of the west and has become familiar as representing the violent end of a reckless life. But to the westerner, Boot Hill was just a graveyard where there "wasn't nobody there to let em' down easy with their hats off." Like the old saying, "There ain't many tears shed at a Boot Hill Buryin', and it is full of fellers that pulled their triggers before aimin'. Many famous Tombstone folks lie there including the victims of the 1881 Shoot-out between the Earps and the Cowboys.

For many years, it was neglected. The desert overtook parts of it and vandals removed grave markers. Then, in the 1940's concerned citizens began the process of cleaning up the Old Cemetery and researching the placement of the graves to preserve it for future generations.

The cemetery is a shadow of its former self. It used to extend down the hill to the approximate location of the Circle K convenience store. On its west flank, graves were relocated when the present highway was constructed.

At the bottom of the hill is the Jewish cemetery. It once had a wall enclosing it that so high that a rider on horseback could not see over it. Today the wall is only about a foot tall. Many of the residents of this historic cemetery met violent deaths and even more are unidentified.

In the northwest corner of Tombstone is a plot of ground that perhaps more than any other, tells the tail of this Wild West town's history.

Lying in eternal rest in Boothill Cemetery, side by side with honest citizens such as Mrs. Ah Lum, or China Mary as she was better known, Quong Kee and C.S. Fly, are badmen like Tom and Grake McLaury and Bill Clanton, killed in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Also laid to rest here is Newman Haynes, "Old Man" Clanton, cattle rustler and father of the Clanton boys.

Over the years several unusual photographs have been taken inside the cemetery by locals and tourists. Some people believe that ghosts are spirits of people that died unexpectedly, violently, and/or at the hands of others, gunfights, hangings, etc.

Strange noises and flickering lights have been reported in the graveyard by locals and tourists.

We arrived at the cemetery just after midnight. This was basically a recon to determine if the cemetery would be interesting enough for a future investigation. All of the photographs were taken from outside of the fence and a Trifield meter was used to monitor the perimeter. During the ghost hunt, we registered one solid D/C electromagnetic field at 3 milligauss. The field vanished before we could get a lock on its frequency.

Photographs

Click on the thumbnails to view the larger image

Several of the photographs taken at the graveyard are interesting because they have the same objects in them. Photos 1 and 2 clearly have the same object in them. The object lacks diffraction rings and has other features that are not consistent with dust or other airborne particles.

The object in photo 3 also appears in several other photographs taken during this ghost hunt. The objects are all the same size, shape and luminosity.