Creepy Tales & Famous Outlaws is What You’ll Find at This Oklahoma Cemetery
This Oklahoma cemetery is the final resting place for some of the most notorious outlaws of the west. It's also well known for its creepy tales and the horrific histories of some of the persons that are buried there.
If you're a fan of early American western history and gunslingers, you must visit the gravesites in the 'Boot Hill' section of Summit View Cemetery in Guthrie, OK. You'll see several gravestones for famous outlaws.
The tombstone of outlaw William "Bill" Doolin at Summit View Cemetery in Guthrie, OK.
One of the most famous outlaws buried at 'Boot Hill' in the Summit View Cemetery is William "Bill" Doolin of the infamous Doolin-Dalton Gang. They were also known as the Wild Bunch, the Oklahombres, and the Oklahoma Long Riders. They were the most violent, feared, and hunted gang in the history of the west!
Countless movies, television shows, and books have been based on Bill Doolin and the Wild Bunch. A lot of western character types and villains you're familiar with came from the actual members of the Wild Bunch.
Hit play on the video below for a quick virtual tour of 'Boot Hill' at Summit View Cemetery
Bill Doolin and the Wild Bunch robbed banks, stores, trains, and just about everything and anything else you can think of. Countless bounty hunters, lawmen, and innocents were killed by the gang during their active years. Gun battles and shootouts were commonplace when it came to the members of the Wild Bunch.
Eventually, all the members of the Wild Bunch were killed by lawmen and bounty hunters. The gang had eleven members in total and all died violent deaths in gunfights including its leader Bill Doolin. He was shot and killed by a posse led by Deputy U.S. Marshall Heck Thomas on August 24, 1896 in Quay, Oklahoma.
The tombstone of outlaw Elmer McCurdy at Summit View Cemetery in Guthrie, OK.
One of the creepiest and strangest stories in 'Boot Hill' at Summit View Cemetery is that of Elmer McCurdy. He was also a well-known outlaw in the early American west who made a name for himself robbing banks and trains. His luck ran out in Okesa, Oklahoma on October 4, 1911 when he was killed during a train robbery.
Here's when things get weird. His body was taken to an undertaker in Pawhuska, OK. but no one claimed the body. No family, friends, no one. So in an attempt to better preserve the body, the mortician mummified Elmer McCurdy. He also refused to properly bury him until he was paid for his services. Wait, it gets even weirder!
Watch the video below to learn more about the creepy take of Elmer McCurdy
Eventually, the undertaker placed McCurdy in one of the funeral home's empty rooms and would charge people money to look at his body. Word got out and the body of McCurdy became a popular spectacle and caught the attention of a traveling carnival that wanted to buy the corpse. The mortician refused, so the carnival basically stole McCurdy's body so they could display him in their carnival oddities exhibition.
Throughout the years the body of Elmer McCurdy was bought and traded to other carnivals and somehow along the way it was thought to be a wax dummy or mannequin, not a real corpse. An amusement park in California used his body as a prop in a fun house thinking it wasn't real. Then in 1976, the gruesome discovery was made that this wasn't a prop but an actual body. His remains were sent back to Oklahoma to Guthrie to be properly buried in 'Boot Hill' at the Summit View Cemetery after finally being claimed.