The Red Ghost: Lost Camels of the American West

In the 1880s a beast was rampaging through the deserts of Arizona. Known as the Red Ghost, this creature quickly became thrust into legend and folklore, but it was an echo of a real piece of history. The Red Ghost, which may have existed—not as a monster but as a camel—was a remnant of a piece of history largely forgotten.

In 1855 the US allocated funds for the importation of camels. They were part of an experiment to determine whether camels would be useful for transportation and military operations as the US pushed it’s territory towards the Pacific. Known as the Camel Corps, the experiment would ultimately fail despite initial success. The US Civil War would put an end to the Camel Corps and the transcontinental railroad would largely reduce the need for transport animals out west.

But the camels that were part of the experiment still remained, and some of them would roam free for decades throughout the Wild West.

It’s time to tell their story.