Podcast
The Wild West Extravaganza
Hosted by The Wild West Extravaganza · EN
The Wild West Extravaganza is a weekly history podcast that explores the real-life people and events from the Old West. Each episode brings to life the legendary outlaws, gunfighters, lawmen, cowboys, and Native Americans who shaped the frontier. From iconic figures like Billy the Kid, Jesse James, and Doc Holliday to overlooked tales of shootouts, cattle drives, and rowdy towns like Deadwood, there's no shortage of stories to tell. So saddle up, dust off your boots, and let's hit the trail!
38episodes
Episodes
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Drugs in the Old West
1w ago00:20:18Summary readyDISCLAIMER: This video is a historical documentary about medicine, pharmacy, and substance use in 19th-century America. It is intended for educational and informational purposes only. Nothing in this video promotes, encourages, or provides instruction for the use of any illegal substance. Many of the substances discussed were legal during the period covered but are now controlled substances. They caused enormous harm, addiction, and loss of life, both then and now. This channel does not condone or promote illegal drug use of any kind. If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, help is available through the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357, a free, confidential, 24/7 resource. This is a documentary-style look at pharmaceutical use on the American frontier. We cover the history of morphine and the hypodermic syringe, the myth of the Civil War Soldier's Disease, the real history of opium dens in mining towns like Virginia City, the first anti-opium laws in American history, and the truth behind certain movies like Tombstone and Wild Bill. We also dig into the history of cocaine in patent medicine, whether cowboys really smoked cannabis, Quanah Parker and his advocacy of peyote, Doc Holliday’s use of laudanum, and how Bayer marketed heroin as a cough remedy in 1898. Wild West Quiz - https://wildwestquiz.com/ Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Sheriff John Larn & the Tin Hat Brigade
2w ago00:20:08Summary readyJohn Larn had all the appearances of a respectable man. He owned a ranch, married into one of the most powerful families in Shackleford County, and was even elected as Sheriff. But behind the badge, Larn was a cold-blooded killer and cattle rustler who robbed his neighbors blind and murdered anyone who got too close to the truth. Join me today as we examine the life of John Larn. From his mysterious beginnings in Alabama and alleged murders in Colorado and New Mexico, to the infamous Bush Knob Massacre of 1873. We’ll also take a look at his rise through the vigilante group known as the Tin Hat Brigade, and his bloody partnership with John Selman, the gunman who would later kill John Wesley Hardin. Wild West Quiz - https://wildwestquiz.com/ Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Reno Hill: Surviving the Little Bighorn
4w ago00:33:15Summary readyThe Battle of the Little Bighorn didn't end when George Armstrong Custer fell. Four miles to the south, the surviving seven companies of the 7th Cavalry, under Major Marcus Reno and Captain Frederick Benteen, were pinned down on a barren hilltop and fighting for their lives. A battle that would result in two days of thirst, sniping, desperate charges, and over two dozen Medals of Honor. We’ll also discuss Dr. Henry Porter's makeshift field hospital, the rescue by General Terry and Colonel Gibbon, and the burial of the dead. Then we dig into the reckoning: the Reno Court of Inquiry, Frederick Whittaker's crusade to blame Custer's subordinates, the surrenders of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, and the 1980 Supreme Court case and the billion-dollar settlement the Lakota still refuse to this day. Wild West Quiz - https://wildwestquiz.com/ Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ Custer’s Last Stand! https://www.wildwestextra.com/custers-last-stand-hero-or-fool/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Fix Bayonets: Colonel Chamberlain & Little Round Top
Jul 300:09:34Summary readyOn July 2nd, 1863, a college professor from Maine named Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain found himself holding the far left flank of the entire Union Army on a rocky little hill called Little Round Top. Out of ammo, out of options, and almost out of men, he made a decision that would echo through history: fix bayonets and charge. This is the story of that stand and why I keep it in my back pocket for when things get rough. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Custer's Last Stand: Hero or Fool?
Jun 2500:51:01Summary readyThe Battle of the Little Bighorn is one of the most famous and most misunderstood events in American history. On June 25, 1876, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and roughly 210 men of his immediate command were wiped out along a ridge in southeastern Montana by a massive village of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho fighting under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. But how did Custer really die? Did he go down fighting, was he killed trying to reach the river, or did he take his own life to avoid capture? And did the warriors who killed him even know who he was? Also discussed is the entire chain of events that led to Custer's Last Stand, from the Lakota claim to the sacred Black Hills and the broken Fort Laramie treaties, through Sand Creek, Red Cloud's War, and the Black Hills gold rush, to the three-column campaign of 1876. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:39 The Lakota and the Black Hills 00:03:51 Sand Creek and Red Cloud's War 00:06:25 The Black Hills Gold Rush 00:09:56 The 1876 Campaign Begins 00:22:34 The Battle Begins: Reno's Charge 00:28:30 Custer's Last Stand 00:36:25 How Did Custer Really Die? Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ Wooden Leg Part 1 - https://www.wildwestextra.com/wooden-leg-the-battle-of-little-bighorn/ Wooden Leg Part 2 - https://open.spotify.com/episode/1yiQvAJE0q7ODJN3cBl8GU? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Billy the Kid, Brushy Bill, & the NYPD
Jun 400:23:02Summary readyDid the NYPD prove that Brushy Bill Roberts was Billy the Kid using forensic technology? Short answer: no. Not the NYPD, not the FBI, not the CIA, and not Interpol. No official agency has ever conducted a forensic photo comparison or any kind of investigation into whether Brushy Bill Roberts was Billy the Kid. So where does the claim come from? Most of the time, it traces back to the documentary "Billy the Kid: The Silver City Photo," produced by Dan Edwards, and featuring an NYPD detective named Michael Furia. That’s what we’ll be discussing today, taking a look at what Detective Furia actually did, what he did not do, and why a confident opinion about an old photograph is not the same thing as a forensic identification. Along the way, we get into why facial recognition software doesn’t work on 19th-century tintypes, what the NYPD's own policy says about photo matches (spoiler: a match is only an investigative lead), and how a tool like Civil War Photo Sleuth really operates. We also identify one of the six photographs for who it actually is, a Rough Rider named William Dibrell Wood, a real and well-documented man who was most definitely NOT Brushy Bill Roberts. Wild West Quiz - https://wildwestquiz.com/ Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ Silver City Photo Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4A1OMB238s&t=1398s Detective Furia Billy the Kid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-m-AJ5G0Tg Forever West YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ForeverWestPodcast Corey Recko: http://www.coreyrecko.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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We Hang Horse Thieves: The Truth About Frontier Justice
May 2800:18:06Summary readyHow many people were legally hanged for stealing horses in the Old West? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands? Join me today as we bust one of the most enduring myths of the American frontier. Despite what Hollywood and dime novels would have you believe, there was never a time in the Old West when stealing horses was legally punishable by death. Not in Texas, not in Arizona, not anywhere west of the Mississippi. We'll dig into the Espy File (the gold standard for documenting legal executions in American history), the brutal English Bloody Code inherited by American colonies, the concept of "pious perjury," and why Western juries, much like their English counterparts, flat out refused to convict when they felt the punishment didn't fit the crime. We'll also discuss why the famous Arizona law making train robbery a capital offense only resulted in a single execution, how the cattle barons of the Johnson County War weaponized lynch mobs against innocent homesteaders like Ella Watson, and why guys like Doc Middleton, arguably the most prolific horse thief of all time, walked away with only a few years behind bars. Wild West Quiz - https://wildwestquiz.com/ Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Print Olive: Man Burner
May 2100:26:31Summary readyImagine being wrapped alive in a freshly butchered cowhide, tied to a tree, and left to bake in the Texas sun. The old timers called it the death of skins, and according to legend, it's exactly what Texas cattleman Print Olive did to a pair of rustlers in 1876. But that's nothing compared to his actions a few years later, which earned him the nickname Man Burner. Print Olive was a man of many hats: Confederate. Cattle baron. Vigilante. Convicted murderer. One of the largest ranchers in all of Nebraska. He also may have inspired Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove. Also discussed are Doc Middleton, King Ranch, Kansas quarantine laws, and a little-known cow town called Trail City. Wild West Quiz - https://wildwestquiz.com/ Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Richard "Two Gun" Hart (ENCORE)
May 1400:52:54Summary readyEnjoy this encore presentation of Richard "Two Gun" Hart. New episodes continue next week! By the mid-1920s, Al Capone was the undisputed kingpin of Chicago and was feverishly working to expand his empire. The only thing standing in the way of his ambitions was an overzealous Nebraska lawman known as Richard “Two Gun” Hart. The mysterious Hart claimed to be half Native American and appeared like something straight out of a Hollywood Western. Still, he was said to be both fearless and incorruptible, going down in history as one of the most effective Prohibition Agents of all time. But Richard Hart harbored a dark secret that even his wife and children were unaware of. It turns out that the straight-shooting lawman and the notorious gangster were connected in more ways than one. Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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The Outlaw Burt Alvord: From Arizona to the Amazon
Apr 3000:22:39Summary readyIn September of 1899, Constable Burt Alvord deputized a group of his closest friends and rode out in pursuit of a gang of train robbers. The only problem is that the men he deputized were the same ones who pulled off the robbery. Not only that, but the mastermind behind the entire affair was none other than Constable Alvord himself. But that's just the beginning. Once apprehended, Alvord escaped jail over Tombstone not once but twice. He’d go on to assist Arizona Ranger Burt Mossman in capturing the notorious bandit Augustine Chacon, rob a gold mine deep in the heart of Sonora, allegedly attempt to fake his own death, and then disappear into the Amazon. Also discussed are Cochise County Sheriff John Slaughter, legendary lawman Jeff Milton, and an outlaw known as Three-Fingered Jack Dunlap. Check out the website! https://www.wildwestextra.com/ Email me! https://www.wildwestextra.com/contact/ Free Newsletter! https://wildwestjosh.substack.com/ Buy Me A Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwest Join Patreon for ad-free bonus content! https://www.patreon.com/wildwestextra Merch! https://wildwestextramerch.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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