8/16/22

I have two stops to make in Louisiana before I head to Memphis for the night. I was told I need to stop in Gibsland, Louisiana to see the Bonnie and Clyde "Death Spot." This is the sight where the infamous bank robbing duo Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed by lawmen and decimated and killed. 66 miles isn't exactly close but it's east of where I stayed in Greenwood and a chance to see where Bonnie and Clyde were killed seemed like a good stop towards the very end of my trip.

https://goo.gl/maps/xRzM8mM9haGSec696

66 humid sweaty eastbound miles later and I pull off the side of the road towards a tombstone and a plaque.

This is the road where Bonnie and Clyde drove down to see their friend's truck blocking the road. Imagine this as a small gravel road back in the 30s.

Bonnie and Clyde stopped their car to check in on their friend and that's when the lawmen hiding behind the trees opened fire on their car, sending 112 rounds into the car with which a quarter of them hitting the couple. The official report by the parish coroner listed seventeen entrance wounds on Barrow's body and twenty-six on that of Parker, including several head shots to each, and another severed Barrow's spinal column. The undertaker had difficulty embalming the bodies because of all the bullet holes.

After this stop, I rode another 10 miles to the Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum, a small but jammed packed museum dedicated to the death of the duo.

There are thousands of items inside the museum regarding their life and death. This is the sort of home grown museum where they only have access to photocopies and props that's not exactly historically accurate but they give you a feel of the actual events.

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow:

The posse of law enforcement that ambushed and killed them:

This car looks like the car that was shot up but it's not the actual car. The actual car is in a casino in Las Vegas.

There is this grim "death room:"

Grim but also fascinating. This place is definitely a place run by the local towns folks who are devotees of this tragic event. You can probably even use the word obsessive students to describe the folks working at the museum. These places are incredibly fun to me despite their historical and academic shortcomings because you can feel the passion of the people running this place. It's a feeling I understand well. $8 admission and it's worth your one hour time.