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Over the years many businesses have graced
this famous location. The building that now houses the Red Buffalo
Trading Company is the former site of Campbell and Hatch's Saloon.
This was where Morgan Earp was murdered in 1882. Prior to this the
building housed the "Legends of the West" saloon.
1882, March 18 - Morgan and Wyatt attend
an entertainment at the Schieffelin Hall. Afterwards they head to
Campbell and Hatch's Saloon for billiards. Morgan was playing pool
with Bob Hatch when suddenly two shots ripped through the window
of the rear door. One smashes into the wall above Wyatt's head,
the other penetrates Morgan through the small of his back, shattering
his spine. It passes right through his body and lodges in the thigh
of George Berry. Morgan was moved to the floor into a adjoining
room where, the local doctor took a look at him. He was moved to
a couch and suffered for forty minutes. He finally died a few minutes
after midnight. Parsons wrote in his diary that he was sure that
one of the assassins was Frank Stilwell.
Three days later Stilwell's was found dead.
A Mexican who was also implicated in the crime was also found murdered
in a lumber camp. It is believed that Wyatt Earp was responsible
for both men's death. Virgil Earp and James Earp took Morgan's body
to home of his parents in Colton, California, for burial.
Connected to the Red Buffalo is Tombstone's
Ghosts and Legends, a animated attraction of Tombstone's history
told by the ghost of Doc Holiday. It sits on the site of the Wells
and fargo Company and was later a saloon, barber shop and cigar
shop.
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Morgan Earp
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As with many of the haunted locations in
Tombstone, the descriptions of paranormal activity here varies,
depending on who you talk to.
Many people have sighted a female apparition
which they believe is the ghost of Morgan Earp's wife, who is searching
for her deceased husband even in death. This explanation seems impassible
because she accompanied her husband's remains back to California,
where he was buried. It is quite possible that there is a female
specter here that people are simply misidentifying.
Other witnesses claim that the ghost that
haunts this building is actually Morgan Earp himself. He is commonly
seen in the back corner of the building where he died.
Common phenomena, other than the occasional
apparition, include the sound of footsteps walking around the rear
of the Red Buffalo Trading Company, lights turning on by themselves
and objects being moved or manipulated. The most bizarre incident
involved the owner of the Red Buffalo who was pushed by an unseen
force while standing near the pool table.
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Local photographer James Kidd claims to have
unknowingly captured this image while photographing an empty stage
in the back of Tombstone bar Legends of the West for insurance purposes.
The distorted images of two women and one
man are visible at right, wearing clothing from Tombstone's heyday.
The woman, in profile on the far right, might be wearing a large
hat. The man may have sideburns and wears a buttoned-up coat. The
blurring in the image was confined to this one frame. The frames
occurring before and after have no unusual qualities in them.
The area where this photograph was taken
is close to the place where Morgan Earp died.
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We arrived at 9:30pm where we were given a tour
of both buildings. Afterwards we started searching the Red Buffalo trading
company. In the far corner, where Morgan Earp died, we briefly registered
a 5 nt spike on the Trifield meter. A photograph taken during this time
revealed an unusual black shape in the image that is quite unusual.
From here we moved into the cafe and Ghost and
Legends tour. With the exception of one small spike of 3 nt, nothing unusual
was found. The manager's husband showed us pictures that had been taken
since they started working in the building. We attempted to replicate
the images in his photographs with no success.
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One photo graph taken during the
investigation has an unusual black shadow that obscures part of an
investigator. The photograph was taken near the spot where Morgan
Earp died while a 5nt spike was registering on the Trifield meter.
The photographs before and after this one were completely normal and
had nothing unusual in them. |
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