Doc Holliday
Active member
Just got back in from an all-day drive, down to the gravesite of notorious Wild West outlaw Johnny Ringo, who is buried down in southeast Arizona. I've always wanted to check out the site, and today I made up my mind to just get it done. Although it's on private property, the owner has installed a gate to allow access and there is a well-worn path leading directly from the small pull-off at the road back to the grave. Well, I went back and took some pictures, then walked back out and down the road, where I talked to the property owner, good ol' boy, been in the area all his life...got to talking about lots of things and I asked if anyone had looked for artifacts around the area...after a few minutes he agreed to meet me over at the gravesite and allow me to sweep the area. That's right, I had just been given permission to metal detect the grave of Johnny Ringo!
Now, since they found Ol' Ringo dead, propped up against a tree with a bullet wound in the side of his head back in 1882, I've always had this 'suicide theory' about the round going in one side, coming out the other and burying itself in the tree...and even if Ringo was passed out drunk and someone shot him through the head to make it LOOK like a suicide, well...the bullet had to go somewhere, right? The rancher told me that everyone THINKS it's the tree right next to the grave where they found him, but it's really the OTHER tree in the background, with one of the trunks lying on the ground. It's a really weird looking tree, with now only three trunks (at one time four) so it would have made a great landmark to bury something underneath. First, I ran my detector along the trunk and about 3 feet from the end of it I got a solid low tone...consistently, every time. We took a closer look and we saw a small weathered hole in the outer trunk, and right where half the trunk had split away, you could see the track of something that had pushed aside the wood as it went deeper into the tree, and that 'path' led directly down to the part of the tree where I was getting tone! Could the bullet that killed Johnny Ringo still be lodged inside the tree trunk, after all these years? I had no saw, no axe to cut it open...but it sure got his attention and we narrowed the spot down as best we could.
At this point he walked around the tree and encouraged me to keep detecting. I waved around the base of the tree and I got a very loud, very high pitched tone mixed with some midranges, again and again, every time, consistently. Mixed targets? Images of Ringos stash of gold and silver coins buried next to the tree ran through my mind. Using pinpoint, we narrowed it down and again made a note of the spot. I am absolutely certain something IS right there.
Then I went around the actual gravesite as close as I could get to the rocks on top...went around and got ZERO. Double checked my detector with a quick air test of a nearby metal pole and was consistently ringing at about 18" out.
Now, being on his private property, I wasn't about to start tearing into the tree, or digging right there, but he sure was interested in those two spots and said he will check into it. Who knows? We may hear of a historic Wild West 'find' soon....or maybe just a new Ferrari at the ranch and no news at all.
No 'fortune and glory' for me, but any recovery of historic artifacts is just as important. I hope he finds something. I would be proud to have been part of it.
Come take a walk out to the grave of Johnny Ringo with me:
[video]https://youtu.be/E0_S76Bhbis[/video]
[attachment 341865 P1000265xsm.jpg]
[attachment 341867 P1000268xsm.jpg]
[attachment 341866 P1000266xsm.jpg]
Now, since they found Ol' Ringo dead, propped up against a tree with a bullet wound in the side of his head back in 1882, I've always had this 'suicide theory' about the round going in one side, coming out the other and burying itself in the tree...and even if Ringo was passed out drunk and someone shot him through the head to make it LOOK like a suicide, well...the bullet had to go somewhere, right? The rancher told me that everyone THINKS it's the tree right next to the grave where they found him, but it's really the OTHER tree in the background, with one of the trunks lying on the ground. It's a really weird looking tree, with now only three trunks (at one time four) so it would have made a great landmark to bury something underneath. First, I ran my detector along the trunk and about 3 feet from the end of it I got a solid low tone...consistently, every time. We took a closer look and we saw a small weathered hole in the outer trunk, and right where half the trunk had split away, you could see the track of something that had pushed aside the wood as it went deeper into the tree, and that 'path' led directly down to the part of the tree where I was getting tone! Could the bullet that killed Johnny Ringo still be lodged inside the tree trunk, after all these years? I had no saw, no axe to cut it open...but it sure got his attention and we narrowed the spot down as best we could.
At this point he walked around the tree and encouraged me to keep detecting. I waved around the base of the tree and I got a very loud, very high pitched tone mixed with some midranges, again and again, every time, consistently. Mixed targets? Images of Ringos stash of gold and silver coins buried next to the tree ran through my mind. Using pinpoint, we narrowed it down and again made a note of the spot. I am absolutely certain something IS right there.
Then I went around the actual gravesite as close as I could get to the rocks on top...went around and got ZERO. Double checked my detector with a quick air test of a nearby metal pole and was consistently ringing at about 18" out.
Now, being on his private property, I wasn't about to start tearing into the tree, or digging right there, but he sure was interested in those two spots and said he will check into it. Who knows? We may hear of a historic Wild West 'find' soon....or maybe just a new Ferrari at the ranch and no news at all.
No 'fortune and glory' for me, but any recovery of historic artifacts is just as important. I hope he finds something. I would be proud to have been part of it.
Come take a walk out to the grave of Johnny Ringo with me:
[video]https://youtu.be/E0_S76Bhbis[/video]
[attachment 341865 P1000265xsm.jpg]
[attachment 341867 P1000268xsm.jpg]
[attachment 341866 P1000266xsm.jpg]
