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oil fields |
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The unlikely
ghost of a Russian cossack haunts the oil fields around
this small
town. Nicholi was a count whose family had escaped
from the
Russian Revolution. He brought his family and his fortune
to Texas
to learn the oil business from the ground up. He started
out as
a roustabout laborer, then became a tool pusher. All the
while,
he kept his fortune in gold hidden away in an abandoned
coyote
den. Or so the rumors went, and they were enough for a band
of roughnecks,
who kidnapped the cossack and his butler. Both died
rather
than divulge their secret. Before long, the ghost of Nicholi
started
to appear near the oil derricks, in the barren prairie outside
of town,
and even walking down Hendricks Boulevard. Dozens of
townsfolk
saw the ghost over the years. One of the more well-known
witnesses
was rock and roll star Roy Orbison, who saw the ghost on
a dirt
road east of town in 1950. According to legend, the cossack's
treasure
is still buried in the prairie, three to five miles due east of Wink.
LOCATION
The town
of Wink is in Winkler County in western Texas.
Take the
Highway 115 exit at Pyote on 1-20 about fifty miles
southwest
of Odessa. The town celebrates Roy Orbison Day
each year.
For more information, contact Wink City Hall, Wink, TX 79789.
Phone:
915-5273441
