Halloween at Leroy's Tombstone

Tombstone Territory Rendezvous Halloween Weekend

What better place to spend Halloween than in Tombstone with Western history buffs and researchers who unearth stories of the dead?

October 30, 2014. Appropriately, Dan and I started our Halloween weekend on a day trip with the Tombstone Territory Rendezvous gang to Johnny Ringo's grave followed by a stop at Gleeson ghost town.

We all gathered around a tree believed to be the place Johnny's dead body had been discovered, while an intuitive cowgal seemed drawn to the fallen tree nearby. Was this really Johnny's tree? Or did she know something we didn't?

October 31, 2014 at rickety Schieffelin Hall reading the love letters of dead people.

I performed a dramatic reading of Mary Clum's last letter to her mother-in-law proclaiming how Tombstone and its weather agreed with her. "I've never felt so well in my life...as I do now." And then I read her husband, John Clum's, letter sharing the sad news that his dear wife had gone to be an angel.

Can't say I channeled Mary or John Clum - although I did get a little teary-eyed reading his heart wrenching letter. Hope Mr. and Mrs. Clum were mighty pleased with my reading.

The rest of the afternoon was spent making the acquaintance of a few of Tombstone's deceased mayors via PowerPoint presentations. Then we were transported back to the 1880's through period music presented by Paul Johnson.

 Old timey saloon music

After spending the day hearing about dead people, Dan and I were in just the mood for a Halloween ghost tour at the infamous Bird Cage Theatre.

From my first visit to Tombstone, I felt drawn to the Bird Cage Theatre. For me there was a sense of nostalgia in the dusty air. Every time I came to town, I felt compelled to chat with Bird Cage manager, "Lightnin' Leroy." I would wait around in the lobby for him to finish his spiel about the longest running poker game (24 hours a day for 8 years, 5 months, and 3 days) and how many bullet holes decorated the walls (over 140). Leroy would then spin yarns about winning quick shot competitions and the hotshot cowboys who challenged him on the streets, guns at the ready. Around this time, the Bird Cage was featured on Haunted History. But Leroy always seemed the skeptic when it came to ghosts - even as he shared the photo he kept behind the bar of the spooky orbs shot in the theater. But he admitted to feeling a cool breeze and getting a whiff of cigar smoke or perfume when he was closing the theater alone at night.

Leroy became the inspiration for a character in my comic screenplay, "Behind the OK Corral." While conducting research for it, I returned to the Birdcage with a group of psychics. Two of the ladies, at separate ends of the theater, simultaneously pointed up to the same crib and said, "See the big Madame in the green dress!"

Madame in green was in crib in back corner

This really struck me because of a similar incident on a previous visit...

I was in town to shoot my short film, "If the Dress Fits."

When I couldn't find a place to rehearse, Leroy generously offered the use of the Bird Cage stage. While touring the theater after the rehearsal, my actress suddenly got ill. She cried out, "I have to get out of here!" I figured it was an allergy to all the dust. She later admitted to seeing someone she knew in the cribs, someone from a past life. A madame with a green dress!

It's been a while since I finished my screenplay, and I no longer feel the same draw to the Bird Cage. (Perhaps in the process of writing, I had resolved my issues.) Though I occasionally bring family and friends. Once I gave a tour to a descendant of Mabel Earp Cason (Wyatt's cousin who collaborated with Sadie on the manuscript that would become, "I Married Wyatt Earp.")  But I ran into Leroy less and less. Then I heard the tragic news. That July, Leroy was shot down in front of his house by a local drunk.

It was weird going back to the Bird Cage with no "Lightnin' Leroy." But there we were on a ghost tour. The guide showed us the cribs in the balcony where the soiled doves (prostitutes) plied their trade. She informed us about the different kinds of paranormal phenomenon. Apparently she boned up on the facts from "Ghost Hunters."

She took us downstairs to the site of the longest continuously running poker game. We peeked into the more expensive $25 dollar a night rooms. She went over the rules on how to treat the ghosts with respect. Apparently they don't like it when you talk about Ouija boards or challenge them to prove they exist. They are there for the interaction. She made an excuse that the ghosts seem less active on Halloween. (Hmph!) Perhaps it's their one night off. One of the tourists, my boyfriend Dan, pointed out a bad smell that wasn't there before. I got whiff of the musty odor.  It smelled like something was rotting in one of the $25 rooms. The guide said that she didn't notice it on the last tour. She would check for a dead rat in the morning.

The room with the rotting odor

We went upstairs to the backstage area and found seats around a wooden table. The guide pointed out all the lights already in the room, so we wouldn't get a false experience. She placed two gadgets on the table: one that sensed paranormal energy and another that amplified paranormal sounds on FM and AM channels. She encouraged us to ask questions of the ghosts and turned out the lights. Our ears peeled for the slightest ghost whisper or footstep, we waited in the dark. No lights on the machine. We heard laughter. The guide said that's just partiers celebrating Halloween. Not the best night for ghosts. Our guide tapped on the table and asked the ghosts to tap back. Nothing. She tried again. "Do you hear that? Tapping on the stage?" Some tourists claimed they heard rapping on wood. I heard nothing. She asked, "Hear that? The clinking of poker chips downstairs?" No...(pout). I just heard the young woman in our group giggling. Dan thought he heard a little hand bell. The guide tried to talk to the ghosts and guilt them into speaking to us. "Hey, guys. This is Halloween. You don't want to disappoint these people." One of the women said that someone touched her hair. The guide switched the receiver to AM. The woman asked the ghost who he was. Something garbled came through the receiver. "Are you the one with the bad odor we smelled downstairs?" Ha! How rude! Someone thought they felt a presence walking behind their chair. Another woman exclaimed, "There's a hand on my head!" The young woman cried out, "I'm scared!"

Location where I saw the light

Staring towards the stage, I thought I saw a light. Finally, the guide wrapped it up. She claimed that we heard more than the last group: the tap in response to hers, the voice on the spirit amplifier, and the woman's head being patted.

Wish I could say I saw Leroy, or even the Madame in green, but I didn't.  After the tour, I asked the guide if she knew Leroy. Leroy had hired her. She was at the Bird Cage when his killer came downtown to brag about shooting Leroy. I asked, "You think Leroy ever drops by?" She shared how Leroy used to hate it when she was on her cell phone at work. Once, her cell phone went flying off the display case. She believed it was Leroy pushing it off and that he occasionally stops by to check up on them.

Leroy Colomy

The Bird Cage sure isn't the same without ol' Lightnin' Leroy doin' his spiel. I wonder if Leroy is still a skeptic when it comes to ghosts. Wonder if he ever met up with a cigar-chomping miner or a soiled dove with a familiar fragrance of perfume.