Scavenger hunt puzzle idea help

[pine gull]

I am staff for an upcoming haunted wild west parlor LARP. First game of the year is soon. I am tasked with creating a scavenger hunt type puzzle for the players. The basic idea i have is, a ghost leaves bits of a puzzle that lead to the cursed object in the end.

I guess I am asking here to see if anyone has done something like this before and has tips of experience on how to execute this type of scavenger hunt mod... I am being slightly vague here in case any players happen to hang out here as well. I can clarify in follow up posts as well

[pine gull]

Update, I have 8 written hints for players to find. I just need implementation ideas and a good hook.

[spice raptor]

Check out Wild West escape rooms on Pinterest.

But my idea is maybe have a graveyard where the gravestones have clues hidden in the names.

Perhaps a code word is hidden by the dates of death on the grave stone For example

Omar skully - d 1890
Betty Buckley- d 1889
Niles smith - d1895
Edward Marley- 1900

When you put the first letter in order by date of death. You get the code word “bone” which might be the name on the fifth gravestone which actually has a lock on it or something. Or is jusy the code on a word lock