The Wild West Extravaganza
True Tales from the Old West!
Choose your favorite podcast player
The Wild West Extravaganza
True Tales from the Old West!
Recent Episodes
July 8, 2026
Reno Hill: Surviving the Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn didn't end when George Armstrong Custer fell. Four miles to the south, the surviving seven companies of the 7th Cavalry, under Major Marcus Reno and Captain Frederick Benteen, were pinned down on a barren hilltop and fighting for their lives. A battle that would result in two days of thirst, sniping, desperate charges, and over two dozen Medals of Honor. We’ll also discuss Dr. Henry Porter's makeshift field hospital, the rescue by General Terry and Colonel Gibbon
July 2, 2026
Fix Bayonets: Colonel Chamberlain & Little Round Top
On July 2nd, 1863, a college professor from Maine named Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain found himself holding the far left flank of the entire Union Army on a rocky little hill called Little Round Top. Out of ammo, out of options, and almost out of men, he made a decision that would echo through history: fix bayonets and charge. This is the story of that stand and why I keep it in my back pocket for when things get rough. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
June 24, 2026
Custer's Last Stand: Hero or Fool?
The Battle of the Little Bighorn is one of the most famous and most misunderstood events in American history. On June 25, 1876, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and roughly 210 men of his immediate command were wiped out along a ridge in southeastern Montana by a massive village of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho fighting under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. But how did Custer really die? Did he go down fighting, was he killed trying to reach the river, or did he take his own lif
June 3, 2026
Billy the Kid, Brushy Bill, & the NYPD
Did the NYPD prove that Brushy Bill Roberts was Billy the Kid using forensic technology? Short answer: no. Not the NYPD, not the FBI, not the CIA, and not Interpol. No official agency has ever conducted a forensic photo comparison or any kind of investigation into whether Brushy Bill Roberts was Billy the Kid. So where does the claim come from? Most of the time, it traces back to the documentary "Billy the Kid: The Silver City Photo," produced by Dan Edwards, and featuring an NYPD detective name
May 27, 2026
We Hang Horse Thieves: The Truth About Frontier Justice
How many people were legally hanged for stealing horses in the Old West? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands? Join me today as we bust one of the most enduring myths of the American frontier. Despite what Hollywood and dime novels would have you believe, there was never a time in the Old West when stealing horses was legally punishable by death. Not in Texas, not in Arizona, not anywhere west of the Mississippi. We'll dig into the Espy File (the gold standard for documenting legal executions in American
May 20, 2026
Print Olive: Man Burner
Imagine being wrapped alive in a freshly butchered cowhide, tied to a tree, and left to bake in the Texas sun. The old timers called it the death of skins, and according to legend, it's exactly what Texas cattleman Print Olive did to a pair of rustlers in 1876. But that's nothing compared to his actions a few years later, which earned him the nickname Man Burner. Print Olive was a man of many hats: Confederate. Cattle baron. Vigilante. Convicted murderer. One of the largest ranchers in all of Ne