Bird Cage Theatre

Arizona · United States · Theatre

26 deaths and bullet holes still in the walls, the wildest and wickedest night spot in the Wild West.

Bird Cage Theatre in Tombstone, Arizona was built in 1881, in the middle of the mining boom, to entertain the residents and visitors of the town. It opened on Christmas Eve 1881, but soon became something quite other than respectable entertainment.

The New York Times called it the wildest, wickedest night spot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast. At least 26 people met their death within its walls. Shootings, stabbings and brawls were common, and several ended fatally. The so called Gallows Room above the stage was notorious for several suicides and hangings. The bullet holes are still there in the walls and ceiling, not as decoration but as traces of real gunfights, which the theatre has preserved rather than repaired.

Bird Cage Theatre has a reputation as the most haunted place in town and is said to house as many as 31 ghosts. Over the years countless visitors and staff have described eerie experiences: apparitions of former prostitutes and workers, ghostly sounds, objects moving on their own and other paranormal activity connected to the violent past of the place.

Today the theatre is a museum where time seems to have stopped, with gaming tables, stage costumes and bullet holes left as they were, and where the bloody history of the Wild West is said to live on in the form of its restless spirits.

Source: tombstonebirdcage.com + ghostcitytours.com + Legends of America + amyscrypt.com

FAQ

Where is Bird Cage Theatre located?

Bird Cage Theatre is in Arizona, United States.

Image: Hawkeye58 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons