Bird Cage Theater
- Vicky
- Jan 21, 2022
- 3 min read
Tombstone, Arizona known for its famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral between the lawmen, Earp brothers with Doc Holiday, and outlaws called the Cowboys. There are other sites to see beside the gunfight those include: the Audie Murphy - Medal of Honor Museum, Good Enough Mine, and the Bird Cage Theater.
The Bird Cage Theater opened its doors in Dec 1881. It was a place of entertainment for drinking, gambling, and prostitutes. As you walk in you see a huge bar that was made in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. There is even a bullet hole on the side of the bar and even more bullet holes can be seen throughout the building. The theater would close its doors in 1889 with everything inside being left because they thought they would reopen again. However, these doors wouldn't open again until 1934 when a family purchased the theater. Amber and I, visiting in November 2021, walked up to the bar to sign up for a paranormal tour.
Our guide Mike, who is a sceptic of the paranormal, told us the history of the building as well as various hauntings. Mike, once a police officer who needs evidence to support these so-called hauntings, gave us his own accounts. There’s an old jukebox in the corner that started playing on its own when they were closing during the start of the 2020 COVID lockdown. Mike said he tried to recreate the experience at a later time, but could never get it to start playing.
We went into the theater where he pointed out the many other bullet holes, most of which were in the ceiling but there are a few by the stage as well. He told of other accounts such as seeing someone walking down the stairs of the stage to seeing a figure stand up from Doc Holiday’s faro table. We would go up the stairs to where the Black Moriah hearse is displayed. Above the hearse is a box and doctor’s bag, Mike told us that there’s a kid’s ghost that will move them back and forth. Mike told us that this kid died accidently by drowning. We talked to the kid and watch as the items started moving very slightly. There’s also a casket that Mike told us that was used in the 1993 movie Tombstone. He also showed us a picture of an apparition that had appeared in that room during a tour when they had turned off all the lights.
We walked down the stairs to where the longest poker game was played which ran for 8 years, 5 months, 3 days. Also, downstairs is the whole wine and whiskey cellar that still contains the wine and whiskey in the barrels. On the other side of the poker game are private bordello rooms. One of these rooms was of Josephine Earp, Wyatt Earp’s wife.
We then made our way back up to the main theater section. It was time to have our lights-out part of the tour. We were all given a place to sit. Amber and I had been drawn to the stairs up to the stage since we first arrived and chose to sit there during lights out. Mike told us to get our cameras out and start taking pictures one after another or do video.
During this time our whole tour sat in silence as we tried to see if there were ghosts passing through the area. Amber and I kept feeling a draft of cold pass us, we later checked with Mike about this, there were no fans or air conditioning on. From the spot Amber sat she could also see into the basement, she kept seeing something walking back and forth in the hallway. Amber at one point also felt her hair get a slight tug. I took pictures of all the angles but especially the stairs. At one point I saw a shadow of a cowboy walk down the stairs. I did manage to take a photo of this and showed it to Amber. I should mention that no one was wearing a cowboy hat and no one was standing up. There is a shadow of someone sitting in the photo and that is Amber sitting next to me.
Amber and I reviewed all our photos and talked about our experience. We concluded that the “Wild West” is still raging on at the Bird Cage Theater.
Two photos of our evidence: One a orb that was by some lights (photo by Amber) and a picture of a cowboy.
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