About Julie


I am a travel book author, an Etsy artist, an urbex photographer, a grandma, a paranormal geek with an adoration for antiques, vintage items, and cottage cozy.  I love the history and stories of the southwest.  I trek to all the historical sites, towns, and share all of my travels on my blog.  This blog is a distinctive blend of Wild West narratives, ghost tales, pictures, art, crafts, stories of my travels, and other bizarre amusements.



Popular posts from this blog

26 Bar Ranch (John Wayne Ranch)

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Immersed in the Hereford’s history in Eagar, AZ, sits the 26 Bar Ranch.It was first known as the Milky Way Ranch in the 1940’s with its big white show barn which housed many Hereford cattle.The barn is now a local landmark.In 1964 the ranch became the 26 Bar Ranch or John Wayne’s Ranch, who was one of the owners.Wayne, along with Ken Reafsnyder and Louis Johnson, his business partners, kept the ranch until John Wayne’s death in 1979 from lung and stomach cancer.
Lately, I have heard rumors that Bigfoot has been seen near the ranch.I don’t know if that is true or not, but it would be worth checking out.



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Cowboy Mummy Found in Desert

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There are many strange stories in the Arizona files. One that is told is about the mummy found in the desert near Gila Bend nicknamed “Sylvester”. Many believe that he once was a 19th century cowboy, a con that loved to play cards. Stories are told that he finally got caught cheating and was shot in the stomach. He made a hasty exit while bleeding profusely from his wound. He got as far as Arizona’s Gila Bend desert when he fell off his horse and died face down in the sweltering heat. Shortly afterwards, he was covered by the blowing sands, which appeared to have dried his body overnight. This apparently preserved his body resulting in the mummified form he was found in.

The more believable story was that he was found shortly after death and preserved in a high level of arsenic. Arsenic was used to stop the physical occurrences of a corpse rotting by killing bacteria and insects that invaded it. This custom of using arsenic was found to be poisonous by the 1900’s and never used again…
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The Mysterious Disappearance of Glen and Bessie Hyde

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“Glen and Bessie Hyde were newlyweds who disappeared while attempting to run the rapids of the Colorado River through Grand Canyon, Arizona in 1928.  Had they succeeded, Bessie would have been the first documented woman in history to do so.”(Wikipedia)
Glen Rollin Hyde was born on December 9, 1898 in Twin Falls, Idaho.  He was a farmer and on occasions would go river rafting on the Salmon and Snake Rivers in Idaho.  While traveling on a passenger ship to California in 1927, he met Bessie.  Bessie Louise Haley was born on December 29, 1905 in West Virginia.  She was an art student, worked in a bookstore and loved to write poetry.  When they met, Bessie was still married to her first husband.  The day after her divorce was final, April 12, 1928, the two got married.
Even though Bessie had never done any river rafting and Glen was a semi-pro at it, he wanted them to spend their honeymoon traveling down the Colorado River inside the Grand Canyon in his homemade twenty foot wooden racing s…
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