In 1899, a 365-pound mummified figure with a bullet hole in his forehead was pulled from the Missouri River and put on display across Montana for two bits a head. Doctors couldn't explain him. A drunken miner swore he was the ghost of a beloved territorial governor. Montana legend Liver Eatin' Johnson insisted he was an old friend named Antelope Charley.

The Petrified Man was going on tour.

Credits: Written by Nick Mitchell. Produced by Joe Shelton. Music from Epidemic Sound.

Distinctly Montana Stories brings literary journalism from the pages of Distinctly Montana magazine to life in audio. Subscribe to Distinctly Montana Magazines at www.distinctlymontana.com/subscribe