The Wild West Extravaganza
True tales from the Old West! Gunfighters, outlaws, lawmen, frontiersmen, and Native Americans – the real people and events that shaped the American frontier.
Episodes
In the Spring of 1803, the United States acquired the Territory of Louisiana, a largely uncharted tract of wilderness stretching from Canada all the way down to New Orleans, over 800,000 square miles that, as the maps were concerned, remained a mystery. President Thomas Jefferson ordered an expedition to explore Louisiana west to the Pac...
From Airship, the studio behind American Scandal, American History Tellers, and History Daily, comes a new true crime history podcast that takes you inside the minds of some of our most notorious felons and outlaws, exploring the dark side to the American dream. The debut season tackles one of the country’s most se...
They say Claude Dallas was the last of the Mountain Men; A modern-day cowboy and fur trapper just living life on his terms. A throwback to the Mountain Men like Jim Bridger, Jed Smith, and Kit Carson. The only thing was the authorities just wouldn’t let Dallas be. First, i...
In this collection of true stories from the Old West, we’ll discuss Bass Reeves, one of the first black deputy Marshal west of the Mississippi. We’ll also take a look at the opposite end of the spectrum with Cherokee Bill – the son of a buffalo hunter who became one of the deadliest outlaw...
In this collection of true stories from the Old West, we’ll discuss George Parrot, aka Big Nose George – a lesser-known outlaw who had a noose around his neck more times than you'd believe. And that’s just half the story! You’ll never guess how this one ends! Afterward, we’ll hop over...
John Wesley Hardin killed his first man at the age of 15, and for the next decade, he would continue to kill. The exact number of victims is unknown, but it’s estimated that anywhere from twenty to forty men fell before Hardin’s guns, making him one of the deadliest shootists of the Old West. Then, at the age of 25, Hardin went...
The Sutton-Taylor feud was one of the deadliest of the Old West. On one side you had the Taylor clan – descendants of Virginian Josiah Taylor, who settled near Cuero in DeWitt County. Tough-as-nails patriarchs Pitkin and Creed, along with their many sons and nephews, formed the backbone of their faction...
Join me in a discussion with actor Rib Hillis and producer Paul Epstein as we discuss the upcoming premiere of INSP’s The Tall Tales of Jim Bridger!
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In November of 1868 – at just the tender age of fifteen – John Wesley Hardin killed his first man. And, a few weeks later, he’d kill yet again; this time three soldiers who came looking for him. Fearing a hangman’s noose, Wes struck first, dispatching two troopers with a shotgun and finishing the third with an old cap and ball colt. And you better believe the h...
Today we hear from the legendary Wyatt Earp, in his own words, as he dispenses sage advice on the art of gunfighting. We’ll also examine the legitimacy of these statements. The passages quoted are from Stuart Lake's biography Wyatt Earp Frontier Marshal, a work deemed by historians as mostly fiction. Examine Lake's admission of embellish...
Uncover the dark history of the Yuma Crossing and the infamous John Joel Glanton's reign of terror. Learn how Glanton's brutality led to a massacre that sparked the Yuma War an...
On June 25th, 1876, George Armstrong Custer rode into battle for the last time. He and his troops faced an overwhelming force of Lakota and Cheyenne along the banks of the Little Bighorn, and before the sun sank into the horizon, every man in his command was dead. When General Terry arrived two days later, the victorious warriors were already gone. T...
“All around, the Indians began jumping up, running forward, dodging down, jumping up again, down again, all the time going toward the soldiers. Right away, all of the white men went crazy. Instead of fighting us, they turned their guns upon themselves. Almost before we could get to them, every ...
This is Part 2 and the final installment in the series on Harry Tracy. In the previous episode we discussed Tracy's early life, his various scrapes with the law, and his dramatic prison escape. On today's episode we'll follow Tracy as he eludes the authorities, culminating in his ultimate showdown.
Miss Part 1? Listen here - Harry Tracy | The Last of the Wild Bunch (Part 1) - https://www.wildwestextra.com/harry-tracy-the-last-of-...
In the summer of 1881, Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett. The lawman had been on the hunt ever since Billy broke out of jail in Lincoln and finally caught up to the bandit at Old Fort Sumner. It was around midnight, and Pat was waiting inside Pete Maxwell’s darkened bedro...
Considered by some to be the last of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch, Harry Tracy blasted his way out of prison in the summer of 1902. What followed was one of the most desperate man hunts in all of U.S. history. Over the course of the next two months, Tracy would lead hundreds of lawmen, including the National Guard, on a deadly game of chase that would see at leas...
Make no mistake about it, the exploits of escaped slave-turned-lawman Bass Reeves are legendary.
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