Writer

Jackie Dorothy

Jackie Dorothy is a reporter for Cowboy State Daily based in central Wyoming.

Over the past 20 years, Jackie has worked in television, radio and print across Wyoming. In this role, she has won numerous writing and history awards including the Wyoming Governor’s Journalist of the Year and SBA Journalist of the Year.

Jackie is also the podcast host of ‘Pioneers of Outlaw Country’ that explores little known historical stories of Wyoming with entertaining narrative.

Find Jackie Dorothy

Latest from Jackie Dorothy

In the 1900s in Saratoga, women in an upper-class household, such as the Saratoga woman in this photo, were frightened by unexplained bumps in the night. The men tried to explain away the thumping by saying that the servant girl was bumping her head against her headboard each night when the clock chimed the half-hour. Reports do not say if the women believed this explanation.

Haunted Wyoming: The Headless Woman Of Cheyenne, And Other Terrifying Tales

Young women working the steam laundry in West Cheyenne were terrified by a headless woman who haunted their way to work. As bone-chilling as that was, sometimes the truth is even more bizarre.

Jackie DorothyOctober 29, 2025

The Historic Irma hotel was built in 1902 and has retained much of its original structure, including the stone work. These rooms are believed to have been so comfortable, that some guests have never left.

Haunted Wyoming: Some Guests Still Haunt Cody’s Famous Irma Hotel

Buffalo Bill’s famous Irma Hotel has been a destination for more than 120 years. It’s even popular with guests who never really checked out, like the well-dressed gentleman who keeps showing up at the restaurant, or the soldier who shot up Room 35 in 1912.

Jackie DorothyOctober 27, 2025

Wyoming miners in the early 1900s faced danger each day as they worked deep beneath the earth. These miners brought to Wyoming their beliefs of the supernatural from the Old World and would often refuse to work in haunted sections of a mine.

Haunted Wyoming: Plenty Of Ore — And Angry Spirits — In State's Historic Mines

When miners flocked to Wyoming in the late 1800s, they brought with them from the Old World their ancient superstitions of tommy knockers and ghostly apparitions. But fear of these spirits was not enough to stop miners from rushing to a ghostly mine when it meant gold.

Jackie DorothyOctober 25, 2025

David Maulik of Riverton's Maker Space 307 volunteered to create a prosthetic hand for a local pastor, Scott Jorgenson, through the e-NABLE group that connects people with volunteers who can build the hands. This is just one of many projects that have been made possible with the 3D machines and other emerging technology.

Need A Robot Hand? If You Can Think It, You Can Make It At Riverton Maker Space

With 3D printers, advanced laser cutters and even heavy-duty sewing machines, Maker Space 307 is loaded with tech for the public to use. If you can think it, you can make it at the Riverton maker space — even a robot hand.

Jackie DorothyOctober 19, 2025

Christine Castillo is sharing her love of ice skating with her students in Cody, Wyoming. This joy she brings to the young figure skaters is the same joy that her grandfather brought to the community of the Heart Mountain Relocation Center when he built them an ice-skating rink.

Cody Woman Teaches Ice Skating Decades After Grandfather Built Heart Mountain Rink

Christine Castillo's grandfather was one of about 14,000 Japanese Americans relocated to the Heart Mountain internment center, where he shared his love for ice skating by building a sheet of ice for the camp. Now, decades later, she coaches ice skating in Cody.

Jackie DorothyOctober 19, 2025

Ellen Watson, dubbed “Cattle Kate” by her enemies and some in the press, was hanged from this Limber Pine in 1889. Her death was never avenged and there are those that believe her spirit still haunts the tree.

Ghostly Wyoming: Haunted Trees Hold Echoes of Violence From Murders Beneath Their Branches

Chilling accounts of frightened hounds and blood-streaked apples have been reported around Wyoming hanging trees and spots where people were lynched — either by the law or vigilantes. Some say the trees are haunted by the murders beneath their branches.

Jackie DorothyOctober 19, 2025

Haunted Wyoming: The Ghostly Legends That Haunt Cheyenne’s Historic Train Depot

Employees of Cheyenne's train depot were absolutely convinced the building was haunted after a series of supernatural events. A newspaper reporter investigated for the structure for six months and, he too, came away certain spirits were there, especially at the "witching hour."

Jackie DorothyOctober 18, 2025

In 1870, Truman Everts was lost in Yellowstone National Park with only two knives and a pair of opera glasses. He was slowly starving as winter set in, his only food roots of thistles. Then ghostly guides appeared to guide him home.

Haunted Wyoming: Ghostly Guides Saved Explorer Lost In Yellowstone 155 Years Ago

In September 1870, Truman Everts was separated from the rest of his party in the heart of Yellowstone. In the following month, he survived a mountain lion attack, forest fire and near starvation. Full of despair, a ghostly figure appeared.

Jackie DorothyOctober 12, 2025

Wyoming Ballerina Needed Nerves Of Steel To Attend Boot Camp And Pursue Dreams

Thermopolis teen Skylar Lippincott overcame rejection and grueling challenges to earn a coveted spot at Ballet Chicago. “You have to work hard all the time and learn to ignore pain,” Lippincott said. “Ballet is a lifestyle.”

Jackie DorothyOctober 12, 2025

Frank McGovern, the son of a wealthy Eastern family, came to the gold fields to seek his own wealth. Instead, he spent the time at saloons such as the Exchange Saloon in South Pass City, and spent an estimated one million dollars in gold in less than three years in the late 1860s.

Wyoming History: Frank McGovern Squanders Fortune in Wyoming’s Sweetwater District

Educated Chicagoan Frank McGovern found the legendary Miners Delight mine, then lost over a million dollars to gambling, drinking, and violence, leaving behind a legacy of squandered wealth and scandal in South Pass City.

Jackie DorothyOctober 11, 2025

The Fountain Hotel with Leather Pool in the foreground and the hot water pipe visible in the meadow.

A Missing Heir And Mysterious Bell Haunted The Fountain Hotel In Yellowstone

A missing heir of a millionaire, disappearing motorists and a mysterious bell ringing for service in an empty room were some of the mysteries shrouding the Fountain Hotel in Yellowstone. Park rangers and guests were pleased when the luxury hotel was torn down in 1926, taking with it its ghosts.

Jackie DorothyOctober 11, 2025

The 2B Ranch was one of the neighboring ranches to the haunted Rech Cabin. It is believed that the small clapboard shack was haunted by the ghost of a woman who starved to death after her husband left her at their homestead and a storm blew in.

Haunted Wyoming: The Mysterious Sandwich-Eating Ghost At Bridger Creek In The Big Horn Basin

In the remote Big Horn Basin, cowboys and locals tell of a spooky legend involving a woman’s ghost, eerie lights, and mysterious happenings at the infamous Rech Cabin, where history and the supernatural collide.

Jackie DorothyOctober 05, 2025

Other Authors

In 1894, Laban Hillberry driving his team of cow elk in Big Horn City, Wyoming, He had captured the elk in 1892 on the upper Gooseberry Creek.

Wyoming History: Big Horn Loved A Pair Of Tame Elk, Until A Teacher Got Stomped

Back in the 1890s, a pair of tame elk delighted the townspeople of Big Horn, Wyoming. They even taught the elk how to pull wagons for them. Then one of them stomped the local schoolteacher and the love affair ended.

Jackie DorothyOctober 05, 2025

Terri Craft pauses in the doorway beneath Bee Healthy, her health food store. While upstairs is alive with activity, the basement is seldom visited but it is alive with remnants of the past, including an abandoned tunnel that is believed to have been dug during Prohibition when the building was a former saloon and boarding house.

Haunted Wyoming: Locals Say Spirits Are Restless In Worland's Bootlegger Tunnels

When Worland business owners reported intruders in their locked basement, police found no one — but they also heard sounds in the bootlegger tunnels beneath the town. Locals swear spirits are still restless in the tunnels.

Jackie DorothyOctober 04, 2025

Virginia Broersma came from her studio in Los Angeles, California, for a three-week residency in Ucross, Wyoming. Artists from many different disciplines compete for the chance to practice their chosen art, from writing to composing, at the working ranch thanks to a program offered by the Ucross Foundation. Broersma was given an artist studio where she painted when she wasn’t hiking the property or enjoying the wide-open skies.

Artists From Around The World Compete For Coveted UCross Residency Program

Artists from around the world compete for coveted residency spots in tiny UCross, Wyoming. The town of 26 triples in size with the prestigious program, which has drawn American and international talent for 40 years.

Jackie DorothySeptember 28, 2025

Some modern history sleuths believe Butch Cassidy, right, died when he blew himself up with dynamite in 1900. Nope, says a prominent historan. That was Cassidy's cousin, Robert Parker Heap, left, not the infamous outlaw.

Wyoming History: A Counterfeit Butch Cassidy Blew Himself Up In Laramie In 1900

Some modern history sleuths say Butch Cassidy died when he blew himself up with dynamite in 1900. Nope, says a prominent historian. That was Cassidy's cousin, Robert Parker Heap, not the infamous outlaw, whose real name was Robert Parker.

Jackie DorothySeptember 28, 2025

Terri Geissinger holds up the 1976 National Geographic with the cover story by Robert Redford about his outlaw ride. In 1967, he first sat at the Hole-in-the-Wall bar that now resides at the Hot Springs County Museum. The first time Redford saw the bar, it was still being used in the Hole-in-the-Wall Bar, a saloon that had first opened in the 1890s and welcomed the local outlaws in.

Three Weeks And 600 Miles: Robert Redford’s True Adventure On The Outlaw Trail

Robert Redford’s love of the West, Wyoming and their notorious outlaws was well-known. It led him in 1976 to retrace 600 miles of The Outlaw Trail on horseback, by car and by boat over three weeks for National Geographic magazine.

Jackie DorothySeptember 28, 2025

Master Leather Craftsman James Jackson has been creating works of art in leather for four decades in Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain Region. He has been recognized internationally for his work and his contribution to the Sheridan Design which was pioneered by his mentor, Don King of Sheridan, Wyoming.

Meet The Master Wyoming Leatherworker And Artist Keeping His Western Craft Alive

James Jackson is a Wyoming leatherworker and artist who's famed for being a master of the Western "Sheridan Style." That's not by accident, as he learned it from Don King, a Wyoming-born leatherworking pioneer and legend.

Jackie DorothySeptember 27, 2025

Officially, Riverton is run by its elected City Council. But a lot of this central Wyoming town’s problems are addressed by a bunch of old guys who meet weekly in Scotty Ratliff’s kitchen.

Wyoming Coffee Klatch: Scotty Ratliff’s Kitchen Is Where World Problems Are Solved

Officially, Riverton is run by its elected city council. But the town's problems, and all the world's problems, are really solved by this group of old guys in Scotty Ratliff's coffee klatch.

Jackie DorothySeptember 27, 2025

The Booshway's camp at the 1838 Riverton Rendezvous.

She Wanted A Marker For Wyoming’s 1838 Rendezvous And Created An Outdoor Museum

When a Riverton woman noticed there wasn’t a historical marker memorializing Wyoming’s famous 1838 Rendezvous, she decided to do something about it. The result is an expansive outdoor museum open year-round.

Jackie DorothySeptember 21, 2025

Lovell's Ernie Marsh receiving the National Heritage Fellowship Award at a ceremony in Washington, DC

Wyoming Silversmith Ernie Marsh Presented National Heritage Fellowship Award

Lovell's Ernie Marsh was presented the National Heritage Fellowship Award on Wednesday. The silversmith and bit and spur maker received the highest honor in the nation for folk and traditional arts. He’s one of only five artists from Wyoming to receive the award since its inception.

Jackie DorothySeptember 21, 2025