Buffalo Bill Cody burial debated

A dozen or so avid historians gathered to hear two experts debate where Buffalo Bill Cody wanted to be buried and dispel some of the rumors that have circulated for over 100 years.

The first speaker Steve Friesan was the director of the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave in Golden, Colorado for 22 years. He has consulted records and examined photographs of the day Cody was laid to rest in 1917 surrounded by the grieving public and fanfare befitting a celebrity.

A century later, there are still skeptics that insist Buffalo Bill was buried somewhere atop Cedar Mountain outside of Cody, Wyoming.

Skeptics believe that Denver, Colorado, bribed Cody’s relatives to keep the burial in Denver.

Conspiracy theorists claim a band of Wyoming devotees snuck into the funeral parlor, replaced the body with a look-alike itinerant and took the real Cody back home to Wyoming.

The Executive Director of the Buffalo Bill Center says, “Buffalo Bill is a favorite son here, he put the American West on the map. Wyoming residents want him here, the same way Denver wants him there.”

Born in 1846 in Iowa, William Frederick Cody went on to achieve worldwide fame as a buffalo hunter, US Army scout and host of a Wild West show, akin to Elvis Presley’s following.

He died of kidney failure in 1917, while visiting his sister in Denver.

It is disputed where Cody wanted to be buried.

A will, penned in 1906, declared that he wanted to be buried on Cedar Mountain. In a subsequent will, he left his wife to make the final decision.

The only real debate is whether or not Cody wanted to be buried in Colorado.

The controversy probably comes from Cody’s niece, Mary Jester Allen, who, after Louisa Cody’s death, claimed that Denver officials had colluded to have Cody buried there.

Cody’s foster son, Johnny Baker, had 11 tons of concrete laid over their graves in the early 1920’s as security against theft.

In 1948, Colorado National Guard stationed troops around the grave site after American Legion Post members in Cody offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who could steal Cody’s body.

In 2006, Wyoming legislators debated waging a covert effort to retrieve Buffalo Bill.

Jeremy Johnston, Curator of the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming and managing editor of the Papers of William F Cody, is truly immersed in American West history. Johnston says that thanks to the international success of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, Buffalo Bill Cody is a prominent representative of America, throughout the world.

When Buffalo Bill Cody died, his flag draped casket was hauled by wagon through Denver as mourners lined the streets. Cody laid in state at the capital building for three hours as 25,000 people shuffled past.

The evidence all around is slim. There are so many holes in the stories and tales that have been passed down through the generations that it’s hard to believe Cody is buried anywhere but on Lookout Mountain in Colorado.

Although technology has evolved enough to prove conclusively whether Cody is actually buried on Cedar Mountain, most seem satisfied with a simpler mindset. Cody’s spirit definitely lives on Cedar Mountain and in the old Irma Hotel that he built where guests and staff claim to see his ghost regularly.