Boothill Graveyard, Tombstone, Arizona (6)

Boot Hill, or Boothill, is the given name of many

cemeteries A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

, chiefly in the Western United States. During the 19th and early 20th century it was a common name for the burial grounds of gunfighters, or those who " died with their boots on" (i.e., violently).

Origin of term

Although many towns use the name "Boot Hill," the first graveyard named "Boot Hill" was at

Hays, Kansas Hays is a city in and the county seat of Ellis County, Kansas, United States. The largest city in northwestern Kansas, it is the economic and cultural center of the region. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 21,116. It is ...

, 5 years before the founding of Dodge City, Kansas. The term alludes to the fact that many of its occupants were cowboys who "died with their boots on," the implication here being they died violently, as in gunfights or by hanging, and not of natural causes. The term became commonplace throughout the Old West, with some Boot Hills becoming famous, such as Dodge City, Kansas, Tombstone, Arizona, and Deadwood, South Dakota.

Boothill Graveyard

The most notable use of the name "Boot Hill" is at the Boothill Graveyard in Tombstone, Arizona. Formerly called the "Tombstone Cemetery", the plot features the graves of Billy Clanton,

Frank McLaury Frank McLaury born Robert Findley McLaury (March 3, 1849 – October 26, 1881) was an American outlaw. He and his brother Tom owned a ranch outside Tombstone, Arizona, Arizona Territory during the 1880s, and had ongoing conflicts with lawmen W ...

and

Tom McLaury Tom McLaury (June 30, 1853 – October 26, 1881) was an American outlaw. He and his brother Frank owned a ranch outside Tombstone, Arizona, Arizona Territory during the 1880s. He was a member of a group of outlaws Cowboys and cattle rustlers th ...

; the three men who were killed during the famed Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Located on the northwest corner of the town, the graveyard is believed to hold over 300 persons, 205 of which are recorded. This was due to some people (especially Chinese and Jewish immigrants) being buried without record. There is a separate Jewish cemetery nearby with some markers restored, and there are also marked graves of Chinese. However, most of the loss was due to neglect of grave markers and theft of these wooden relics as souvenirs. For example, when former Tombstone Mayor John Clum visited Tombstone for the first Helldorado celebration in 1929, he was unable to locate the grave of his wife Mary, who had been buried in Boothill. The Tombstone "boothill" cemetery was closed in late 1886, as the new "City Cemetery" on Allen Street opened. Thereafter, Boothill was referred to as the "old city cemetery" and neglected. It was used after that only to bury a few later outlaws (some legally hanged and one shot in a robbery), as well as a few colorful Western characters and one man (Emmett Crook Nunnally) who had spent many volunteer hours restoring it. Currently, the Boothill Graveyard is open to the public for a $5 fee, and is a popular stop for tourists visiting Tombstone.

Boot Hill Museum

Boot Bill Cemetery, 'Toothless Nell', Dodge City, Kansas (8735446744)

The Boot Hill Museum is located on the original location of the Boot Hill Cemetery in Dodge City, Kansas.

In popular culture

Boot Hill is the name of the cemetery in Dodge City in the ''Gunsmoke'' radio series. In many episodes, the marshal (

Matt Dillon Matthew Raymond Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including an Oscar and Grammy nomination. Dillon made his feature film debut in '' Over the Edge'' (1979) and established himself as a te ...

) would allude to "putting you in Boot Hill", or "another man headed to Boot Hill". In the first season of the ''Gunsmoke'' television series, the introduction to each episode showed Matt Dillon walking around Boot Hill reflecting on the deaths of men buried there. Boot Hill cemetery is a main plot point in the Twilight Zone episode '' Mr. Garrity and the Graves''. Boothill Graveyards are referenced in many films such as '' Tombstone'' (1993), '' Wyatt Earp'' (1994), '' The Magnificent Seven'' (1960) and '' Gunfight at the O.K. Corral'' (1957), during which it was repeatedly sung over the recurring title theme song by

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American Singing, singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to hi ...

. In the later half of the movie Laine changes the theme to: '' Boot Hill'' is the name of a

role playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal a ...

first published in 1975 by TSR, Inc., the original publisher of '' Dungeons & Dragons''. It was the third game released by TSR and notable as one of the first games to use ten-sided dice. Boot Hill also appears in the first-person shooter video game ''

Borderlands 2 ''Borderlands 2'' is a 2012 first-person shooter video game developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games. Taking place five years following the events of ''Borderlands'' (2009), the game is again set on the planet of Pandora. T ...

'', located in 'The Dust', and playing home to a 'truxican standoff'.

Carl Perkins Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...

wrote in 1959 a song " The Ballad of Boot Hill".

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

recorded it for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

and it was released in the same year. A

Spaghetti Western The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

named '' Boot Hill'' was released in 1969 and it featured Terence Hill and Bud Spencer. The first of three parts that compose the Neil Young song "Country Girl", that appears in his 1970 album with Crosby, Stills & Nash, " Déjà Vu", is called "Whiskey Boot Hill". The Outlaws' song " Hurry Sundown" also references "lying" an unnamed character in "Boot Hill". Several themes from Bob Dylan’s soundtrack album " Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid" (1973) contain the verse "Up to Boot Hill they'd like to send ya". The song " The Ballad of Billy the Kid" from

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...

's 1973 Album ''

Piano Man Piano Man refers to a male pianist. Piano Man may also refer to: Music * ''Piano Man'' (Billy Joel album), a 1973 rock album by Billy Joel ** "Piano Man" (song), a 1973 song from the album * ''Piano Man'' (Hilton Ruiz album), 1975 * ''Piano Man'' ...

'' contains the lyrics "And he never had a sweetheart, but he finally found a home, underneath the boothill grave that bears his name". "Boot Hill" (unknown) is the first track on

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, ...

's 1991 posthumous release The Sky is Crying. It was recorded in early 1989 and is one of the last fully produced songs completed prior to his untimely death in 1990. In cricket, the term 'Boot Hill' is used to refer to the fielding position of short-leg because of its proximity to the batsman and high likelihood of being hit by the ball, making the position particularly dangerous. Players fielding in this position typically wear a helmet and other protection. In the comic book series ''Preacher'', the Saint of Killers rests at a tomb on Boot Hill when not actively pursuing his goals. Boot Hill Cemetery is the name of the graveyard at Phantom Manor in Disneyland Paris.

Gallery

Tombstone, Arizona

File:BootHillCemeteryTombstone.jpg, The entrance to Boothill Graveyard
File:TombstoneGraves.JPG, Graves of Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers File:Boot Hill 02.jpg, Alleged grave of John Wesley Heath File:BHGravestone1.jpg, Grave of George Johnson File:TwoChinese.jpg, Grave of "Two Chinese" File:Gene Barry Bat Masterson Tombstone Arizona 1960.JPG, Gene Barry as Bat Masterson standing next to Lester Moore's grave in 1960 File:Tombstone Boot Hill, FSA, 1940.jpg, The Boothill Graveyard in 1940 File:TombstoneinTombstone.jpg, Graves of Dan Dowd, Red Sample, Tex Howard, Bill Delaney and Dan Kelly in 1940 File:BHTCactus.jpg, A blooming prickly pear at Boothill Graveyard

Deadwood, South Dakota

File:Mt Moriah Cemetery.jpg, Deadwood's Boot Hill, the Mount Moriah Cemetery File:Deadwood Cemetery- Wild Bill and Calamity Jane.jpg, Plaques for Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane File:Steve and Charlie Utter.jpg, Grave of Wild Bill Hickok File:Grabill - Wild Bills Monument.jpg, Bust of Wild Bill Hickok in 1891 File:Wild Bill Monument Deadwood South Dakota.jpg, Bust of Wild Bill Hickok File:Seth Bullock Tombstone.jpg, Grave of Seth Bullock and his wife Martha

Dodge City, Kansas

File:Boot Hill Museum Entrance (Great Western Hotel).jpg, The entrance to the Boot Hill Museum File:Boot Hill Museum Shops - West.jpg, The shops at Boot Hill Museum, including a reconstruction of the

Long Branch Saloon The Long Branch Saloon was a well-known saloon in Dodge City, Kansas from about 1874 to 1885. It had several owners, most notably Chalk Beeson and gunfighter Luke Short. The establishment provided gambling and live entertainment, including B ...

File:Graves at Boot Hill, Dodge City, KS, 1959(1).jpg, Graves at the Boot Hill Cemetery in 1959 File:Hanging Tree at Dodge City (color print).jpg, Graves and the Hangman's Tree File:Hangman's tree, Dodge City, KS, 1959.jpg, The Hangman's Tree File:John M Lawson at Boot Hill Cemetery.jpg, John M Lawson at Boot Hill Cemetery

Miscellaneous

File:152631159106 0 ALB.jpg, The Boot Hill Cemetery at Tilden, Texas in 2006 File:738340030206 0 ALB.jpg, Historical marker in front of the Tilden Boot Hill Cemetery File:Soapy Smith grave Skagway 2009.jpg, Soapy Smith's grave at the Skagway, Alaska, Boot Hill File:Frank Reid Grave 1 Skagway 2009.jpg, Grave of Frank H. Reid in Skagway File:Boot Hill Billings, Montana.JPG, The Boothill Cemetery at

Coulson, Montana Coulson is a ghost town located in Yellowstone County, Montana, United States, on the north bank of the Yellowstone River, approximately one mile east of present-day downtown Billings Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Monta ...

File:Virginiacity.jpg, View of Virginia City, Nevada, from Boot Hill

List of places with Boot Hill cemeteries

Alma, New Mexico Alma is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Catron County, New Mexico, United States, north of Glenwood and south of Reserve. Demographics History Sergeant James C. Cooney laid out a town on site of Alma in the early 187 ...

Anamosa, Iowa Anamosa is a city in Jones County, Iowa, United States. The population was 5,450 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Jones County. History What is now Anamosa was founded as the settlement of Buffalo Forks in 1838 and incorporated as ...

* Billings, Montana * Bodie, California *

Bonanza, Idaho Bonanza is a ghost town in Custer County, Idaho, United States. It was originally established as a mining town. As of 2005, the land is privately owned but open to the public. Custer has a museum for the gold-rush era where visitors can exper ...

* Calabasas, Santa Cruz County, Arizona * Calico, San Bernardino County, California *

Canyon City, Oregon Canyon City is a city in Grant County, Oregon, United States. It is the county seat of Grant County, and is about south of John Day on U.S. Highway 395. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 703. Geography Canyon City is a ...

* Canyon Diablo, Arizona *

Columbia, California Columbia is a census-designated place (CDP) located in the Sierra Nevada foothills in Tuolumne County, California, United States. It was founded as a boomtown in 1850 when gold was found during the California Gold Rush, and was known as the "Ge ...

* Cripple Creek, Colorado * Deadwood, South Dakota * Dodge City, Kansas * El Paso, Texas *

Fort Sill Fort Sill is a United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles (136.8 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. It covers almost . The fort was first built during the Indian Wars. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

Guthrie, Oklahoma Guthrie is a city and county seat in Logan County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City Metroplex. The population was 10,191 at the 2010 census, a 2.7 percent increase from the figure of 9,925 in the 2000 census. First kno ...

Hartville, Wyoming Hartville is a town in Platte County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 62 at the 2010 census. History During the Old West period, Hartville was the scene of multiple shootings. Many of the victims were cowboys and are buried at the to ...

* Idaho City, Idaho *

Leadville, Colorado The City of Leadville is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorad ...

* Livermore, California * Mowry, Arizona *Newton, Kansas * Ogallala, Nebraska * Pioche, Nevada * Powderville, Montana * Riley Camp, Quay County, New Mexico *

Seney Township, Michigan Seney Township is a civil township of Schoolcraft County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the township population was 119. With a population density of only , Seney Township is the least-densely populated municipality in th ...

* Sidney, Nebraska *

Silver Reef, Utah Silver Reef is a ghost town in Washington County, Utah, United States, about northeast of St. George and west of Leeds. Silver Reef was established after John Kemple, a prospector from Nevada, discovered a vein of silver in a sandstone format ...

* Skagway, Alaska * Tascosa, Texas * Tilden, Texas *

Tincup, Colorado Tincup, or Tin Cup, originally named Virginia City, is an unincorporated community in Gunnison County, Colorado, United States. The community was once a prominent mining town, but is now a community of summer homes with a few year-round residents ...

* Tombstone, Arizona * Valentine, Nebraska, also known a
Minnechaduza Cemetery
* Virginia City, Montana * Virginia City, Nevada *

Weaver, Arizona Weaver, or Weaverville, is a former gold mining town, now a deserted ghost town, in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. All that remains are some rusting mining machinery, a partially restored cemetery, and the ruins of a stone house. Histor ...

* Webster, Park County, Colorado * Prison graveyard at New Westminster, British Columbia. * Cemetery name given by the prisoners at the Japanese-run Batu Lintang POW and civilian internment camp in

Kuching Kuching (), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River ...

, Sarawak, Borneo during World War II. * Fictional cemetery at the end of Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris.