Ghost Town the Movie - 1.) Herbert "Cowboy" Coward was the first employee hired at Ghost Town by Hugh Presley. Herbert ran the bulldozer that cleared the incline and chair-lift path, by being winched from the top of the mountain by another bulldozer as he cleared in a pendulum style motion. Because of the severe angle and the oil flow being hindered, the bulldozer's diesel engine burned out. (Verified by Herbert Cowboy Coward) 2.) In 1961, a team of Hollywood professionals was hired by RB Coburn to train the first gunfighters how to fall Hollywood style. They asked Herbert who was working on the roof to come down and put on a gun belt. He was so good at gun-fighting and falling, he became a gunfighter. (Verified by Herbert Cowboy Coward)
3.) In the first years, bees were very prevalent on the mountain and would often upset the visitors. When a nest was found, most times in the ground, Herbert was called to get rid of the nest. It is reported that Herbert would put on a pair of leather gloves and crush the bees into the ground as they flew out of the nest. (Verified by Robert Bradley, Harry Valentine, Tic Rich, Johnny Rich). 4.) Robert Doyle Teaster was the most famous "Digger the Undertaker", and set the standard for many years to come for all of the men playing "Digger". His same character is portrayed in the Ghost Town the Movie, being played by his son.
5.) When Burt Reynolds came to Ghost Town as a celebrity appearance, he participated in the gunfights. He played Quint Asper on Gunsmoke at the time he appeared at the park. He called Herbert Cowboy Coward nine years later to play in Deliverance as the toothless man. This role later named Herbert and Bill McKinney as the number one movie villains of all time, Maxim Magazine 2005. 6.) When Dan Blocker, Hoss Cartright on Bonanza, came to Ghost Town in 1963, the park saw its highest visitors. The traffic backed up from the town of Clyde to Maggie Valley entrance of Ghost Town, then a two lane road. It is estimated the park saw 16,000 in one day alone. The park had to be closed down at 2:30 p.m. and it took till 7:00 p.m. to get all of the tourists off the mountain. 7.) When Ghost town opened, there was a wall plaque of a bartender with a huge mustache in the Silver Dollar Saloon behind the bar. As of the time of this writing in 2007 the plaque cannot be found in the park, but it appears in some of the behind the scenes photos taken during the filming of the movie in October 2006. 8.) All of the famous photographs made at Ghost Town from 1963 on, were taken by world famous NASCAR photographer Pal Parker, who still has all of the original negatives.
9.) Burt Reynolds and Tony Dow visited the park in its golden years and noted Robert Bradley as "the best fall guy ever." Robert would perform a death fall off of the roof of the General Store three times a day for his entire years of service. ( Over 2000 falls ) Robert performs the same fall in Dean Teaster's Ghost Town the Movie as the character Jim Jumper, named after Robert's grandfather from Campbell Creek. 10). Herbert Cowboy Coward was know internationally as the "Toothless Man" from "Deliverance". He lost his front teeth in a gunfight at Ghost Town in 1962. Robert Doyle Teaster was off one day and "Digger" was played by a young man working at the park and wanting his chance to play in a gunfight. He accidently hit Herbert in the mouth with a .45 caliber gun, knocking his front teeth out while performing. Herbert continued and finished out the gunfight. The crowd thought it was part of the act. 11.) The rollers on the chair-lift were changed by the gunfighters as they rode the chair-lift down at the end of the day. As maintenance, they would stand on top of the chair-lift and stop the chair over the rollers, climb on top of the tower and change the rollers. 12.) When the park was built, there were many snakes on the property. Herbert Cowboy Coward killed a rattlesnake at the top of the chair-lift and still wears the rattler on his hat today. (Verified by Tic Rich). 13.) The church was built due to Alaska Presley insisting it be built. Services were held there during the time the park was open. 14.) Alaska Presley was responsible for raising funds to have the park built in 1961 by selling bonds. She also provided rooms in her hotel for some of the Hollywood stars that came to Ghost Town. 15.) When the park was first
opened, the incline and chair-lift were not operational.
Visitors were shuttled up Rich Cove road by bus, then the road
was dirt, narrow, and no trees were there to protect the edge
of the cliffs. Two switchback turns in the road were so
narrow, the bus had to back up to make the turn. It backed up
to the edge of a cliff some 3000 feet high. Dean Teaster's grandfather, Oscar
Teaster was in charge of driving and managing the other drivers. 17.) When Ghost Town opened, it had an overflow parking lot across Soco Road from the main lot. Both lots stayed full year round.
18.) During the Golden Years of 1961 through 1967, the park was managed by Bob Chambers, the cancan girls were managed by Harry Valentine, the two saloons were managed by Robert Doyle Teaster. The original photo shop and photo services were set up and owned by Alaska Presley. She was responsible for getting Kodak Film to sponsor the park. 19.) Harry Valentine, the Ghost Town emcee for years, with his crisp and unique voice, was known as "The Golden Voice of Ghost Town", a name given to him by Burt Reynolds. Valentine plans to emcee again and train other emcees when the park reopens. 20.) Harry Valentine made all of the signs at Ghost Town through 1967, and has continued to make them over the years. 21.) RB Coburn bought and installed very unique street lights in 1961 from Hanover Lighting. Those same lights are still being installed over the world in theme parks and commercial installations in 2007. 22.) Only one other movie film has been made at Ghost Town. In 1963. RB Coburn made a travelogue by Guided Tour Productions, showing the original gunfighter crew that later became the Internationally Famous Ghost Town Gunfighters. He sent 16 minute copies of this to all of the major theaters in America and it was shown before feature films. It brought many visitors to the park over the years. The original was presented to Dean Teaster in 2006 by a theater owner in Stamford, CT. This gave inspiration to make "Ghost Town the Movie". Those original gunfighters appearing on the travelogue were: Robert Bradley, Alaska Presley, Harry Valentine, Barbara Valentine, Robert Doyle Teaster, Johnny Rich, Tic Rich, Jess Sutton, Ed Sutton, Bill McMahan, Herbert Cowboy Coward, Pal Parker, Panhandle Pete, Aminita, the last know medicine man of the Cherokee's, and others not identified. It is a very unique piece of Ghost Town history and will be included on "Ghost Town the Movie's" DVD. 23.) Robert Bradley, the "Apache Kid" was know to throw a bowie knife 14 feet and split a matchstick in half. 24.) The original Ghost Town gunfighters of the Golden years were timed once on how fast they could draw. It was inspired by RB Coburn and the world's fasted gun draw at the time "Joe Boudreaux". Herbert Cowboy Coward won for the fastest, beating the record by mere thousands of a second.
25.) The gunfight called "Old Zeke" was written by Herbert Coward. He came to work one day and forgot his cowboy outfit. He took the dummy hanging by the marshal's office and put on his clothes. He then proceeded to play a town drunk picking bugs and fleas off of the clothes which were actually on them at the time. The dummy had been hanging on the rope for two years. He incorporated that into the gunfight and it became known as the "Old Zeke" gunfight. It was performed for years. Only one known film exists of that gunfight from the early years. It is on 8-mm and was given to Dean Teaster by Alaska Presley for the "Behind the Scenes" of the movie Ghost Town. 26.) Alaska Presley and Robert Bradley made the movie possible by providing all of the operational funds for the entire production. They both decided they wanted to give back a unique opportunity to Maggie Valley and they have. |
