The Ghost of Tom Horn Born: Scotland County, Missouri--November 21, 1860 Died: Cheyenne, Wyoming--November 20, 1903 Buried: Boulder, Colorado Said to Haunt: Cheyenne and Boulder In the late 1800s, a grassroots, guerilla-style war was emerging on the open range of Wyoming. Battles between cattle barons and homesteaders would later become known as the Johnson County War. The cattle barons owned large herds, sometimes numbering in the thousands, that grazed in the open range. The homesteaders, who legally owned land on the range, raised much smaller herds, mostly for their own families. However, their homesteads were right in the middle of the cattle barons'' grazing lands. The homesteaders wanted the cattle barons to move off their land, and the cattle barons wanted the homesteaders to do the same. In April 1892, the cattle barons hired 23 sharpshooters to kill a list of 70 homesteaders. When those sharpshooters arrived by train near Casper, Wyoming, a man named Tom Horn was among them.
Horn had served as a scout with the US Cavalry at the age of 16. In 1890, he was employed by the Pinkerton Detective Agency, whose specialty was tracking suspected lawbreakers. However, Horn lost his job because, quite often, instead of bringing his targets back to the courts, he would simply take matters into his own hands. Now, he had a chance to become an "enforcer" for the cattle barons, tasked with "dealing justice" to targets who''d been accused of stealing cattle or taking away grazing lands. Tom quickly gained a reputation--due, in part, to his habit of bragging about the number of men he killed. On July 18, 1901, Tom Horn''s target was Kelsey P. Nickell, a retired US Cavalryman who had homesteaded a ranch with his wife, Mary, at Iron Mountain in Wyoming. Horn had been tracking Nickell for a while.
He could recognize the horse Nickell rode, as well as the coat and hat Nickell typically wore. When Horn saw Nickell ride up the road toward his family''s home, he set about to finish his job. Tragically, Horn''s bullets tore through the body of Nickell''s 14-year-old son, Willie, who''d run an errand wearing his father''s coat and hat. Cheyenne, Wyoming--January 1902 Tom Horn sat down with Marshal Joe LeFors in the sheriff''s office, located across from the bar. Joe knew that Tom wouldn''t be able to resist a job offer. or a chance to brag about his "accomplishments." That''s why a deputy sheriff and a court stenographer were hiding in the next room, writing down every word. "I''m looking for someone willing to take matters into their own hands when necessary," said Joe.
Tom nodded. "That''s no problem here." The men continued talking. Tom lit up when Joe asked about the range wars and Iron Mountain. "Have you got your money yet for the killing of Nickell?" asked Joe. "I got that before I did the job," Horn replied. "Killing men is my specialty. I look at it as a business proposition, and I think I have the corner on the market.
" Tom was arrested the next morning. On October 12, 1903, he was convicted of murder in the first degree for Willie Nickell''s shooting. On November 20, Tom Horn was hanged. It took him 17 minutes to die. *** Not long after Horn''s execution, inmates of the county jail (where Horn spent his final days) reported hearing strange sounds. They attributed the eerie noises to the ghost of the hanged assassin. People throughout the community claimed to see the ghostly apparitions of Tom Horn and his young victim, Willie Nickell. In recent years, several people have reported seeing a ghostly cowboy in the Wrangler Western Store--a historic, three-story building that was built in Cheyenne in 1882.
Many assume the ghost is that of Tom Horn, wandering throughout the building, sparking fear in patrons and sales associates. Columbia Cemetery (Boulder, Colorado)--October 2024 "Found it," Isabelle said enthusiastically. She stood over the gravestone, her flashlight shining on the red-tone slab. Ella read the inscription. "In loving memory of Tom Horn, 1861 to 1903," "His body is right beneath our feet," Brie said with a shudder. The girls exchanged glances and took a step to the side. "Now we''re just standing on top of Charles Horn," Brie said, shaking her head. "Tom''s buried right beside his brother and sister-in-law," Ella noted, resigned to the fact that there was no place to stand that wasn''t on top of a corpse.
A breeze rustled a nearby tree, causing orange and yellow leaves to sprinkle a nearby tombstone. The branch of the large pine that hung over Tom Horn''s grave swayed, and long shadows, created by the girls'' flashlights, seemed to slither across the yellowed grass. "I don''t like it out here," Brie said, a quiver breaking the last word. "I know, it''s creepy," Ella said, putting an arm around her younger sister''s shoulder. "We won''t stay long." They''d come to the graveyard on a mission: to see if the legends were true. Isabelle pulled a notebook from her backpack and held up her notes. "Joe Nickell was Willie''s third cousin twice removed.
He was also a paranormal investigator and researcher. I found an article he wrote about his cousin''s murder. It said that he came to this graveyard in 1998 to see for himself if the ghost of Tom Horn was here--and he danced on his grave." A light crack, like a twig snapping, pulled the girls'' attention toward a tall tree. Its branches had all but given up the fight to keep its leaves. The branches stretched out from the trunk like lanky arms trying to touch some faraway object. "What was that?" Ella whispered. "It was probably just an animal, like a rabbit or a squirrel," Isabelle replied with more optimism than she actually felt.
Brie whined. "This is too scary. I want to go." The dry leaves that had fallen to the ground rustled, as if something scuffled through them. "It could be an animal--like a mountain lion or a bear," Ella said. "Or a weird person who hangs out in cemeteries at night," Brie added. The girls took one last look at Tom''s gravestone. Brie pulled something small from her pocket and set it on the base of the stone: a plastic cowboy holding a rifle, similar to the tiny green army men found at dollar stores.
The girls walked quickly away from the grave. Another gust of wind shook more leaves off the trees. Brie looked back at the gravestone. Movement in the tall, bare tree caught her attention. "Oh, my gosh," she gasped, grabbing Ella''s arm. Ella and Isabelle turned, and all three girls stared, frozen, for several seconds. Looped around the largest branch was a rope. Hanging from a noose at the end of that rope was a man.
His arms and legs swayed limply from his body. In the moonlight, he was only a dark silhouette. Another twig snapped, and the girls screamed. They ran to their car, jumped inside, and locked the doors. As Ella started the car, the girls looked toward the tree. The shadowy figure was gone. A gust of wind sent leaves scattering across the road as Ella shifted the car into drive and sped away from the cemetery. "We saw him," Brie said.
"We saw Tom Horn''s ghost.".