Echoes of the Southwest

Along with all the interesting people who were there, we saw lots of booths with the most unusual horror/science fiction themed items.  Here are some we saw:

The Crowd Sharon and I decided to attend Comic Con in downtown Phoenix this past weekend.  We wore our zombie housewives bowling shirts hoping someone would want to talk about our book (and they did).  I think we had the most fun watching all the people in their costumes.  Many seem to become the character they were portraying and loved the attention.  They did an amazing job so I wanted the people who where there to have their own post along with the celebrities.  I have a couple more posts on the event to follow.  Here are some of the ones we saw: Ghost Hunters International's Paul Bradford and Scott Tepperman This person admitted smiling under the mask while I was taking the picture. Too bad I couldn't see it. The hulk and other action heroes. (I am not up on my action heroes) White Power Ranger Can you say Star Wars anyone? Ghostbusters with the evil painting. Steampunk Looking for Bigfoot at the convention.  Can I interes

As much as the mining towns attracted the good people, families, and businessmen, they also enticed the bad individuals as well. With the many miners willing to spend their hard earned money on whiskey and women; the saloons and brothels quickly grew in numbers. These places brought in the bandits, gamblers, soiled doves, and other greedy bastards. The battles between the lawmen and outlaws became as famous as the people themselves. Many of the known and lesser known outlaws enjoyed terrorizing the innocent and weaker people. They were eventually caught and dealt with. Most of them ended up dead and buried somewhere in the southwest desert. (An  exert  from my book, "Dead and Buried in the Southwest Desert")

Founded in 1692 by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, the San Xavier Mission can be found around 10 miles south of downtown Tucson, Arizona.  This huge white building on the San Xavier Indian Reservation was named after an innovator and Christian missionary.  Because natural springs used to be in the area, the mission was often called the “place where the water appears”. The original building was only two miles away from the present day structure.  In 1770, it was attack by Apache and destroyed.  They started the construction on the present building in 1783 and finish by 1797.  The massive structure is a Moorish inspired design, adobe, with large wood-carved doors to greet you at the entrance.  Inside, you will be amazed by the many statues and mural paintings.  You feel like you have been transported back in time as you walk around the mission.  The place has often been referred to as “the white dove of the desert”. The church retains its original purpose of ministering to t

In 1887, Tucson was rocked by an earthquake.  The center of the quake was about 200 miles southeast of Tucson near Bavispe, Mexico.  Since it occurred 13 years before the Richter scale was presented to the world, they roughly guessed it as a 7.2.  The only structure damaged by the quake was at San Xavier.  One of the adobe walls crumbled down.  A huge plume of dust was seen cascading over the old Santa Catalinas mountain range.  The Tombstone Epitaph noted that in the Dragoon Mountains a volcano has erupted right after the earthquake. 

“Well, I’m a standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, And such a fine sight to see, It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford, Slowin’ down to take a look at me” The town of Winslow will live on because of the 1972 song, “Take it Easy”, performed by the Eagles.  The song is about an unhappy singer with woman troubles.  Winslow is in the heart of Navajo County where around 10,000 people call it home.  There are two gentlemen the city could have been named after.  Edward F. Winslow who was the president of St. Louis and San Francisco was one of the men, and Tom Winslow who was a prospector and lived in the area.  In 1930, the Harvey House (the La Posada Hotel) opened its doors and was designed by Mary Colter.  In 1957, the hotel shut down and the building was used by the Santa Fe Railroad for offices.  Winslow was one of the stops along U.S. Route 66, but fell on hard times when Interstate 40 was built in the 1970’s. When “Take it Easy” came out in 1972 there wer

My friend Mike took a trip to the Grand Canyon with some friends.  They decided to stop near the south rim visitor center. While hiking on a hidden path and climbing down near the canyon, they saw this tree with a bizarre amount of discarded chewing gum stuck to the trunk.  I just don't know what to think of this. Pictures courtesy of Mike Brieaddy http://mikeyatthemovies11.blogspot.com/

I did a post about this interesting Wild West outlaw two years ago and decided to post it again for those of you who missed it the first time around.  She is also featured in my book, "Dead and Buried in the Southwest Desert", coming out in spring of 2013. Pearl’s life is a bit of a mystery with little known documents to back up the many stories. This is what I found on this interesting lady. In 1871, Pearl Hart began life as Pearl Taylor in Lindsay, Ontario, Canada. Her father was a civil engineer and move the family to Ohio in 1878 where later at the age of 17 Pearl married Frank Holt. Frank was an alcoholic gambler with an ill temper who abused her on many occasions. It was told she left him several times throughout the marriage, but kept coming back hoping things would change. There was some speculation that they had two kids who lived with her Mother after the two split for good. Unfortunately this wasn’t the last time the duo met up. It was in 1892 while Pearl