Most Haunted Places in America: Bird Cage Theater
Just imagine what it was like to walk down the center of town, your feet stirring up the dust as your boots scuff the dirt. You hear the sound of music, laughter, and shouting. You see a tall man with a Sheriff star pinned to his shirt. That was what Tombstone, Arizona was like back in the 1880’s when Wyatt Earp was the law and his brother James owned the local saloon. That saloon was the Bird Cage Theater.
The Bird Cage Theater was in operation from 1881-1889 and within those eight years the saloon had seen 26 murders. There was more than its share of sadness in this boisterous establishment. Although by all outward appearances, the “ladies of the night” were just doing a job to find their true love. Once a “painted lady” reached a certain age and did not find a good man to take care of her, she would commit suicide, as she did not want to live that life anymore. This was the first and only 24-hour establishment that housed a brothel, gambling hall, theatre and saloon.
As with any place with a violent past The Bird Cage Theatre has its share of paranormal activity. There is a minimum of twenty-six ghosts who have been haunting the establishment. Many people have claimed as early as 1921 that there have been reports of strange happenings that were too unbelievable to have been real.
The pungent smell of cigar smoke permeates throughout the building. This would not be too odd, aside from the fact that there has not been a cigar smoked in the building for nearly 30 years. Since that time, there have been numerous accounts of different paranormal experiences. There have been around 100 sightings a year of a man who wears striped pants, head gear and carries a clipboard that goes from stage right to stage left and just disappears.
There are other instances that have been reported of the strong smell of whiskey before the entire ground floor of the saloon seems to just come alive with paranormal energy. It has been said that you can hear the laughter and music and some folks have even seen the groups of transparent individuals who are laughing and gambling. It is as if they are stuck in the world that they enjoyed the most.
At one point, a Native American artist sculpted a likeness of Wyatt Earp and placed it in the crib above the saloon floor. Consistently for about 6 months each morning the hat that was on top of the statue’s head would be placed on a table. After a while, the hat would start landing on the floor below and the statue would be turned around. A local historian then revealed that the crib that Earp’s statue was placed was actually the crib the Clanton’s would rent when he came to Tombstone. Billy Clanton was Wyatt Earp’s enemy and had been killed during the shootout at the OK Corral. Once the statue had been moved to the correct crib, the activity ceased.
When you walk through the doors of The Bird Cage Theater, it gives you a sense of nostalgia, as if you were stepping back into time. Is this a place where the sins of the past have captured these souls and held them on earth, or is it just a time that the spirits of those long gone have stayed on to relive the better times?
In 1882, The New York Times had described The Bird Cage Theater as “The roughest, wildest, bawdiest honky tonk between Basin Street and the Barbary coast.” The Bird Cage did have a reputation for fulfilling any mans wildest fantasies, and those who were captured in her charm while living have remained after death. Tombstone, Arizona I believe truly is “The town too tough to die.”
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