Every metre we so much as touch on a toe out of Department of State , I ’ve put cemeteries on our travel path . From garden - like expanses to overgrown boot hills , whether they ’re the net resting places of the well - known but not that important or the crucial but not that well - have a go at it , I love them all . After realize that there are a lot of taphophiles out there , I ’m finally putting my archive of interesting tombstones to good use .
Martha “ Calamity Jane ” Cannary ( or Canary , the spelling vary ) is one of the most beloved characters of the Wild West and American folklore in general . In fact , after she passed away on August 1 , 1903 , her funeral was thelargestDeadwood had ever seen — no small feat , considering some of the legend who are inter there . Of course , many of her mourners were n’t friends , but curious bystanders who would n’t havestoppedto familiar with her when she was awake . Nevertheless , they bury her in a lieu of honor next to Deadwood ’s most famous occupier , Wild Bill Hickok , who was famously charge and killed while playing fire hook in 1876 .
But is Calamity Jane ’s final resting place really mean to honour her — or was it simply a joke or tender for tourer ?
Legend has it that when she cognize she was taking a turn for the worse , Calamity Jane specifically asked to be buried next to her beloved Wild Bill . Some even say it was herlast request , and that she passed away with Wild Bill ’s name on her lip .
The townsfolk of Deadwood did their in force to uphold that request , even though the Hickok crime syndicate is said to have been confused with the propinquity of Calamity Jane ’s grave . It had been long rumored that Wild Bill and Calamity Jane had a secret tryst that leave in a girl ; the Hickoks probably did n’t worry to promote such rumor with Jane ’s burial . Their protests did nothing to deter Deadwood promoters , who run across the image ’s tomb as a likely newtourist attractionfor the township .
According to a duo of Bill ’s old buddy , however , Calamity Jane ’s terminal resting position had nothing to do with tourismorlast requests ; it was actually just a final caper on their old buddy Bill . His friend ( and many other accounts ) claimed that Bill and Jane were n’t as close in actual life as she care to think , and that Bill had “ absolutely no use ” for her . Since she was an ineluctable nuisance to him in life , they decided , why should n’t she continue that course in death as well ?
Find a Grave //Joshua Davis
Whatever the case may be , Calamity Jane can be found in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood , South Dakota , mere feet away from the man she so look up to in life . The real reason for her burial there probably would n’t have concerned her much .
Peruse all the entries in our Grave Sightings serieshere .
