Have you ever heard of someone becoming more famous after they died? That’s exactly what happened to Elmer McCurdy, a not-so-successful outlaw from the Wild West days. Let’s dive into his story and see how he ended up as a movie prop!
Elmer McCurdy was born in 1880 in Washington, Maine. His childhood was pretty rough, and he turned to drinking at a young age. He learned to be a plumber but had trouble keeping a job because of his drinking and the tough economy. In 1905, he got arrested for being drunk in public, but he soon joined the United States Army in 1907. There, he learned how to operate machine guns and handle explosives.
After leaving the army in 1910, Elmer tried to make a living through crime. He formed a gang and attempted several robberies, but they didn’t go as planned. In one instance, he used too much explosive to open a train safe, destroying most of the money inside. Another time, he tried to rob a bank but only managed to blow up the bank’s interior. His last robbery attempt was a mix-up; he and his gang robbed the wrong train and ended up with very little to show for it.
After his failed robberies, Elmer hid out at a friend’s ranch. However, a sheriff’s posse tracked him down, and he was killed in a gunfight on October 7, 1911. But this wasn’t the end of Elmer’s story.
Elmer’s body was taken to a funeral home, but no one claimed it. The undertaker, Joseph L. Johnson, preserved the body with a special solution and put it on display, charging visitors to see “The Bandit Who Wouldn’t Give Up.” This went on until 1916 when two men claimed to be Elmer’s brothers and took the body. They were actually carnival owners who used Elmer’s body as a sideshow attraction.
Over the years, Elmer’s body changed hands many times, becoming part of various attractions. In 1933, it was even used to promote a movie. By the 1960s, people forgot that Elmer was a real person, and he was treated like a wax figure. In 1976, while filming a TV show, someone discovered that Elmer’s “wax figure” was actually a real human body when its arm broke off.
After the discovery, authorities confirmed the body was indeed Elmer McCurdy. He was finally buried on April 22, 1977, in Guthrie, Oklahoma, under several feet of concrete to prevent anyone from disturbing his grave. Over 300 people attended his funeral, marking the end of his unusual journey.
Elmer McCurdy’s story is a wild ride from outlaw to movie prop, showing how sometimes life—and death—can take unexpected turns!
Using the information from the article, create a timeline that highlights the key events in Elmer McCurdy’s life. Include his early life, his time in the army, his criminal activities, and his unusual afterlife. This will help you understand the sequence of events and how they led to his posthumous fame.
Imagine you are a news reporter in the early 1900s. Write and perform a short news segment about Elmer McCurdy’s life and his transformation into a movie prop. Focus on making it engaging and informative, as if you are reporting live from the scene.
Create a movie poster for a film about Elmer McCurdy’s life. Use your creativity to design an eye-catching poster that includes a title, a tagline, and key scenes from his life. Think about how you would attract an audience to learn about his story.
Write a diary entry as if you are Elmer McCurdy, reflecting on a significant event in your life. Choose an event such as a robbery attempt or your time in the army. This will help you explore his character and motivations.
Participate in a class debate about the ethics of using Elmer McCurdy’s body as a sideshow attraction and movie prop. Prepare arguments for both sides: one supporting the use of his body for entertainment and the other opposing it. This will help you think critically about ethical issues.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Elmer McCurdy, the dead gunslinger used as a movie prop, lived from 1880 to 1977. The days of the Wild West were drawing to an end as stagecoach holdups, train robberies, and gun duels were becoming a thing of the past. Elmer McCurdy was an outlaw at this time who proved to be very unsuccessful in his endeavors, but he would become more famous in death than he ever did in life.
He was born in Washington, Maine, in 1880 and had a chaotic upbringing. Elmer turned to drinking at a very early age, likely due to the turmoil he suffered as a child. He trained as a plumber but struggled to hold down a steady job due to his drinking and the severe downturn in the American economy. In 1905, at the age of 25, he was arrested for being drunk in public. This was the first time he had been in trouble with the law, but he seemed to quickly get his life back on track. Two years later, in 1907, he joined the United States Army, where he qualified as a machine gun operator and received training in demolitions.
He left the army in 1910 with an honorable discharge. However, just 12 days later, he was arrested along with an old army friend for allegedly going equipped to commit burglary. Their defense was that the tools they were carrying were needed to build a new type of pedal-operated machine gun they were working on. The jury believed them, and they were found not guilty on all charges. So, at 30 years old, apart from a minor charge for drunkenness, Elmer had led a seemingly honest and rather unexciting life, but it was all about to change.
For reasons not entirely clear, Elmer decided to turn to crime as a full-time career. Just over a year later, in March 1911, after carrying out a series of unsuccessful petty crimes, he decided to form a gang and attempt something much bigger. They decided to rob the Iron Mountain Missouri Pacific train, but when they blew up the safe on board, Elmer used far too much nitroglycerin, destroying the safe and most of the money inside.
Their next big job was in Kansas in September of that year when they attempted to blow up a bank’s safe but only managed to wreck the interior of the bank in the ensuing explosion, getting away with a small amount of cash. His final attempted robbery was just a month later when Elmer and his gang attempted to rob a Union Pacific railway train said to be carrying over $400,000 (about $10 million in today’s value). However, they got the wrong train and ended up robbing a standard passenger train, resulting in a disastrous outcome. They were forced to rob the railway staff and passengers, managing to steal only a small amount of whiskey, a revolver, a coat, and a pocket watch.
A newspaper later called Elmer’s robbery one of the smallest in the history of train robbery. Elmer fled the scene and decided to hide in a hayloft at a friend’s ranch, but a sheriff’s posse tracked him down using bloodhounds a few days later. On the dawn of October 7th, there was a short gunfight in which Elmer was killed.
You might think this would be the end of McCurdy and his travels, but in fact, it was just the beginning. Elmer’s body was taken to the local funeral home, where it went unclaimed. The undertaker, Joseph L. Johnson, refused to bury the body as he had not been paid for his services. Instead, he embalmed the body in an arsenic-based solution to preserve it and dressed it up, placing a rifle in its hands. He placed a sign next to it that read “The Bandit Who Wouldn’t Give Up” and charged visitors a nickel (five cents) to see it. This went on until 1916 and proved to be a very popular attraction.
Then, two men turned up at the funeral home claiming to be Elmer’s brothers. They had sought permission from local authorities to take the body back to San Francisco for burial. The undertaker agreed to release the body to them, but in fact, it was shipped to Kansas to join a traveling carnival as a sideshow attraction, now labeled “The Outlaw Who Would Never Be Captured Alive.” They advertised him as the “Oklahoma Mummy.”
The two men claiming to be Elmer’s brothers were actually James and Charles Patterson, the dishonest owners of the Great Patterson Carnival Show. Over the next 60 years, the attraction changed hands many times. In 1922, James Patterson sold his carnival to Lewis Sunny, who operated the Traveling Museum of Crime featuring wax figures and famous outlaws. In 1933, Sunny loaned the body out to director Dwayne Esper, who used it to promote his low-budget movie “Narcotic.” For this movie, Elmer’s corpse, now shriveled and mummified by the passage of time, was used to portray a dead drug addict.
In 1949, the owner Louis Sunny died, and all his wax figurines, along with Elmer’s body, were placed in storage for nearly the next 20 years. There, he lay forgotten until he was rediscovered and lent out as a prop for the 1967 horror B-movie “She Freak.” He appeared for a few short seconds in the background of one of the scenes. Then he and all the other wax figures were sold to a new wax museum owner.
By now, it seemed that Elmer was forgotten as a real-life corpse, and it was assumed he was just one of the wax figures. His new owners displayed him for a while in an exhibition at Mount Rushmore but got rid of him after he was accidentally damaged in a windstorm and was not lifelike enough to exhibit.
McCurdy was then sold to Ed Leerscha, part owner of the New Pike Amusement Park in Long Beach, California, to be used as a prop. He was to be the hanged man swinging from the gallows, covered in glowing neon paint in the “Laugh in the Dark” funhouse. The amusement park attracted several television shows, including the hit show “The Six Million Dollar Man,” which came to film an episode on December 8, 1976. When the figure was being moved in preparation for a scene, its arm broke off, revealing human bone and tissue.
The authorities were informed, and after an extensive investigation by the Los Angeles Coroner’s Department, it was confirmed that it was the long-dead outlaw Elmer McCurdy. Among the clues that helped identify the body were a 1924 penny and ticket stubs to Lewis Sunny’s Museum of Crime lodged inside the throat of the corpse. Moreover, the copper bullet jacket lodged in him had not appeared in American ammunition until around 1905, and the arsenic with which he was embalmed had fallen out of use around 1920, narrowing the time of death to a window of 15 years.
Elmer was buried on April 22, 1977, in the Boot Hill section of Summit View Cemetery in Guthrie, Oklahoma, 66 years after his death. He was laid to rest beneath several feet of concrete to deter anyone from digging him up. His funeral was attended by over 300 people.
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Let me know if you need any further modifications!
Elmer – A given name, often used in historical contexts to refer to specific individuals. – Elmer McCurdy was a notorious outlaw whose story became famous after his death.
McCurdy – A surname, often associated with historical figures or families. – The tale of McCurdy’s afterlife journey is one of the most bizarre in American history.
Outlaw – A person who has broken the law and is often on the run from authorities. – In the Wild West, an outlaw like Jesse James was both feared and admired.
Crime – An act that is against the law and punishable by authorities. – The crime of bank robbery was rampant during the Great Depression.
Robbery – The act of taking property unlawfully from a person or place by force or threat. – The infamous train robbery was a daring crime that captured the public’s imagination.
Body – The physical structure of a person or an animal, often referred to in historical contexts when discussing remains. – The discovery of the ancient king’s body provided new insights into the past.
Movie – A film or motion picture, often used to depict historical events or stories. – The movie about the Civil War brought history to life for the students.
Prop – An object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or film. – The sword used in the play was a prop that looked very realistic.
Sideshow – A minor show or exhibition that is part of a larger event, often featuring unusual acts or displays. – The circus sideshow included a fascinating display of historical artifacts.
Funeral – A ceremony honoring a person who has died, often reflecting cultural or historical traditions. – The state funeral of the president was attended by thousands of people.
