Pity the hard-luck residents of Skidoo, perhaps the sorriest little mining settlement in the West. In its short-lived, miserable history, the town had the misfortune of attracting such desperate characters as Joe "Hooch" Simpson. In 1908, this down-on-his-luck barkeep made the mistake of gunning down the town banker for $20, and when a lynch mob finally got its hands on him, they couldn't even wait to build a proper gallows.

They hanged him from the telegraph pole that brought news of the outside world to this benighted patch of earth. When a reporter from the Los Angeles Times showed up for a photo, the good citizens of Skidoo accommodated him by digging up Hooch, brushing him off and hanging him again. But then the town doctor, in a macabre moment, lopped off Hooch's head to test for syphilis, the possible cause of his sudden madness.

No wonder today the twice-hanged, headless Hooch still haunts these empty hills in Death Valley where all that remains are a historical marker, broken bottles and hundreds of abandoned mine shafts.

From Stovepipe Wells, drive southwest along California 190 for nine miles, turn left on Wildrose Canyon Road and, after nine more miles, turn left on the first major gravel road and continue for almost eight miles.

For more information, call the Death Valley National Park at (760) 786-3200.