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The Hanging Tree
Legend has it that in
1863 Henry Wickenburg discovered gold when he went to retrieve a vulture he
shot. Wickenburg named his mine, “The
Vulture Mine.” The mine operated from 1863
to 1942 and was one of the richest mines in Arizona, producing some 340,000
ounces of gold and 250,000 ounces of silver.
A town, “Vulture City” grew up around the mine and grew to over 5,000
inhabitants.
By 1880, Vulture City consisted
of six boarding houses, a cookhouse and mess hall, a blacksmith shop, a
brothel, stores, offices, saloons, and a school. Crime was a problem in this frontier
town. Theft, murder and rape were
commonplace. There was no regular law. Vigilante
law prevailed. A hanging tree stood next
to a makeshift jailhouse. The condemned was put on a mule and when the mule ran
out from under him, the prisoner often slowly strangled to death over the
course of hours.
When the mine closed in
1942 Vulture City became a ghost town.
And indeed it is a town filled with ghosts. Eighteen men dangled from the hanging tree. To this day, their restless spirits are said
to harass visitors. Tourists claimed
rocks were thrown at them by an invisible force when they were near the Hanging
Tree. Strange disembodied voices can be
heard on the wind, and invisible footsteps creep up from behind.
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