Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Fact or Fable! The frontier has given rise to stories as wild as the plains themselves — some carved from truth, others spun from campfire smoke and tall talk.

Here’s the game:

  1. Read the claim before you.

  2. Judge for yourself — is it fact, or is it fable?

  3. Open the answer and see whether history holds steady or legend has taken the reins.

Test your wit against the yarns of the Old West, from heroes and hunters to tricksters and tall-tale titans. Many a surprise awaits, for the borderland between truth and tale is where legends are born!

  • Fact. William F. Cody worked briefly as a Pony Express rider at age 14, carrying mail across dangerous terrain.

  • Fable. Johnny Appleseed was real. His name was John Chapman, and he planted orchards across Ohio, Indiana, and beyond.

  • Fable. This is a classic tall tale exaggeration. The Grand Canyon formed over millions of years by the Colorado River.

  • Fact. Eyewitnesses and press reports confirm she could shoot through the edge of a card, sometimes while it was held in mid-air.

  • Fable. Sitting Bull only joined the show briefly in 1885, earning money and attention before returning to his people.

  • Fable (with a hint of truth). The story blends folklore with history; some scholars think a real steel-driving man inspired the ballad, but the famous contest is legend.

  • Fact. Buffalo Bill’s show featured Doc Carver, known for hitting glass balls and wooden blocks at great distances.

  • Fable. Pure tall tale humor. Pecos Bill stories were invented in the late 19th century as wild frontier exaggerations.

  • Fact. Hickok was killed in Deadwood in 1876 while holding aces and eights, a hand that later gained its grim nickname.

  • Fable (probably). While Crockett did die at the Alamo, contemporary Mexican accounts suggest he may have been captured and executed, not killed in heroic battle.

  • Fact (mostly). Accounts describe Chapman often barefoot and dressed in simple clothes, though he wasn’t barefoot at all times.

  • Fact. Cody earned his nickname “Buffalo Bill” after fulfilling a contract to supply meat to railroad workers.

  • Fable. While Carson was a skilled frontiersman, this is a legend that grew out of campfire stories.

  • Fact. Oakley believed in empowering women with firearms skills and often gave lessons during her travels.

  • Fable. Another tall tale exaggeration, told to explain big landscapes through frontier humor.

  • Fact. Stories of the Wendigo appear in Algonquian oral traditions, describing a terrifying cannibal spirit.

  • Fact. Cody served as a Union scout and soldier during the Civil War, though not in a major commanding role.

  • Fable (mostly). Jane knew Hickok, but many of her stories were self-promoted embellishments rather than solid history.

  • Fable. This is a fun tall tale from lumber camps. Minnesota’s lakes are glacial in origin.

  • Fact. The show popularized Western sports and culture, inspiring modern rodeo traditions in the US and throughout Europe.