Them-thar Frontier History
The Old West(erns)
Famous Ghost Towns, I reckon
Y'all Ghost Hunters?
Wild West Pop Culture Ye-haw!
100
Tombstone, 1881, Deputy Marshall Wyatt Earp, his brothers Virgil and Morgan, and Doc Holliday are involved in a shootout at which corral?
The O.K. Corral
100
For his role as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (1969), John Wayne won which academy award?
Academy Award for Best Actor
100
Kolmanskop, in Southern Namibia, is a former German diamond-mining town, now abandoned. What geological force of nature is slowly reclaiming this ghost town?
*hint: it's Namibia, lol
Sand
100
What is the name of the electronic ghost hunting device which rapidly scans radio channels as a medium for a ghost to communicate?
Spirit Box
100
In the Western TV series Bonanza, the Cartwright family's Ponderosa Ranch borders what major lake in the Sierra Nevada's?
Lake Tahoe
200
True or False: at the start of the American Frontier, there were around 200 Native American tribes living in the United States.
False (500-600 tribes)
200
Many of the Westerns filmed in the 1960's and 70's were termed "Spaghetti Westerns" for what reason?
They were predominantly produced and filmed by Italian crews in Italy and Spain.
200
Hashima Island, a coal-rich island in Japan was bought by Mitsubishi in 1890 and featured Japan's first reinforced concrete buildings. By 1959 the 16-acre island was the most densely-populated area:
A) on an island
B) in Japan
C) in the world
C) in the world (5000+ people)
200
In the ghost hunting game, Phasmophobia, using a summoning circle will reveal the ghost but will also cause it to engage in what aggressive behavior?
A cursed hunt
200
In 2005's Brokeback Mountain, who are the actors who portray Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar (our gay cowboys)?
Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger
300
Denver, 1877, brothel-keeper Mattie Silks is involved in a feud with another Madam, Katie Fulton, over the affections of the same man. How did the two settle their differences?
*hint: it was the first recorded incident of its kind in Denver
They had a duel
300
The Pulitzer-prize winning, Lonesome Dove (1986) is considered to be the preeminent Western novel. In the book, what is "Lonesome Dove" the name of?
The town in which the book takes place.
300
The Pennsylvanian town of Centralia has been largely abandoned and deemed a ghost town since the 1980's, due to an underground coal fire which is significant for what reason?
It's been burning since 1962
300
Common initial questions ghost hunters ask spirits include "are you here?", "how old are you?", and "how did you ___?
Die
300
The titular character of this long-running Western radio series was known for his Indian partner, Tonto and his catchphrase, "Hi-yo, Silver!"
The Lone Ranger
400
$40,000 in 1880 would be worth how much in 2026?
A) $600k
B) $900k
C) $1.3mil
C) $1.3mil (incidentally, this was the amount of money Doc Holliday had in his pocket when he arrived to Tombstone, AZ)
400
Airing for 20 season, from 1955 - 1975, this television series is the longest-running Western in history.
400
Bodie Ghost Town in eastern California features over a hundred surviving structures from its original 2000. A boom town during the 1870's and 80's, Bodie's principal mining operations were for silver and, what?
Gold
400
According to the intro song of this popular paranormal cartoon from 2004, "he's gotta catch em all cause he's Danny _ _ _ _ _ _ _"?
"Phantom"
400
These open-world video games, released in 2010 and 2018, take place at the decline of the American frontier (1899 - 1914) and helped re-popularize the Old West.
Red Dead Redemption (1&2)
500
Wild Bill Hickok was famously shot and killed while playing poker, showing "Aces and Eights". Ever since, this set of four cards has been known as the _ _ _ _ _ _ _' _ _ _ _ _.
"Dead Man's Hand"
500
In Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, what is the name of Clint Eastwood's character?
"the Man with No Name" or "blondie"
also "Joe" or "Manco" (previous aliases from the "Dollars" trilogy)
500
Pripyat, Ukraine was a Soviet Russian "atomgrad" (nuclear city) home to around 50,000 powerplant and factory workers, including their families. The entire city was evacuated in a matter of hours in 1986 and has been a ghost town ever since. The name of the failed nuclear reactor which caused the evacuation is, what?
Chernobyl
500
A ghost hunter's trusty EMF reader scans for intensity of nearby ghost activity. What does EMF stand for?
"Electro-Magnetic Frequency"
500
Iconic as the classic 'Cowboy Gun' in Western pop culture, the 1873 Colt Single Action Army is also known as the Colt "_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _"
"Peacemaker"