Tombstone, 1897: a haunted mine and a lonely spook.

What the paper reported

Reputable men of Tombstone vouched that the old Bronco mine was haunted: every night a menacing ghost stalked the crumbling adobe shanty and vanished whenever anyone got close. When it wasn’t seen, it was heard below ground, pounding drills and sawing lumber in the dead shaft.

Exhibit A · Transcription

A Haunted Mine

Spook in Possession of the “Bronco.”

Keeps a Lonely Vigil.

A Reminder of Earlier Days When the Camp Was the Habitation of Many Renegades.

Will Be Investigated.

The halcyon days of Tombstone are often brought to memory, and if even at the expense of some unfortunate, it is a pleasure to allow the mind to revert back to the 80’s when this was surely the greatest mining camp on earth; when the shrill whistles of the numerous mines were deafening to the ear; when the bad man prevailed and the music of his “gun” lulled many to sleep; when bold highwaymen plied their vocation almost unmolested; when “life” began with the fading away of each day and there was one continual round of pleasure. Crime then was regarded as a matter of course, criminals held full sway and it was a case of survival of the fittest. These reflections are brought to mind through the report of a spook which has taken possession of a long-since abandoned mine, the history of which would at once establish it as the appropriate habitation of ghosts.

Later in the same article

If such a thing be possible, then it is no wonder that the spirit of the departed should linger around the scene of pillage and carnage, and reputable men of Tombstone will vouch for the truthfulness of the statement that the mine is haunted. The story goes that every night can be seen a menacing ghost stalking around and through the dilapidated ’dobe shanty; people have attempted to investigate, but upon approaching apparently near enough to speak the spook suddenly vanishes, only to appear as quickly at some other point, leading its would-be querriest a lively and illusive chase. There is apparently but one, and when not to be seen mining operations can be heard in the old shaft, pounding on drills, sawing lumber and working along ever and anon just as though silver had never depreciated. That there is some mysterious movements around the Bronco is honestly believed by many here, and several of our sturdy plainsmen and mountaineers will visit this deserted mine and attempt an investigation.

Transcribed from the page image, spelling and punctuation as printed; line-end hyphens joined. Checked word by word against the Library of Congress’s OCR text (see the verification record). “querriest” and “illusive” are as printed.

Newspaper

Tombstone Epitaph

Published in

Tombstone, Arizona

Headline

A Haunted Mine

Date

May 23, 1897

Page

2

Permalink

www.loc.gov/resource/sn95060905/1897-05-23/ed-1/?sp=2

Source

Library of Congress, Chronicling America. Public domain (published 1897).