October 31, 2026, 3:26 pm | Read time: 4 minutes
In Fort Sumner, New Mexico, there’s a grave behind heavy iron bars. But why? Is there a fear that the deceased will rise again and cause trouble? Or is it simply a desire to see someone imprisoned even in death? Who deserves such a final resting place in captivity? The man’s name is Henry McCarty, but he was better known by another name under which he became a gunslinger and Western legend. TRAVELBOOK explains the story behind the steel cage.
His life provides the material from which Westerns are made. In fact, the biography–or rather, the legend–of Henry McCarty, known as Billy the Kid, has been filmed multiple times. And what is it about? A boy driven to saloons by disputes with his stepfather, where he developed a remarkable talent for gambling. At twelve, he stabbed a man in a fight because the man had insulted his mother. After that–and essentially until his violent death–he was on the run. He got involved in shootouts, saved settler families from Native Americans, joined gangs, murdered more people, stole cattle, was sentenced to death, escaped from jail–and was eventually treacherously shot by Sheriff Pat Garrett. The Kid was just 21.
Ironically, the murderer himself detailed how it happened in a book. According to him, Billy the Kid went to his friend Pete Maxwell’s house after having sex with his lover, the Mexican prostitute Celsa Gutiérrez, to get a piece of meat. On the porch, he vaguely saw two figures and asked in Spanish, “Quién es? Quién es?” (“Who’s there?”). With his butcher knife ready, he entered Maxwell’s bedroom, where his killer was already waiting and aiming at him. The second shot hit Billy in the heart.
Did Billy the Kid Live On?
How many bodies can be attributed to Billy the Kid remains unclear. Some say 21, others nine. Four murders are documented, two of them in self-defense. It’s also unclear which of the stories told are actually true. The only certainty is that nothing is certain. The man became a legend during his lifetime. And after his death: even more so.
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For example, it’s still questionable whether he was really shot. Two men later claimed to be Billy the Kid. The idea was that the sheriff, a former friend of the gunslinger, didn’t actually shoot him but let him go and later passed off a stranger’s body as Billy’s. And with the man named Jim Miller, who spoke fluent Spanish and resembled Billy the Kid, that could very well have been the case. Unfortunately, his family only identified him after his death, so the man took his secret to the grave.
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Is Billy the Kid Really in the Grave?
Whether Billy the Kid actually lies in the small cemetery in Fort Sumner is uncertain. He is said to rest in a communal grave with two of his gang members, who were also taken down by Sheriff Pat Garrett. And even if their bones, as claimed, found their final resting place in this cemetery, it’s not certain they are actually where a gravestone marks the spot.
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In 1904, the nearby Pecos River overflowed its banks and scattered the bones. When the commission that erected the gravestone in the 1930s had to choose a burial site, they had four different locations to choose from–and they picked the fifth.
Since the gravestone isn’t definitive, fans of the gunslinger might have thought it could stand anywhere–and they took it with them. Not just once, but twice. After that, the community decided to protect the grave site–and built a steel cage over the grave. That doesn’t deter tourists: 35,000 come annually to see the supposed final resting place of Billy the Kid.
The grave looks like a mini-prison for a dead man. Like a belated act of justice against someone who tried to escape his death sentence. Now the gunslinger rests behind bars–not for life, but for eternity. If, indeed, Billy the Kid is even there.
In Fort Sumner, there’s also a museum about Billy the Kid. It opened in 1953 and now houses about 60,000 exhibits.
Here is the Grave of Billy the Kid:
