Top 10 American Ghost Towns People Can't Get Enough Of 

Calico, California

While this ghost town turned tourist attraction may not have any silver, it has a wealth of activities. Maggie Mine, the only safe former mine in the vicinity, is at Calico Ghost Town.

Rhyolite, Nevada

Former mining town Rhyolite borders Death Valley to the east. In 1907, this town had a hospital, opera house, and stock exchange. Charles M. Schwab bought a mine because the area looked promising. 

Goldfield, Arizona

Goldfield was full of miners looking for gold in the late 1800s, but it dried up by 1898. It was inhabited and renamed Youngsberg in 1921, but abandoned again in 1926.

St. Elmo, Colorado

St. Elmo, formerly Forest City, was a 2,000-person mining town. Only seven people lived there by 1930, including the family who ran the general store and hotel—one of whom is still said to haunt the property.

Terlingua, Texas

Terlingua is lively despite most of its population leaving after the mercury market plummeted. Visitors can eat chili at the "internationally acclaimed" restaurant, drink at the saloon, explore the ruins, and see the old jail at the historic stop.

Virginia City and Nevada City, Montana

Want to feel the terror of surviving in the gun-slinging Old West? Virginia City, home of Calamity Jane, has withstood development since 1863, preserving hundreds of historic buildings. 

Bodie, California

This famous California ghost town has been abandoned for almost 150 years by frustrated gold rushers who followed William Bodie to the town to try—but failed—to find more of the rich metal he discovered in 1859. 

Cahawba, Alabama

Southwest of Selma is "Alabama's most famous ghost town." This town at the confluence of the Alabama and Cahaba Rivers was the state's first permanent capital from 1820 to 1825

Kennecott, Alaska

The outstanding example of early 20th-century copper mining is this mill village at the end of a 60-mile dirt road in Alaska's enormous Wrangell–St.

Bannack, Montana

This Montana mining town is so haunted it was featured on the Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures. Bannack was a typical Wild West gold rush town founded in 1862 when John White found gold on Grasshopper Creek.

See Also

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