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Saddle up, because the Wild West was full of secrets that history couldn't bury! Join us as we count down the most jaw-dropping mysteries from the days of outlaws, lost treasures, and unsolved crimes of the American frontier! From cursed ghost towns to vanishing legends, these tales will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about the Wild West!
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00:00What about the banks? They're easy.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo. And today, we're counting down our picks for the craziest
00:09mysteries dating back to the days of the Wild West.
00:13Go ahead then. Have a look.
00:17Number 20. The Lost Cement Mine
00:21If legends are anything to go by, then there should be plenty of areas out west riddled with
00:26treasure. One that's rumored to exist is the cement mine, a supposed location where gold is
00:32embedded within stone. It was first allegedly stumbled upon in 1857 by two men traveling
00:40through the Sierra Nevada. One kept a piece, only to later give it to the doctor, treating him.
00:45The provider's search circulated, and soon a widespread search had begun. It ranged several
00:51locations from Mono Lake to Devil's Postpile. Just a fair warning, the elevation gain is
00:57noticeable. The peak is around 7,500 feet. It hasn't been officially found, leading to
01:03speculation that it had already been mined. However, if you're feeling adventurous, and
01:07particularly lucky, you can explore the mountain range and see if you happen to come across it.
01:13Number 19. The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine
01:16Way out in Arizona, there are tales of a mine nestled within the Superstition Mountains.
01:22Waltz goes inside, and what does he find? Gold everywhere.
01:26The Lost Dutchman's Mine was reportedly first found during the 19th century, and to this day,
01:32people search for its whereabouts. There are different variations of the tale, with some claiming
01:38the treasure belonged to the local indigenous tribe, and others that insist that it was discovered
01:43by a Dutch immigrant who offered up the map on his deathbed. Plenty have embarked on the search,
01:49with some meeting their fates along the way. Whether they're shot or simply go missing,
01:54it seems that someone out there is determined to not let anyone know its whereabouts. And with the
02:00most recent disappearance occurring in 2020, it seems they're still out there today.
02:05I have a hard time looking at his pictures right now.
02:08Number 18. Tombstone. On the surface, it appears to be like any other once bustling western town.
02:15Tombstone was founded in 1879. There was a silver streak through the area that brought miners to
02:22the area, and once they found out, within one year it grew to 5,000 people, which was the largest
02:26town in the American Southwest. However, beneath the kitschy exterior of Tombstone, Arizona,
02:31there's a dark history of deadly rivalries and crime. As such, there are now tales of ghosts that
02:37linger in some of the area's most infamous areas. O.K. Corral is home to the spirits of several men
02:44who
02:44died in an 1881 shootout. Fittingly, Boot Hill Graveyard is also said to be teeming with paranormal
02:50activity. Those who've witnessed it themselves have reported seeing shadowy figures amongst the
02:55headstones and hearing unsettling voices, including that of a child emanating from an unmarked burial
03:02spot. If you're feeling brave, then you can visit and see for yourself, but we'd recommend not sticking
03:08around. 17. The Aurora Alien
03:23This incident may be stranger than fiction, but that doesn't automatically make it so. In 1897,
03:30residents of Aurora, Texas were shocked when a strange object crash-landed in their town.
03:34Over the next few months, the tale spread to more than 20 additional states from...
03:39The oblong object supposedly housed an extraterrestrial who didn't survive the impact.
03:45Witnesses who've been interviewed have verified the tale, and one investigator even found a headstone
03:50in the local cemetery that appeared to depict a UFO. Ufologists across the country scramble to
03:55uncover the truth behind the possible alien graveyard. It's even been claimed that handling the debris
04:01caused someone to develop arthritis. However, others aren't quite so convinced. One citizen of the
04:08town insisted the entire thing was a tourism-motivated fabrication. However, should it be true,
04:14it would signal one of the first known instances of alien life in the United States.
04:19I would say that the probability of the crash actually happening is probably 85%. I think there's strong
04:27evidence for that. 16. Albert and Henry Fountain
04:31Given his importance, the fact that his fate remains a mystery is truly unsettling. Throughout
04:36the 19th century, Albert Fountain made a name for himself, both as a soldier in the Civil War
04:42and is a politician in the Texas Senate. Despite his relative fame, not a single soul has a clue
04:48where he or his son disappeared to in 1896. The two were last known to be in white sands,
04:55where their wagon was found along with puddles of blood. There are several suspects in this
05:00sordid tale. One of the most widespread is a man named Lee, a known rival of fountains. Others
05:06suspect outlaw Tom Ketchum. Known for his involvement with other formidable bandits,
05:11such as Butch Cassidy and the Hole in the Wall gang. No matter who it was, one thing is certain,
05:17they seemingly got away with it. As for the remaining members of the Fountain Clan,
05:23Albert's wife, Mariana Perez, remained in Mesilla, New Mexico for the rest of her life.
05:2815. The Thunderbird Photo You may think all dinosaurs went extinct millions
05:34of years before the Wild West as we know it was formed. Yet, according to legend, one may have been
05:40seen and hunted as recently as the 19th century. In 1890, a newspaper reported that six men had
05:46shot what they called a Thunderbird right out of the sky. The accompanying photo showed a large group
05:57surrounding the catch, which appeared to be none other than a pterosaur. It was described as having
06:03no feathers and reaching 92 feet in length, making the claim seem more legitimate. There's plenty of
06:09pushback to the tale, with the most common dissent being that it was created to help drum up tourism
06:15in the Arizona town. 14. The Servant Girl Annihilator
06:22Before Jack the Ripper terrorized London, the United States had their own version of a vicious
06:27serial killer. In the 1880s, nine women and girls were tragically slain by a figure known as the
06:34Servant Girl Annihilator. All attacked in the middle of the night, several of them with an axe.
06:38All were attacked in their own homes, and were all positioned in the same way after their death.
06:44At least six said sharp items left in their ears, a morbid connection that added to the horror.
06:50Servant Girl murders happened away from the centers of the national media. Austin was considered to be
06:59something of a backwater. What's more is that some believed the perpetrator had otherworldly powers,
07:06which he used to become invisible during his crimes. Hundreds of men were arrested in connection
07:12to the murders, and one suspect was even shot. To this day, however, it's unknown as to who could
07:19have carried out such gruesome crimes. I think what we've done in this case is we've shed a light
07:26on a very dark corner of history, and we've illuminated how this community suffered as a
07:33consequence. Number 13. The Bloody Benders
07:37The Servant Girl Annihilator wasn't the only one to terrorize the Wild West. Further towards the
07:43Midwest and Kansas, an entire family of bloodthirsty murderers took several innocent lives.
07:48It was inside this cabin along the Osage Mission Trail in southeastern Kansas,
07:53John Bender Sr., his wife, their son John Jr., and daughter Kate, are said to have carried out
07:59their devious acts. The Bender family supposedly used their home both as a bed and breakfast as a trap,
08:06where they lured unsuspecting guests inside before bludgeoning them and slitting their throats.
08:11By 1873, they were believed to have been responsible for at least 11 deaths.
08:16It's believed the Benders would have continued their twisted reign of terror had they not killed
08:22a prominent doctor and brother of a Kansas state senator. Before they could be apprehended,
08:27however, they were able to escape into a territory near the Texas-New Mexico border,
08:32where authorities were known to enter and never return. Several people suspected to be them
08:37have been arrested, but to this day, what ultimately became of them is still unknown.
08:43What happened to them? Where'd they go?
08:45Number 12. Did Jesse James survive?
08:48As one of the most infamous outlaws of his time, it's no wonder that the events of his life and
08:54death are both questioned to this day.
08:56Jesse's death was worldwide news.
09:00According to historians, Jesse James was assassinated in 1882 by Robert Ford. However,
09:05not everyone is so convinced that's the case. Some have claimed that Ford shot someone else with the
09:12goal of buying James time to run. That's since been contested, but in 1948, a 101-year-old man claimed
09:20to be James. When he died a few years later, his tombstone displayed the criminal's full name.
09:25James' relatives have denied his claim. Considering his autopsy revealed nearly three dozen bullet wounds,
09:31among other injuries, it appears he may have been an influential Western figure in his own right.
09:37Today, Jesse James is remembered as a victim of his own infamy and his own doing.
09:43Number 11. Etta Place
09:45While her partners in crime, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, are widely known,
09:50she's managed to slip under the radar both legally and historically.
09:59From her true identity to her exact involvement in the Wild Bunch, everything about Etta Place
10:04is a mystery waiting. One of the most confounding aspects of her life is the end. It's believed
10:10that she traveled to South America with Sundance, but by 1907, she had reportedly moved back to San
10:17Francisco. She was never seen again, but there were rumors that she moved out to Texas or New York
10:23following the death of her former beau. Whoever she was, or wherever she is, one thing's for sure,
10:30she's solidified herself as one of the biggest enigmas in the Wild West.
10:38Number 10. The Bodie Curse
10:41Today, Bodie is a historic California national park, but it's also a ghost town, a creepy relic
10:47from the bygone days of the Gold Rush. As such, it tends to be pretty tempting for those
10:53who want to take a piece of history with them for the road.
10:56Blue gold. This will fetch a very fine price.
11:02To prevent vandalism, the staff who patrol and maintain the park invented the idea of a curse
11:07that would bring bad luck upon anyone who took items from Bodie. The only thing is, it worked.
11:19The parks and recreation staff receive apology letters almost daily from people convinced
11:23they're suffering various ailments after stealing slices of Bodie history. Is it true? Well, we're
11:30not going to tempt fate and find out.
11:32And it vibrates. I wouldn't touch that, all right?
11:36Number 9. Tom Horn and Willie Nickel
11:39Death is always a tragedy, even in the Old West. But did Tom Horn really shoot 14-year-old Willie
11:45Nickel? Or did he take the fall for someone else?
11:49I'm going to kill you. I'll just take it between us. It's who gets who first.
11:54One thing's for sure, Horn shot a lot of people and was hired to root out cattle rustlers by
12:00any means necessary. But while there were witnesses who swore that the unapologetically violent Horn
12:07couldn't have committed the deed, the hired gunman ultimately hung for the crime regardless.
12:17Some historians claim that local citizens were tired of Horn hanging around and decided to frame
12:22him, while others believe that the gunslinger mistakenly thought Willie Nickel was actually
12:26his adult father. Since Horn usually shot his victims from hundreds of yards out, we'll probably
12:31never know the truth.
12:33Number 8. The Lost Ships of the Desert
12:36There are a number of folk tales that describe mysterious vessels having run aground in strange
12:42places, such as the Colorado Desert. One of these involves a Spanish galleon that's buried under
12:48what's now known as the Salton Sea. There's also a ship said to have belonged to the explorer Juan
12:53de Turbe, who, after becoming landlocked, escaped on foot and left a fortune in Black Pearls behind for
12:58future adventurers. There's even stories of a Viking longboat showing up in the Mexican Badlands, although
13:06some historians chalk this one up to wild stories concocted by imaginative prospectors.
13:12Number 7. Where is Cochise?
13:15Cochise was chief of the Chicanan Band of the Chiricahua Apache, an iconic leader in the Apache
13:21Wars, which took place roughly between 1849 and 1886. Cochise has many famous stories to
13:28his name. As to how his story ends, however, there remains much mystery. No one knows the location of
13:39his grave. It is known that Cochise died of natural causes in 1874 and that he's buried somewhere in
13:45Arizona's Dragoon Mountains. His people knew the exact location, as did Cochise's friend and peace
13:51broker Tom Jeffords, but no one was telling at the time. Today, there's no one alive that knows where
13:57Cochise lays in rest. It is an enduring mystery. Number 6. Did Bill Longley cheat death? There was
14:05more than one Wild Bill out there in the Old West. Enter Wild Bill Longley, an infamous gunfighter who
14:15was tried and hung for the murder of his childhood friend, Wilson Anderson. Bill Longley was wanted
14:20for a dozen killings. Before Longley was jailed for murder, he held up the Burleson Depot in Texas
14:26and escaped with $50,000 of the railroad's money. Or was he? Well, actually, he was, as DNA evidence
14:34obtained from an exhumation in 2000 by the Smithsonian proved. However, for years, there were reports that
14:40it was actually a family relative of Bill's that lay in that grave. So, is that DNA evidence of a
14:48body swap? Or is the discovery of a Catholic medallion, reportedly worn by Longley on that
14:54fateful day, irrefutable proof that Wild Bill bit the bullet? The debate continues.
15:07Number 5. Henry Plummer's Gold
15:10Henry Plummer was playing both sides and getting away with it.
15:18He was an elected sheriff for Bannock, Montana, while at the same time leading a group of outlaws
15:24known as the Innocents on raids, robberies, and shootings.
15:29Time eventually caught up to Plummer and his cohorts. However, with many being tried and hanged
15:34for their crimes, others were taken out by vigilante posses in the area. While Plummer himself was
15:47hanged on January 10, 1864, he was said to have left behind a stash of gold to support his wife,
15:52but if she knew where it was, she wasn't telling. Furthermore, Plummer was actually given a trial
15:58after his hanging, and that gold could still be out there.
16:02Number 4. John Baptiste
16:05There's something truly reprehensible about robbing the dead.
16:12If John Baptiste held any qualms about it, he hid them pretty well. Baptiste was a gravedigger who
16:19moonlighted as a grave robber. That is, until he was caught. He was exiled to a small island in
16:24Utah's Great Salt Lake and left to rot. Three weeks later, officials came to check on him,
16:29but Baptiste was nowhere to be found. Parts of a small shack were torn down, presumably to build a
16:35makeshift raft, while a cow was also found skin. Again, presumably to make leather. John Baptiste was
16:42never found. Not even the skeletal remains found near the island could be linked to the criminal,
16:47because these remains had a ball and chain attached to the leg, and Baptiste did not.
16:53Number 3. Butch Cassidy Makes It Out Alive
16:59Movie fans remember the classic ending sequence to 1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,
17:04where the infamous outlaws go out in a hail of bullets against the Bolivian army. But did Butch
17:15actually make it out alive? Many people were later quoted on their reported run-ins with Cassidy
17:21years after his reported death, with one report claiming that Butch had reconstructive surgery
17:26performed in Paris. Others say that Cassidy returned to see a family in Utah, while others still
17:32counter this by saying no one ever saw him arrive back home. Even DNA evidence acquired from a
17:40reported burial site under an area known as Tom's Cabin didn't prove enough to confirm that it was
17:46indeed Butch Cassidy, and so the legend lives on. 2. Bring Me the Head of Pancho Villa
17:58You don't have to know all that much about the Mexican Revolution or General Pancho Villa to be
18:04creeped out by our penultimate pick. That's because, well, it deals with a missing head. Villa was
18:11brutally assassinated in 1923 and interred in a mausoleum, which was where he stayed until sometime
18:18in 1926. It was then that his skull was stolen from the tomb and lost to the sands of time.
18:24Some claim
18:25that the secret Yale Society's skull and bones have it locked up in their tomb, while older rumors
18:30have said that Villa's head was taken by adventurer Emil Holmdahl and sold to a mysterious benefactor
18:36who collected famous heads. Now that's a creepy mystery.
18:561. Billy the Kid Lives? Did Sheriff Pat Garrett really kill Billy the Kid?
19:08Some say no, that Garrett actually helped the kid, born Henry McCarty, aka William H. Bonnie,
19:15to escape. This flies against the coroner's jury reports that the body they examined was indeed
19:20McCarty. But hey, it sort of makes sense, what with Billy's legend being what it was.
19:25Yeah, I'm here, you bastard!
19:33Specifically, there was a man named Brushy Bill Roberts who came forward in 1948,
19:37seeking a pardon for Billy the Kid's crimes.
19:41You ask me if I have scars? Yes, sir. I have my scars.
19:50There was also the family of John Miller, who went so far as to have DNA examined,
19:55in an inconclusive attempt to link Miller to McCarty. If the kid did make it out alive,
20:00he sure did a great job at keeping quiet. Which of these mysteries shocked you the most?
20:05Let us know in the comments below.
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