Calamity Jane

orig. Martha Jane Cannary

(born May 1, 1852?, near Princeton, Mo.?, U.S.—died Aug. 1, 1903, Terry, near Deadwood, S.D.) U.S. frontierswoman. She grew up in Montana and worked in mining camps, where she acquired riding and shooting skills. In 1876 she settled in Deadwood, S.D., site of new gold strikes; her pursuits there included hauling goods and machinery to the outlying camps and working as a cook and a dance-hall girl. There she probably first met Wild Bill Hickok, who would become her companion. In 1891 she married Charley Burke, and from 1895 she toured with Wild West shows in the Midwest. Facts about her life were embellished by contemporary feature-magazine writers.

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Calamity may refer to:

• A disaster, a terrible event
• Al-Qaria (English: The Calamity), the 101st sura of the Qur'an
• Calamity Jane, a nineteenth century American frontierwoman
• Calamity Jane (1953 film), a 1953 film based on the person
• Calamity James, a British comic book character
• Calamity King, a fictional character from D.C. comics
• Calamity (board game), a board game released by Games Workshop in 1983
• GAT-X131 Calamity Gundam, a fictional weapon from the Gundam series
• The Irish Potato Famine (1845-1849), also known as "The Great Calamity"
• Calamity Coyote from Tiny Toon Adventures