We just got back from spending three days in Tombstone, the town too tough to die. It was a really fun time. Melissa will be making a few posts on our trip there, but I wanted to post on one of the neatest places we went. “The Gunfighter Hall Of Fame”. At first glance not impressive, but we spent three hours there. The museum has over fifty display cases filled with good, the bad and the ugly of the old west. Mainly original and authentic belt rigs, and pistols, some rifles from the most famous names in old west history. Also in the museum are(movie props)mainly gun belts and pistols, worn by iconic actors from some of the most famous movies of all time. Valued at over over three million dollars, this was an amazing place to see. The owner was a great guy, we think he was a child actor once, as to own all this he has to know a lot of people in the business. Also all the movie prop guns are real not fake they will fire a live round if one is put in.

When we first walked in the owner was showing a customer, and iconic piece of movie history, I’ll give you a hint, ” Well punk , go ahead make my day”.. Yep the iconic 44 magnum from the movie Dirty Harry.

The Duke, John Wayne, below is his pistol rig he wore in many a movie along with his rifle and hat WOW.

TOMBSTONE the movie, below props worn by different actors in the movie

Above from the TV show.

The museum also had the props from Butch Cassidy and The Sundance kid, along with the real deal stuff that was taken from them when they were captured. However we got pics of the movie prop stuff, and not a lot of the real deal stuff, still very cool.

O.K. Lets go on to the real deal stuff from real good guys and bad guys.

BONNIE and CLYDE

George Armstrong Custer, below

One of Bloody Bill Anderson’s Confederate raiders, who rampaged through Kansas and Missouri during the Civil war .

Wild Bill Hickok, below

Billy The Kid, below

Jessie James, below

“Black Jack” Ketchum, bank robber ,captured and sent to the gallows to be hung, this display we did not get a picture but the actual hanging rope and a few other things are in the display. Due to a few factors when he was hung his head popped off.

“Doc” Holliday”, Larger than life and short lived, he studied to be a dentist, thus the nickname Doc. Then became a gambler, smoked and drank all the time, after the gunfight at the OK Corral, he went to Colorado for his health, which by this time he was dying of tuberculosis.

The above is all the worldly remains of Doc Holiday. When he died the owner of the sanitarium collected his personal effects and kept them as payment. This all stayed in the family until 1964 when it went to auction and the Gunfighter Hall of fame bought it. Displayed here for almost 60 years.

There were many more displays, Bat Masterson’s cane and guns, other outlaws and good guys. Way too much too see all at one time. What a great time