The Dirty Truth About How Wild Bill Really Died (and Other Legends)

You know the story...

Wild Bill Hickok, the legendary gunfighter, sitting at a poker table in Deadwood. Shot in the back of the head while holding the famous "Dead Man's Hand" - aces and eights.

It's one of the most iconic deaths in Wild West history.

But here's what they don't tell you...

That famous "Dead Man's Hand" story? Complete BS.

Nobody at the time even mentioned what cards Wild Bill was holding. The aces and eights legend didn't show up until some writer made it up 50 years later.

And that's just the beginning of the lies...

See, on August 2, 1876, Wild Bill broke his own golden rule. He sat with his back to the door in Saloon #10. He'd actually asked another player to switch seats, but the guy refused.

That's when Jack McCall walked in.

McCall had lost money to Hickok the day before. He walked right up behind Wild Bill, pulled out his gun, and shot him point-blank in the back of the head, yelling "Damn you, take that!"

Wild Bill died instantly at the table.

But here's where it gets really twisted...

Deadwood didn't have a real court yet, so they held a quick "miners' court." McCall claimed he killed Hickok to avenge his brother's death.

The jury found him not guilty.

Plot twist: McCall never even had a brother.

He made the whole thing up.

McCall thought he was free and started bragging about killing the famous Wild Bill Hickok. But the authorities caught up with him, saying the Deadwood trial was illegal.

At his second trial in Yankton, McCall changed his story again. Now he said he was drunk. Then he claimed Hickok cheated him. Finally, he said a gambler named John Varnes paid him to kill Wild Bill.

When they went looking for Varnes, he had vanished into thin air.

This time, the jury found McCall guilty and hanged him.

He never gave a clear reason for the murder, taking his true motive to the grave.

And this is just ONE example of how Hollywood has completely butchered Wild West history...

Jesse James wasn't gunned down in a heroic shootout - he was betrayed by his own gang members for reward money while cleaning dust off a picture.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? They probably died in Bolivia, but when researchers dug up the supposed graves in 1991, DNA tests showed it was just some German miner.

Billy the Kid's death story comes entirely from the sheriff who killed him - and he wrote a book about it to defend himself against accusations of murder.

The real Wild West wasn't filled with noble gunfighters and honorable duels at high noon.

It was full of backstabbing, betrayal, and cold-blooded murder.

Most of these "legends" died sad, inglorious deaths - shot in the back, betrayed by friends, or wasting away from disease.

The Hollywood version sells tickets. The truth is far uglier.

But that's what makes it so damn fascinating.

Talk soon,

Native Journals

P.S. Which Wild West "legend’s" REAL death do you find most fascinating? Hit reply and let us know…

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