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Harwood House

Introduction

Blue-gray wooden building with a metal roof and red door, typical of Old West architecture. Wooden sidewalk in front and metal awning above.

The house of William Harwood, Tombstone's first mayor, is on the corner of Third and Freemont, near CS Fly's Photography Studio. It is also the corner where Thomas McLaury died after being shot at the Gunfight on Freemont Street (now called the Gunfight at the OK Corral), which took place between Harwood's house and CS Fly's. Today, the Harwood House is part of the OK Corral site, but it can still be seen from the street.

Paranormal Activity

Truckers who drive through town in the early morning hours sometimes report a ghost on this corner. They call the Marshal to tell him that a drunken actor is screaming at traffic and shaking his fist in the air. The Deputy checks this out, but he never finds anything. Given the description of the actor that the truckers report, it seems likely that they are seeing Thomas McLaury. He must be trying to contact us again, though it is not sure why. He must reappear here and look around. He would notice that this corner would look vaguely familiar, but things would also look weirdly different to him. The street would be black and hard rather than dirt, and he would wonder about these massive "wagons" coming by at a high rate of speed with all of those lights -- and no horses. It is likely that Thomas reappears here and becomes confused, perhaps even frightened. In his confusion, he shakes his fist at the trucks and screams out things like "Where am I?" or "What's going on here?" The truckers who see him mistake Thomas' actions and report a drunk on the corner.

Finally, some guests who walk down Freemont Street occasionally report hearing the sounds of gunshots or horses in this area. While gunshots can frequently be heard from the various reenactments during the day, guests report hearing these sounds at night when there are no shows taking place. The origin of these noises is not known.

Location

The Harwood House is located at 303 E Freemont Street.