Legends of the Old West

Difficult times are ahead for Buffalo Bill Cody in the final years of his life. He helps found the town of Cody, Wyoming, but its creation, and other investments, lead to dire financial trouble. Bill’s marriage falls apart in a public scandal and he experiences more personal tragedy as he also witnesses America’s evolution from the Old West to the Gilded Age. In the end, his impact is incomparable.Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/joinApple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial.For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buffalo Bill Cody takes his popular Wild West production to Europe for years of tours and performances for royalty and the average fan alike. But as the production experiences unprecedented success abroad, tension builds at home in America between Native American societies and the U.S. government. The Ghost Dance movement gains momentum and leads to tragedies at Sitting Bull’s home and Wounded Knee.Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/joinApple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial.For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage.To purchase an ad on this show please reach out: blackbarrelmedia@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buffalo Bill loses his best friend, Texas Jack, but he discovers a path toward resurgence in the entertainment business. A Fourth of July party evolves into the life-changing production that will be called Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. The spectacle’s initial success prompts Bill to hire Annie Oakley and Sitting Bull, and Bill embarks on a 20-year career as the most famous showman in the world.Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/joinApple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial.For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage.To purchase an ad on this show please reach out: blackbarrelmedia@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buffalo Bill and Texas Jack quickly become rich and famous actors, but they continue to head west between tours to act as hunting guides and scouts for the Army. In the summer of 1876, the Army enlists the help of both men in the aftermath of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Buffalo Bill survives his soon-to-legendary fight with Cheyenne warrior Yellow Hair, but loses his old friend Wild Bill Hickok to the lawlessness of Deadwood.Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/joinApple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial.For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage.To purchase an ad on this show please reach out: blackbarrelmedia@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buffalo Bill Cody and his friend/idol Wild Bill Hickok become scouts for the Army after the Civil War. Cody and the Fifth Cavalry fight Cheyenne chief Tall Bull and his Dog Soldiers. And then Cody meets two men who will change his life: Texas Jack Omohundro and Ned Buntline. Texas Jack saves Bill’s life during a battle with Native American warriors, and then the two friends take the plunge into acting in Ned Buntline’s play.Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/joinApple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial.For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage.To purchase an ad on this show please reach out: blackbarrelmedia@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

William Cody experiences more than his share of grief at a young age: by the time he is 18 years old, he’s lost three family members and has been forced to grow up fast. He sees some of the violence of Bleeding Kansas, then much more in the Civil War, and then marries the love of his life. He finds his calling as a buffalo hunter and earns his world-famous nickname in the process.Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/joinApple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial.For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage.To purchase an ad on this show please reach out: blackbarrelmedia@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A father and his daughter go missing in Labette County, Kansas in late 1872. A neighbor searches for them, and he never comes home. His wife sounds the alarm. Search parties descend on the Bender farm. The Benders are long gone, but the victims of their murderous deeds remain. Local authorities hunt for the Bender clan, but justice proves elusive.Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/joinApple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial.For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage.To purchase an ad on this show please reach out: blackbarrelmedia@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1870, a “family” called the Benders moves to Labette County in southern Kansas. There are four people in the group, but no one in the area fully understands the relationship between them. They build a small cabin near a well-used trail and offer the space as an inn for travelers. Before long, strange activities and criminal acts are reported at the Bender cabin. And then, travelers go missing.Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/joinApple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial.For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage.To purchase an ad on this show please reach out: blackbarrelmedia@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

WARNING: This episode contains descriptions of cannibalism.The Donner Party experiences the worst case scenario. They’re starving and living in crude shelters. A small group begins the trek over the mountains to find help, but it loses members along the way. The people who remain trapped near Truckee Lake become increasingly desperate. But early in the new year of 1847, rescue parties start to arrive at the camps near the lake. The rescuers can hardly believe the conditions of the camps and the people. And the survivors tell the story of the most infamous wagon train in American history.Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/joinApple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial.For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage.To purchase an ad on this show please reach out: blackbarrelmedia@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Donner Party faces another punishing trip across a desert before it finally reaches the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the border between Nevada and California. The party has lost a ton of time, but the travelers still believe they can make it over the mountains and into central California before winter. They make it as far as Truckee Lake – now Donner Lake – before they become trapped by blizzards.Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/joinApple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial.For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage.To purchase an ad on this show please reach out: blackbarrelmedia@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices