Tombstone and The Burning Men

The Burning Men Tombstone in the 1880s was a town built entirely out of wood. The heat and lack of humidity dried out the wood of the town, turning it i

nto a potential tinderbox. Fire was an ever present danger not just in the Old West but in the Old Anywhere. Fire twice struck Tombstone, once in the summer of 1881, and then again the following spring. These two events wiped out large portions of the business district, but perhaps more importantly, it wiped out 40 men. In June of 1881, a fire began from a cigar igniting a barrel of whisky. The fire destroyed 60 buildings in the eastern part of the business district, which was a massive chunk of the city. The fire was exacerbated by bad fire planning.

The town responded by getting some more lumber and rebuilding. And 11 months later it all almost burned down again. A large portion of the town was destroyed again. The Golden Eagle Brewery, spared in the 1881 fire, was consumed by the fire the next year. It was rebuilt and renamed the Crystal Palace.

In the twin infernos, 40 men died.

Some suffocated from lack of oxygen in the brothels. Others burned to death in the saloons. As many people know, when people die a death of pain and suffering, the conditions arise for them to haunt their environs.

These 40 men seem to be among them. The men make their presence known with a stink of the sulfur from the fire, and those who catch a glimpse of their ghostly faces see men with skin black with soot and covered with burns. The men, poor unfortunates, are among the few who met an unnatural demise in Tombstone that was not by the gun. With their searching, suffering glances, the burning men look like they just want someone to take the pain away.

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