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DEAD FAMOUS
 Gail
Porter and Chris Fleming take a spirited road trip through the West
Coast of America looking for the ghostly locations where the legends
of stage and screen reside.
She is a self-confessed skeptic, he is a "sensitive" able to detect
paranormal events beyond the range of the five senses. Together
their mission is to investigate the "Dead Famous"!
What will Gail and Chris uncover? And will Gail lose her skepticism
during some of the show's most intriguing paranormal experiences?
(Dead Famous photo of Gail Porter and Chris Fleming.)
DEAD FAMOUS
Jan Girand
 Kathy
Cheshire, researcher and production secretary for a United Kingdom
TV production company, recently contacted members of the Billy the
Kid Outlaw Gang. Representing Twofour Broadcast Ltd, she said her
company creates the Dead Famous series. She and Doc Sproull
of El Paso, Texas, BTKOG's historian, developed a warm rapport and
kept emails flying across the ocean. Doc sent Kathy a quantity of
material--history of Billy and the Lincoln County War, and a current
copy of the BTKOG Outlaw Gazette. Joe and Carol Hesseling also sent
her a BTKOG T-shirt, which she wore, upon request, for a photo to be
sent to the group since she would not be coming to New Mexico with
the film crew. She also wore the custom-made BTK bolo made just for
her by Doc Sproull.
 (Dead
Famous film crew at the Canning Elk Ranch on January 14, 2006:
cameraman and director Bernie Schaffer, soundman James Lloyd and
producer Niall Carmichael. Photo by Jan Girand.)
Kathy said their shows are two-sided. One side is biographical and a
commentator focuses strictly on history and is a skeptic to all but
facts. The other side is attuned to the paranormal, with a
commentator inclined towards the spiritual. Each program deals with
an American star or historical figure. Kathy said they are now
airing their third series, and their program has begun showing in
the United States on both A&E and Biography TV channels. Their
production crew visits locations significant to the featured
characters to gather ambience and learn whether their spirits still
linger there. Many selected people and settings are ones already
associated with ghost tales.
 The
series they are now working on is based upon the Wild West. They are
particularly interested in Billy the Kid Bonney. Kathy said when she
and her group tried to research the subject of Billy on the
internet, they kept finding references to BTKOG (thanks to the
efforts of the association's webmaster, Joe Micalizzi), which led
them to contact association members.
Kathy thought a productive idea would be for their UK crew to come
to Lincoln County, New Mexico to search for Billy's essence, and to
also interview BTKOG members. The members designated Joe Hesseling--the
organization's president, himself a genuine cowboy--as the
interviewee.
 Doc
Sproull provided Kathy with snippets of BTK history and suggested
additional places to visit and people to see for this film segment.
An example of information Doc gave Kathy in an email: "In Sophie
Poe's book, Buckboard Days, she tells of moving into the apartment
on the second floor of the Lincoln County Courthouse after she was
married in 1883. To quote her (page 209), 'There was one feature of
the new home which I did not enjoy. The back stairway, up and down
which I had to travel many
 times
during the day, was still stained with blood, a grim reminder of the
day, two years before, when Billy the Kid had shot and killed his
guard, James W. Bell.' When Dr. Lee [within the past year] used
Luminal on the boards at the top of those stairs, the blood stains
were clearly visible," wrote Doc to Kathy. He suggested that the
film crew, when they visit Lincoln, ask to see the photo taken after
Luminal was applied to that area of the back stairway of the
courthouse.
Billy the Kid Trail Ride posse in front of the Lincoln County
Courthouse. Joe Hesseling (far right) led the posse over the Capitan
Gap to the old Las Tablas town site (Old Block Ranch), Billy the Kid
after escaping from the Lincoln County Courthouse, spent some time
in Las Tablas, before continuing to Fort Sumner on a Block Ranch
horse. Photo by Joe Micalizzi
Saturday morning, January 14, RWM editor, Jan, found the film crew--
producer Niall Carmichael, director and cameraman Bernie Schaffer
and soundman James Lloyd--outside the Ellis Store Bed and Breakfast
in Lincoln conducting an interview. It was a gray, overcast day,
uncommon in New Mexico more like the days they were accustomed to in
England. The crew had spent the night--and would spend more
nights--at the Ellis enjoying David and Ginny Vigil's warm
hospitality and Ginny's culinary talents. Later Saturday night, they
would conduct a serious search for the ghost that haunts the Ellis.
They hoped that resident ghost would be a ham and appear for them.
 (The
Ellis Store, a fine historic Bed and Breakfast owned and operated by
David and Ginny Vigil. This property is for sale. For more
information, see the Industry page, this issue, or call the Vigils
at 505-653-4609. Photo by Jan Girand)
Doc and Peg Sproull and other BTKOG members had prearranged to meet
the crew later that day, at 1 p.m., in Capitan to lead the way to
the Canning Elk Ranch where they would meet and interview Joe
Hesseling.
Soon the caravan of cars arrived at the ranch. Before driving up the
winding road towards the house, Jan told the crew to be prepared to
stop and enjoy the sight of magnificent elk, many with huge racks of
antlers. They did spot, stop and take photos with zoom lens of a
large herd of elk drinking at a stock tank in the distance. (Above
photo was taken by Joe Micalizzi a previous year.)
"Why don't any of those elk have antlers?" Jan asked Joe Hesseling
in the presence of the crew a few minutes later.
"Cuz those are girls, Jan," drawled Joe.
Now Jan doesn't claim to know much about that kind of wildlife but
she recalled Carol, Joe's wife, saying that male elk begin dropping
their antlers in late February and grow an entire new set by the
next fall. It was now mid-January, not late February, but Jan had
heard Carol comment that some of the yearlings had already dropped
their antlers.
"Well, where are the boys hanging out, Joe?" asked one of the BTK
members, hoping to give the crew an opportunity to photograph them
in their full regalia.
"Probably down at the bar," drawled Joe. No doubt that's what he
calls their watering hole.
(Joe Hesseling riding across the Canning Elk Ranch vega for the
English Dead Famous film crew, crowned with their new BTKOG billcaps.
Photo taken Jan. 14, 2006 by Mike Allen.)
By
mid-afternoon, the heavy cloud-cover lifted and the New Mexico sky
turned its usual turquoise blue. Members of the British crew kept
commenting on the beautiful scenery and wide open spaces, not a
cliché here. The winter-dormant grass was tall and golden and
rustled when people walked through it. The BTKOG members, present to
offer Joe moral support, had to exercise care to not walk during
filming because the sensitive sound mikes picked up the noise of the
dry grass.
 (Old
Indian House on the Canning Elk Ranch; photo by Jan Girand)
 The
interview was held near an old ruin on the ranch that Joe called
"the Indian house" because it is a picturesque setting. The crew
filmed Joe riding his horse across the vega towards the Indian
house. Then Joe dismounted and stood beside his horse while Niall
asked him questions about what kind of a fellow he thought Billy had
been, why Billy had developed such a bad reputation, and what life
must have been like for him and other residents of Lincoln in the
1880s.
Towards the end of the segment's filming, Joe rode his horse away,
across the vega, a departing silhouette against the setting sun. The
crew was delighted with the results and their visit to Lincoln
County, New Mexico. (Photo by Mike Allen) This article and photos
can also be found on the official BTKOG website:
www.btkog.com
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