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Tombstone, Arizona grew up around a silver ore mine which was discovered in 1877 by a prospector, and so named because a passing soldier told him that the only rock he would find there would be his own tombstone. As the mining settlement erupted into a boomtown, Tombstone's increasing population created its own social comforts in the empty desert, and the Birdcage Theater was a very well loved example. By the 1880s it played the roles of theater, casino, saloon and brothel, and never closed its doors to customers, regardless of the time of day or the season. It is now a faded, empty version of its former self and serves as a museum of the era in which it flourished. Characters such as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday spent their leisure time here, and the stage, bar and curtained 'bird cages' are still intact. An almost inexhaustible supply of legends of the Old West are centred here, and the ancient bullet holes and blood stains are supposedly not all that is left to remind us of them. A total of 26 deaths took place in the building before it closed it 1889, including that of Virgil Earp. Reports of the smell of cigar smoke and alcohol and the sounds of laughter, singing and music emanating from the deserted building are still made by passers-by. Employees and visitors have described seeing people wandering through the building dressed in 19th Century clothing only to vanish mysteriously, and hearing the sounds of shuffling cards and moving of poker chips. Poltergeist activity such as the moving of artefacts and the unexplained playing of music on the museum sound system is also said to have occurred.
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2 / 5
Review by editor  larapiegeler
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Uneasy spirits of the Birdcage Theater
