5 Western Ghost Towns You Can Visit Today…If You Dare

Located just north of Tonopah, home to the “world famous” Clown Motel that has been dubbed “America’s Scariest Motel,” the once-bustling town of Belmont, Nevada has a lot in common with many of the other ghost towns of the American West. Belmont began as a boom town following a silver strike in 1865. At its height, it was home to around 2,000 souls, not to mention five restaurants, two saloons, a bank, and two newspapers. At this time, it was the county seat of Nye County and the town’s pride and joy is the original Nye County Courthouse, which still stands today, maintained by a nonprofit called The Friends of the Belmont Courthouse. 

When the mines shut down and Belmont was largely abandoned in 1887, most folks who left the town behind took its lumber with them. After all, good wood was hard to come by in the Nevada desert. However, the brick and stone foundations and walls that are left behind in Belmont still draw visitors, who can also literally drink in the local history at Dirty Dick’s Belmont Saloon, a still-operating, off-the-grid watering hole that claims to trace its history back to 1867.

In 1862, the town of Bannack, Montana was the site of the state’s first major gold strike. In short order, the growing town became the capital of what was then still the Montana Territory—Montana wouldn’t become a state until 1889. With an elevation of nearly 6,000 feet, the town was accessible only by trail, yet the gold rush there made it a minor metropolis, with a population of around 10,000.

The last of even Bannack’s most determined residents had departed by the middle of the 20th century, and today, Bannack is a National Historic Landmark, managed as Bannack State Park. It is also remarkably well-preserved, home to more than 60 structures that are still standing, many of which can be explored. For those who want to experience the town as it was during its heyday, try visiting on the third weekend in July during “Bannack Days,” when the officials of Bannack State Park attempt a historical reenactment of the town as it was more than a hundred years ago.

Colorado is home to more than 200 ghost towns in various states of abandonment and disrepair. Of these, the town of Saint Elmo, in Chaffee County, is considered one of the best-preserved ghost towns in America. Founded in 1880, it served primarily as a mining town until the 1920s. Rail service to the town stopped in 1922, and mail service was discontinued in 1952.

The town was mostly home to rowdy miners and the various businesses that served them, but there were a few families who called Saint Elmo home, and one of the most significant was that of Anton and Anna Stark, who ran the town’s general store and the Home Comfort Hotel. Long after the Starks passed away, their adult children continued to live in Saint Elmo, even after most of the rest of the town’s population had moved on. In fact, some say that at least one member of the Stark family still haunts the region, as many visitors have claimed to see the ghost of Annabelle Stark, the family’s only daughter, still wandering the streets of the deserted town, or the halls of the now-dilapidated Home Comfort Hotel.

Preserved in a state of “arrested decay,” Bodie, California is one of the most famous—and largest—ghost towns in America. At one time, this gold boom town was home to more than 10,000 residents, including miners, gunfighters, bandits, and prostitutes—not to mention as many as 65 saloons, plus brothels, gambling halls, and opium dens. 

Though founded in 1859, Bodie truly kicked off with the gold rush of the 1870s, and the last of its residents had departed by 1942, when the last mine closed. Now managed by California State Parks, Bodie contains more than 100 structures that are still standing, many of which can be toured by visitors. Unlike some other ghost towns that are managed as state parks or historic monuments, the buildings in Bodie are not actively restored, instead being simply maintained in their current weathered appearance, helping to preserve the sense of visiting a place left behind by time.

Kennecott is located in the only non-contiguous state on this list; but the American West is often associated with the frontier, and frontiers don’t come much more distant or forbidding than Alaska. The Kennecott Mining Corporation founded a camp here in 1903 after massive copper deposits were discovered in the area, with investors like J. P. Morgan pouring money into the growing community. By 1938, however, the copper in the surrounding mines had been depleted, and Kennecott was a ghost town.

Despite its inhospitable location near the Root Glacier Trail, Kennecott has become a popular tourist destination, with walking tours established to visit the town’s many remaining landmarks, including remnants of the once-active mine, among them several bunkhouses, a power plant, machine shop, refrigeration plant, and more. It took four years of backbreaking labor to lay the track that brought the railroad to this isolated town, and today the old train depot remains a popular stop on tours of Kennecott, for those determined enough to make the trek.

Featured image of Bodie State Historic Park via California Department of Parks and Recreation