Camels used to roam the desert?

Since this blog is about stories about the old west I figure that I should start out with a rather unique story. Did you know that camels used to roam the deserts of Texas? Yeah, weird. Back in 1856 the US army realized that the Texas desert temperature was very similar to the deserts of Egypt, so they imported camels to the US to be used by the army. The camels were very objective to the move by disobeying orders and spitting, but the experiment was deemed a success. After the civil war the US camel corps was disbanded and many of the camels were sold, but others ran away.

Reading this story reminded me of a similar story I watched on travel channels "Mysteries at the Museum". It was a story called "The Legend of the Red Ghost". Back in the 1880s, there was a story told of a large four legged red haired creature with a "devil-looking creature" strapped to its back. the creature trampled a woman, leaving her dead. The Red Ghost continued to terrorize citizens and many similar stories began ton appear. Then, when one man shot the creature dead, it was discovered that the Red Ghost was actually a camel with a human skeleton strapped to its back. The fact that there was a dead human attached to a camel raised many questions. It was found out that many young men in the army feared the camels, so they would be tied to the animal so they would become more comfortable with them. It is possible that one of the camels may have run off with a soldier tied to its back, and the soldier might have died of dehydration.

Well, I thought this was a very interesting story that shows the true wackiness of American history. Come back for more stories of the old west!