Red Ghost (folklore)

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In Arizona folklore, the Red Ghost is a figure alleged to have roamed the Arizonan frontier in the late 19th century. It was said to have been a large, red camel, with a bleached human skeleton upon its back. Legends of it were widespread across Arizona, up until its supposed death before the dawn of the 20th century.[1] In 1893 a farmer shot the camel and found that there was an actual human skeleton strapped to its back.

Historical background

During the

the Confederacy. The camels were sold off or abandoned, with some being seen for decades afterwards.[2]

History and legend

The legend began in 1883, when two men left their ranch house near

prospectors reported something tearing through their campground; red hair was later found at the site. The creature was again spotted just a few days later, this time being described as 30 feet tall, and knocking over two wagons, with red hair again being found. The legend would quickly spread with various tales being told; one described the creature killing and eating a grizzly bear, while another said it disappeared into thin air when chased, but all the tales agreed that the skeleton of a man was on its back.[4] A cowboy tried to lasso the beast, but was knocked to the ground and nearly killed by it, not before seeing the figure on the back was a skeleton. A few months later a group of five men shot at the beast, missing the camel but shooting the head of the skeleton off, finding some hair and skin still attached to it.[5]

The legend remained popular until 1893 when farmer Mizoo Hastings found the creature eating in his yard and proceeded to shoot it, killing it in a single shot. It was then discovered that the beast was a camel, with leather straps on the side stuck so tight that it was scarred.[6] It remains unknown why a dead man was attached to the back, but various tales have appeared to explain it over the years, some saying it was a prospector dying of thirst who tied himself to the back hoping it would bring him to some water,[7] while others say it was a soldier learning to ride a camel when it suddenly bolted off.[8] The verifiability of some parts of the legend remains questionable, as some records are missing or have been lost over time.[1]

Legacy

A sculpture of the camel was erected in Quartzite, Arizona, not too far from the grave of Hi Jolly, an Ottoman camel driver who worked for the Camel Corps.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b Dungan, Ron. "This is the ultimate Arizona ghost story". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  2. ^ "The U.S. Army's "Camel Corps" Experiment – The Campaign for the National Museum of the United States Army". 16 July 2014. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  3. ^ Smith, Michael (2014-02-23). "Hi Jolly and the Legend of the Red Ghost". Guardian Liberty Voice. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  4. ^ Trimble, Marshall (2015-07-06). "Red Ghost". True West Magazine. Archived from the original on 2022-01-08. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  5. ^ Heller, Chris. "Whatever Happened to the Wild Camels of the American West?". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  6. ^ "The Red Ghost: U.S. Camel Corps". strangehistory.org. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  7. ^ Al-Ahari, Muhammed (2016-03-08). "The Story of Hajj Ali (Hi Jolly) and the U.S. Camel Cavalry Corp". Chicago Monitor. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  8. ^ Weiser-Alexander, Kathy. "Ghost Camels in the American Southwest – Legends of America". Legends of America. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  9. ^ S, Leo (2019-09-13). "The Red Ghost of Quartzsite, Arizona~". RANDOM Times •. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
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