Series 6: Spirits of Tombstone

Her Testament Series of a Paranormal Life

Moving, for me, became routine. We had moved so many times by 1972 that I had learned to pack efficiently in a moment’s notice. This move felt different, not that I wasn’t in a hurry, but that it was met with so much anticipation for a fresh start. We were leaving a way of life that I was born into. For the first time in my life, I would be a ‘civilian,’ nonmilitary status!

I began thinking, ‘Glendale will be different. I hope I don’t see the same things I have here at Ft. Huachuca. Please God, let it be true.’

My GG (Great Grandmother) Lucke came to help with the move. She was one of my favorite Great Grandmothers on my mother’s side. It was as if she could feel the pain I was in and always wanted to help make me feel better. Even if it meant forcing me to take my medicine. She would crush it up and put it in a spoon with some sugar for me, I loved her.

With this move, the drive time would be under 4 hours, fastest move time ever! So, after taking my place next to GG in the station wagon, Mom and Dad announced we would be taking a side trip over to the Old Tombstone town.

Dad told us, “It’s one of the oldest towns in Arizona. Started back in 1877; they called it Camp Huachuca. It turned into Tombstone after Silver was discovered. It’s a really small town, so it wouldn’t take us very long to walk through it. Thought it would be a nice place to stop for some lunch.”

Flashes of old soldiers started going off in my head.

“Why, why would you want to go there? Don’t you wanna get to Glendale?” Pleading with him, begging him not to take me there, I became really upset.

“Shut up!” Yelled my older sister, “We can’t do anything without you crying about it.” she continued, as I tried not to cry.

I didn’t even understand why I was crying, we had never been there before, there was no reason to be upset about going out for a nice lunch in a town older than the base. With the possibility of seeing ‘things,’ I tried to focus on the food and fun to be had.

GG put her arm around me and gave me a tight squeeze, telling me, “It’ll be alright, I’ll be there with you.”

Calming myself, “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I get so upset, I just thought we were heading to our new home, that’s all. I’m okay.”

But I wasn’t Okay! Having spoken my protest, I was clearly outnumbered. The side trip was happening.

A sense of relief came over me as we drove away from our house and onto the road leading off the Base. I was glad to be leaving!

Driving down the dirt road, towards Tombstone, I started feeling like I was being watched. I kept looking out the window but didn’t “see” anything, besides the variety of cactus that lined the landscape.

The town was much smaller than I had imagined. There were only a few houses that scattered across the desert. The town’s first landmark was the Boothill Graveyard. It stood out as it had a huge limestone sign announcing your arrival.

As we walked around the town, I continued to feel as if I were being watched. I would imagine I was seeing dark shadows darting across the street and hiding behind the buildings. There wasn’t but a few buildings scattered down the main street with several actors walking around dressed in cowboy hats and clothing, with boots to match. As we approached the first building, a single word above the door read, Saloon. There was an older woman sitting on a rocking chair, hair pulled back in a bun, dressed in a long dirty skirt, with an apron tied around her waist. I looked over and smiled at her when my sister, Angie asked, “Who are you smiling at?” Surprised by her question, I pointed over to the woman sitting in the rocking chair, and said, “The old lady sitting in the…” as my head turned, the words disappeared and so did the lady! “No one, I guess.” and I kept walking.

In front of the Saloon was an old wooden carriage. We all piled in and took pictures, as if we were passengers on a long journey just arriving to Tombstone. As I jumped out, something across the street caught my attention. I saw a man throwing a knife into a board held up by 2 posts dug into the ground. He was between the Bird Cage Theater and the general store/restaurant. I yelled over to my sister, “Let’s go over and watch that man throwing knives.” Again, Angie replied, “What man? I don’t see anyone!” I turned back to look at the man and he was gone! I shook my head in disbelief, why was I seeing things Angie wasn’t? She was always my backup. Just then my dad called us all over to the restaurant. I tried not to look at anyone, unless someone said something to me. Not knowing what was real and not real was getting confusing. I even questioned what my eyes were seeing.

After lunch we all started to walk back towards the car, passing the OK Corral on the way out. There were a few people starting to gather for a reenactment of the famous gun fight. Before I could object, we were being told by Mom, “Let’s watch the gunfight, this should be fun. Come over here by me girls.” Motioning us all to stand by her and watch this gunfight. I didn’t care much for guns, they were loud.

As the ‘gunfighters’ took their place, I noticed one man dressed in a long black coat and black hat.  He stood behind the other men. Almost as an observer, motionless and unresponsive to the scenario, he just stood there and watched the show.

I asked my sister, Angie, “Do you see that man over there dressed in black? Behind the ones playing out the fight?” Hoping she would say yes, she answered, “You mean the one standing in the corner that looks like he is glowing?”

“Glowing?” I asked as I turned to look back at the man, “He sure is glowing, I didn’t see that before. Guess he is a prop? Or part of the show?” We stared at the man so long, waiting for him to move or something, my mother asked, “What are you to looking at? Why aren’t you watching the gunfight?”

Without thinking, I said, “We are watching the fight, just waiting to see what that man is going to do.”

“What man? The men in the fight are all in the center of the Corral.” Mother immediately looked at us and scolded us for being distracted, “Just watch the gunfight, it’s almost over.”

Not wanting to get in trouble in front of all these strangers, Angie and I kept our conversation to ourselves. We turned and watched the fight but kept our eyes on the man in black. Who really looked like several of the men in the gunfight, with the sheriff’s star on his coat.

With the gunfight coming to an end, the man in the corner disappeared between glances.

“Where did he go? Did you see him leave?” I asked Angie.

“No, he didn’t walk into the gunfight, did he?” she replied.

We both looked over the men and the glowing man was nowhere to be seen.

“Just another person… there… not there.” Angie said as she shrugged her shoulders.

“I know huh, I guess they are everywhere!”

The gunfight ended and we turned to walk back to the car. We were finally on our way. In 4 hours we would be at our new home.

Turning to Angie, as we loaded back into the station wagon, I said, jokingly, “I can’t wait to see what we find in Glendale.”

To be continued…