March 26, 2008
Watch For the Lady in the Bird Cage
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Carli Shaw, Tombstone, Arizona, February 2008
The day you [Jeff Belanger] lectured to the group of us that had met there
in Tombstone, I asked you to sign a book I had purchased from you earlier.
You did, I thanked you for the book, and went on my merry way to do some
more investigating, take a few hundred more pictures, and have dinner with
some friends to compare notes, placing the book with the others I had
purchased that day. Later that same night, a small group of us went to the
Bird Cage Theatre. I knew nothing of the history of this one time
action-packed, yet volatile saloon/brothel/gambling hall. While our group
was standing in the front room, there was absolutely no sound other than our
host's voice telling us of the rowdy history relating to this old, musty
place. About three minutes into his story, his voice (evidently in my ear
only) was interrupted by a woman's voice who was repeating exactly what he
was saying, only in a very sarcastic, sing-songy, melodious manner... as if
she had heard it a hundred times. I turned quickly to my right, where the
voice was coming from, to see who could possibly be so rude. The woman who I
had been speaking to earlier was still in the same spot, to my right, back
about five feet, with her mouth completely closed. She was listening
intently to the speaker in front. I could still hear the woman's voice quite
clearly, while looking at the woman behind me. This continued for
approximately 10 seconds. I looked around the entire room. There was no one
else standing close enough for me to hear this so clearly and no one's
mouths were moving. I did raise my recorder to my ear, but captured nothing
except our host still talking about the "bullet holes to the left of the
stage next to the piano." We left the room to continue with our
investigations. Later I came back to tell our host of my experience, and to
ask if anything similar had happened before. What I found out was that I
happened to be standing in the same spot where the only woman to die in the
Bird Cage had been murdered. Now getting back to the book you signed for me.
I pulled it out the other day and started to read. After I finished, I went
to place it back on the shelf, it dropped to the floor, the cover popped up
to the page of your inscription. It read: "Watch for the lady in the Bird
Cage tonight!"
