Bret Hall, YouTube Channel

[Deleted]

youtu.be/xk_G9AR2nZo

He has interviews with Ola Everhart, and others, from the 1990s. The audio is poor but these are VHS tapes converted to digital.

The above mentioned interview from Melton F. Hailey is with a man named Janaay Valdez, which mentions Fred Nolan and Brushy Bill Roberts, etc.

Valdez says that his wife's father personally knew Billy The Kid. Valdez also says he doubts the body of Billy The Kid is really in Fort Sumner New Mexico. Valdez also said his relatives lived in Hico, and he believed that Brushy Bill Roberts was Billy The Kid.

I take all of these interviews with a big tablespoon of salt, but it's great that Bret Hall has shared these videos after all these years because these are the interviews that stirred up all the renewed interest in Brushy Bill Roberts.

Valdez didn't hold Fred Nolan highly in his esteem, at one point saying that the man wasn't fit to be dog catcher let alone as a historian.

The problem that I have with the interviewers is they either don't ask the right questions, or they were leading the questions to get the answers they wanted.

Valdez claims that a family by the name of Haran (I think?) said that the historical Billy The Kid was born in Texas. Who this family is or was I have no idea.

Jesus Christ Almighty God bless you all 😊

[Deleted]

youtu.be/lw3Lm4zj_Pc

A longer interview with Valdez.

youtu.be/OWI1ard4Hao

youtu.be/OSoOTjgjDHs

youtu.be/8OK_GUfCa3A

youtu.be/x7LwEtf8jSw

Valdez giving tours of the area.

Jesus Christ Almighty God bless you all 😊

[Deleted]

Lol, now I know Valdez is unreliable 🤣 he wrote a book about how Bernie Sanders would've been the president of the United States in 2016.

[leeb]

What a load of old tosh. Third rate video tapes talking rubbish, bet they wernt VHS probably betamax!

[Deleted]

I agree that they are basically meaningless as far as proving that Brushy Bill Roberts was Billy The Kid, but what it does prove is that many of these people were extremely gullible and naive and it's shocking how an elected judge (Bob E. Hefner) is on tape saying that not only did Billy The Kid survive, but so did John Wilkes Booth and Jesse James.

This does not, in retrospect, make the pro-Brushy people look good at all. It looks like amateur hour, or a bunch of conmen trying to make a buck off of people's ignorance of the facts.

But I appreciate that the tapes are out there so that there is historical basis for how and when the resurgence of Brushy Bill Roberts came about in the 1980s and 1990s.

Jesus Christ Almighty God bless you all 😊

[Deleted]

Yeah these people are definitely nuts, the so-called Billy The Kid museum in Canton Texas has a "JFK Assassination Room," and they claim that LBJ was in on the assassination.

Absolute hogwash and completely irresponsible. Again, it's an elected judge (Bob E. Hefner) giving the full endorsement of this garbage, as well as the endorsement that Brushy Bill Roberts was Billy The Kid and that J. Frank Dalton was Jesse James.

It's no wonder historians have campaigned mightily to crush anything to do with Brushy Bill Roberts because idiots like this was leading the charge. I used to not understand why the hate towards anything to do with Roberts, but these videos help me understand.

Jesus Christ Almighty God bless you all 😊

[Deleted]

NOT FROM BRET HALL:

youtu.be/G5k9PRfzKxY

A far and away more reliable source on the historical Billy The Kid, Chino Silva the grandson of Jesus Silva. This is the full interview with Chino Silva in 1997 done by Duane Whitlow.

Silva Sr was not only Billy The Kid's friend but was also pallbearer of The Kid's casket in Fort Sumner. Whitlow originally only released 14+ minutes of the interview some years ago.

Jesus Christ Almighty God bless you all 😊

[Deleted]

Cool! I enjoyed the Valdez tapes. I struggled a bit to understand Chino Silva speaking though. I'm definitely going to visit these museums and towns someday and I'm jealous of anyone who already has. I wish I could get in the car right now and do the whole Billy the kid tour.

[Wayne Land]

Dr. Jannay Valdez was an honorable well intentioned man. I met him in 2006 upon touring his museum in Canton, TX. He drove to Hico to meet me there and introduced me to Judge Hefner and we had a very nice evening together over some excellent pie. Valdez' Doctorate was in Education and he served many years as a high school principal and teacher and was the Dean of Hill College. He had a profound belief that Brushy was the real BTK as did Judge Hefner. They may have both been wrong but they were respectable men who do not deserve to be belittled. In other words, attack the message if you will, but do not attack the messenger(s). Likewise, the people Valdez interviewed in those videos truly believed what they were saying and for the most part there is no proof that they were wrong.

I'll tell you a story you may find interesting.

In speaking with Valdez, it was mentioned that my wife and I were planning to visit Fort Sumner. He told us while we were there that we should see the Maxwell house where Billy Barlow was shot. He insisted that it was still standing and that there were people in Fort Sumner who knew that fact. He said I should visit a lady who lived directly across the street from the Old Fort Sumner museum and she would give me directions. While there we knocked on her door and met her. A very nice old lady, I forget her name, who verified that indeed, yes, the house was still standing and she gave us directions. The house she was referring to was off of the intersection of Pat Garrett Blvd. and Billy The Kid Drive. Dr. Valdez had insisted the historical records of where old Fort Sumner was located were incorrect and that is why there was the false story about the house being washed away in the flood. My wife and I went and visited the house in question and sure enough, it bore some eery similarities to the Maxwell house we've all seen in photos. It was abandoned at the time but we went inside. The room that would have been Pete Maxell's room looked almost exactly like the drawings I had seen. The porch along three sides had the same design, etc. There was even evidence of where the fence and gate would have been that was discussed in the various versions of what happened that night. About the only difference was that this house did not have a second story as did the Maxwell house. Valdez told me that when he and Brett Hall visited the house, that Brett had climbed into the attic and that there were floor boards up there and not just rafters, indicating that there had once been second story. Valdez believed with all his heart that this house was the actual Maxwell house. He had even studied the geography of the area and figured out how the river had flowed differently at the time and why history had Old Fort Sumner located a couple miles away from where it had really been.

He was wrong. The house in question was actually built some years after the flood by a descendant, I think, of Maxwell's who obviously designed the structure based somewhat on the design of Maxwell's house. It is even believed that he may have squandered lumber from the Maxwell house ruins and used it in this house. But it was not the Maxwell house. Now on the surface one might see this as an example of Valdez' gullible nature. But I don't see it that way at all. The house is close enough to the location, construction and architecture of the Maxwell house that it could fool anyone. I was almost convinced myself after seeing it.

Bottom line is, lots of people believe lots of things about Billy The Kid, much of which is not true. But that does not mean those folks should be laughed at or belittled. Not the old lady I met in Fort Sumner, not the people Valdez interviewed and not Valdez or Brett Hall. Please don't do that. Dr. Jannay Valdez, rest in peace, was a well educated well intentioned man I was proud to call my friend.

[Wayne Land]

Some photos:

[Wayne Land]

2 more:

[Texas Truth Teller]

Sept 20, 2020 14:48:22 GMT -5 Wayne Land said:

Dr. Jannay Valdez was an honorable well intentioned man. I met him in 2006 upon touring his museum in Canton, TX. He drove to Hico to meet me there and introduced me to Judge Hefner and we had a very nice evening together over some excellent pie. Valdez' Doctorate was in Education and he served many years as a high school principal and teacher and was the Dean of Hill College. He had a profound belief that Brushy was the real BTK as did Judge Hefner. They may have both been wrong but they were respectable men who do not deserve to be belittled. In other words, attack the message if you will, but do not attack the messenger(s). Likewise, the people Valdez interviewed in those videos truly believed what they were saying and for the most part there is no proof that they were wrong.

I'll tell you a story you may find interesting.

In speaking with Valdez, it was mentioned that my wife and I were planning to visit Fort Sumner. He told us while we were there that we should see the Maxwell house where Billy Barlow was shot. He insisted that it was still standing and that there were people in Fort Sumner who knew that fact. He said I should visit a lady who lived directly across the street from the Old Fort Sumner museum and she would give me directions. While there we knocked on her door and met her. A very nice old lady, I forget her name, who verified that indeed, yes, the house was still standing and she gave us directions. The house she was referring to was off of the intersection of Pat Garrett Blvd. and Billy The Kid Drive. Dr. Valdez had insisted the historical records of where old Fort Sumner was located were incorrect and that is why there was the false story about the house being washed away in the flood. My wife and I went and visited the house in question and sure enough, it bore some eery similarities to the Maxwell house we've all seen in photos. It was abandoned at the time but we went inside. The room that would have been Pete Maxell's room looked almost exactly like the drawings I had seen. The porch along three sides had the same design, etc. There was even evidence of where the fence and gate would have been that was discussed in the various versions of what happened that night. About the only difference was that this house did not have a second story as did the Maxwell house. Valdez told me that when he and Brett Hall visited the house, that Brett had climbed into the attic and that there were floor boards up there and not just rafters, indicating that there had once been second story. Valdez believed with all his heart that this house was the actual Maxwell house. He had even studied the geography of the area and figured out how the river had flowed differently at the time and why history had Old Fort Sumner located a couple miles away from where it had really been.

He was wrong. The house in question was actually built some years after the flood by a descendant, I think, of Maxwell's who obviously designed the structure based somewhat on the design of Maxwell's house. It is even believed that he may have squandered lumber from the Maxwell house ruins and used it in this house. But it was not the Maxwell house. Now on the surface one might see this as an example of Valdez' gullible nature. But I don't see it that way at all. The house is close enough to the location, construction and architecture of the Maxwell house that it could fool anyone. I was almost convinced myself after seeing it.

Bottom line is, lots of people believe lots of things about Billy The Kid, much of which is not true. But that does not mean those folks should be laughed at or belittled. Not the old lady I met in Fort Sumner, not the people Valdez interviewed and not Valdez or Brett Hall. Please don't do that. Dr. Jannay Valdez, rest in peace, was a well educated well intentioned man I was proud to call my friend.    

Nice story.  Honorable men with good intentions.  Limited research skills.  Their book, like all the others, is based on information in "Alias Billy the Kid"'.  Their book was is the only book that mentions Brushy's first marriage before he later married Mollie

Brown.

[Deleted]

Thanks for sharing Wayne. I'm not saying these men were bad people, that's not my intention. I'm sure that they felt that they were doing right, or felt that they were on to something--- I admire all the work and time and effort, even though I mightily disagree with their conclusions.

What I do find disheartening, though, is that it's painfully obvious that they were duped either by their own want of it all to be true, or by others duping them. After all, who logically and honestly believes that Jesse James and Billy The Kid and John Wilkes Booth all survived and all lived within 20 miles of each other? The odds are astronomical as it is to consider ONE of those historical figures having survived let alone three.

What I find to be the point of contention, when I said these people are crazy, is them insisting that JFK was done in by LBJ in a vast conspiracy, and having that in a museum being presented as the truth when there is ZERO evidence that's even remotely true.

I'm reminded of the late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of Sherlock Holmes, after the death of his children being duped into believing that there was such a thing as psychics and mediums--- and even fairies. Despite Harry Houdini telling him all the tricks of the trade, exposing all the frauds and charlatans, Doyle made himself believe that Houdini was apart of a conspiracy to hush up the psychics and Doyle believed to his dying day that Houdini had supernatural powers to be able to do his escape tricks.

With men like this, I think they dupe themselves into believing against all the arguments and evidence because they have a want for it to be true--- because it not only fills a void in their lives, it also makes them feel important and somebody of authority, etc.

Sure, they probably were good people. I'm not denying that. But the fact remains that it's painfully obvious that they didn't care to really know where the truth ended up--- although in their defense in the 1980s and 1990s they didn't have access to the kind of records or science that we have today, so you could (to a point) excuse them.

That being said, since the museum is clearly an attraction of hypothesizes it should've been advertised as a museum of conspiracy theories, or a museum where you the viewer can decide for yourself about the claims presented. But that's not what the museum claimed at all, it claims that it's presenting the truth and that's dishonest.

Jesus Christ Almighty God bless you all 😊

[Wayne Land]

Dr. Valdez "believed" he was presenting the truth as did Judge Hefner and Brett Hall. Valdez did not personally create any of the conspiracy theories that were addressed at his museum. I was at his museum. He gave me the key and allowed me to park my RV on the grounds for two days and plug into his electricity so we could peruse all the files he had stored in the back that were not on display and there were multiple file cabinets, boxes, etc. He had done a huge amount of research. And I can tell you there were no claims on display that said the theories were "fact". They were theories, and anyone who visited there would naturally be aware of that. He did have some documents on display to support the idea that LBJ planned the Kennedy assassination. I can post photos of the inside of the museum. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow morning.

[Deleted]

If the museum is indeed sold to the public as a "you decide" attraction, then I stand corrected and apologize for assuming. That being said, I was reacting to Hefner's assertions in the video tour he did of the museum talking as if the things on display or presented were the truth. That I found dishonest.

Jesus Christ Almighty God bless you all 😊