Shakespeare Weekend

The weekend of June 21st and 22nd, Heidi and I were out at Shakespeare Ghost Town for the living history tours. Of course, Shakespeare is our hme away from home, and the little Buckaroo seems right at home as well.

For those of you not familiar with the town, Shakespeare was a mining community just outside of Lordsburg, NM. The first boom occurred in 1870, drawing many a charactor to the region that would turn up in Tombstone a decade later. In 1935 rancher Frank Hill purchased the town site as his ranch HQ. His wife Rita, and later daughter Janaloo would preserve the buildings as they collected and documentd the stories concerning the town.

Manny Hough, the owner is doing well. He was a little "tuckeredout" from chores Thursday and Friday, so I conducted the tours on both days. Considering it's June, and with gas costing an arm and a leg, we had a darned good turn out, with over 130 people visiting the town over the week end.

Manny had a surprise for Heidi Saturday afternoon. A paranormal research group out of Tucson arrived to look into the ghost stories connected with Shakespeare. That being Heidi's billiwack, she was invited to work with the team. A real professional group. I'm waiting to find out if they caught anything on the recorders.

I was reminded of a little told story. In 1882 Curly Bill Brocious showed up in Shakespeare with a case of the measles, and an infected gunshot wound. According to the old timers, Curly Bill didn't recover. AT that time the Earp Vendetta Ride was in progress. Many of the residents of Shakespeare were allied with Curly Bill in one way or another. They didnt want Wyatt to have a body to brag about killing, so they buried Curly Bill in the basement of the General Merchandise.

Now in the late 1920's, the General Merchadise was being used as a school House for the children of the Mexican workers at the mines. As the story goes, one day during recess, a number of little boys playing in the basement dug up a human skull. Not wanting any trouble or disruption, their teacher made them rebury it, and promise not to tell anyone.

Rita and Janaloo both said that occassionaly one could smell a faint wift of sulpher when in thay corner of the building. Is the story true? Just as true as you want it to be.