Ghostly Pics: Tombstone Cemetery Ghost

 Some places are just perfect for a ghost story or the perfect location for an excellent ghost photograph. Well, nothing quite says 'haunted' like the trappings of the American Old West, with its tales of ghost towns abandoned after the money went dry in those areas and the body count created by the outlaw atmosphere that prevailed there.

One infamous and easily debated evidence of ghosts in an old west setting was the one taken at Boothill Cemetery in 1996 when Ike Clanton posed for a picture on the old burial site.

However, they did not count on the mysterious figure in the background, dressed in clothing similar to those worn in the Old West and holding a knife.

The picture was taken in 1996 by a friend of Ike Clanton, who is an actor, cowboy poet, and a cousin to the gang of Clanton's that once occupied Tombstone, Arizona in its more 'active' days.

Close Up Of 1996 Pic

Boothill, like a few other scattered graveyards of the same period, was called Boothill as the cowboys that are buried there 'died with their boots on.'

There are about three hundred or so people buried in the small grounds at Boothill, of which two-hundred and five are actually named in records. This includes Billy Clanton and Frank and Tom McLaury, participants in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral that over the decades has become a staple of western legends.

Arizona's Boothill Cemetery was closed for good in 1884 besides being used for the burial of a few outlaws. Sadly, as is the case with a lot of old cemeteries that are not well maintained, like Bachelor's Grove in Illinois, some vandalism took place as well as theft of some of the wooden crosses that marked the old burial sites.

Later, in Tombstone's tourist years, the cemetery would become a free tourist attraction to visitors to the nearly abandoned desert city.

However, as far as the paranormal goes it was Clanton's 1996 photo with its clear image of a man, apparently with no legs, no shadow, and carrying a long knife, that captivated ghost hunters and tourists alike.

Clanton had the pic taken as a fun photo where he could wear the same manner of clothes his Clanton Gang cousins might have donned in the 1880s before clashing with Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp at the corral.

However, after picking up his developed film at a Thrifty Drug Store location, the modern-day Clanton discovered that he was not alone on the Boothill Cemetery grounds that day:

"I know there was no other person in this photograph when I shot it...

The knife [the figure in the background is holding] is in a vertical position; the tip is located just below the figure's right collar. If you're not convinced that something is weird here, look at my friend's shadow in the photo. It appears to be going back slightly to the right of him. The figure in the back should have the same shadow, but it doesn't."

But is it really the ghost of an outlaw or cowboy in the background of this photo or is it just a hoax or a setup for Clanton to get some publicity for himself and his business?

Later, after Clanton had started a website partially devoted to the picture, there was an experiment conducted that tried to recreate it by having a normal man stand in the same approximate position as the 'ghost'.

The resulting comments were that it was impossible to reproduce the pic as the 'ghost' in the 1996 picture seemed to have no legs whatsoever, while the man standing in that area for the reconstruction had his legs in full view.

Even more amazingly, the ghost apparently returned to the scene of the photo in 2006 according to Ike Clanton's website, where he was possibly captured off in the distance by the Maruki Family:

"We visited Tombstone on April 11, 2006, and also visited the famous (or infamous) Boot Hill Cemetery.  After looking closely at the pictures, it seems that we had an unauthorized intrusion in our photo.  There appears to be no one or anything nearby that could have created this apparition.   I first thought it was one of the many bushes, but once I zoomed in, it appears humanoid.  What do you think?"

I know the Maruki Family was not asking for my sage advice, but this pic looks even more probable to be fake than the last one, it could be anybody out there in a cowboy hat, even a tourist or Tombstone player/worker out for a constitutional on a lovely day.

The meaning behind the name Maruki is "harmonious energy", and although we would love to believe that someone with such a lovely name would be one-hundred percent legitimate, you never can tell...

Of course, the Boothill ghost seemed to like hiding behind trees and shrubbery and having his pic taken, because according to more tourists visiting the historical site, he appeared again, and the person snapping the picture had  an experience while inside Boothill as well:

Interesting, but again, that could be ANYONE out there and it is easy to get spooked in a 'haunted' cemetery at sundown.

Now, I am not trying to discredit this pic as I would love for it to be the real deal and I have no evidence to the contrary. However, all of the first three ghost pictures on Ike Clanton's website look more like solid people or photographic trickery than spirits of deceased cowboys returning to Tombstone.

Also, while again not attacking Ike Clanton or his validity I do find it rather odd that Clanton just happened upon these and the others. The latter photos could be fakes but unknown to be by Clanton himself as he did not take them.

Sadly, there is very little information to dig up on these pictures, but it is possible that one day we will know for sure if these images are of outlaws and cowboys returning from beyond the grave for justice or just a series of hoaxes and coincidental photos that are good for tourism?

-Thomas Spychalski