Member-only story
The Outlaw Whose Body Became a Carnival Prop
‘ The Bandit Who Wouldn’t Give Up’ found fame in death
The headline read, “Buried 66 Years Late.”
This is the case of Elmer McCurdy, an Oklahoma outlaw who didn’t find the final rest of the grave until 1977 — despite being gunned down by a group of sheriff’s deputies in October of 1911.
McCurdy found fame in his death in an afterlife of humiliation, later found as a hanging prop at Queen’s Park, also known as The Pike amusement park, in Long Beach, California. The park closed in 1979.
The Associated Press reported how McCurdy’s embalmed body, thought to be a wax dummy, was found in 1976 at the Laff in the Dark park ride by a television crew filming “The Six Million Dollar Man.” A member of the crew attempted to move the body when the discovery was made.
“When an arm fell off, revealing a bone,” the AP wrote, “the corpse was turned over to authorities who identified it and returned it to Oklahoma.”
A fatal gunshot wound, a penny dating to 1924, and Museum of Crime ticket stubs found in McCurdy’s mouth led to McCurdy’s identity. But how did he end in California in the first place?
Born in Washington, Maine, to an unwed teenage mother, McCurdy worked several jobs from a plumber, a miner, and a soldier in the Army, the latter where he received explosives training he would use in his criminal career.
After little success in regular work, McCurdy took to robbing with a focus on breaking safes with the explosives. Unfortunately, the explosion would often destroy whatever awards he sought after and his hauls were little.
Still seeking awards, McCurdy did a short, unsuccessful stint where he robbed two trains. But it’s the second train robbery that sealed his fate, where he only earned $46 and two jugs of whiskey.
Sick with tuberculosis and drunk off the whiskey, McCurdy hid from the law in a barn.
A known alcoholic, McCurdy is said to have begun drinking as a teenager when he learned his parents were…
