Don’t pack up your tents and camp stoves for the year just yet: Spooky camping season has just arrived.
Longer, darker nights are great for ghost stories around the campfire, and with Halloween just around the corner, even October days feel extra eerie. It’s also the perfect time of year to visit—and camp near (or even inside) a ghost town. Here are some of the spookiest places for a Halloween camping trip.
Photo by Brian Fulda
1. Bodie, California
About an hour’s drive from Yosemite National Park, Bodie was once a bustling gold mining town of around 8,000 people. Although a couple of fires—one in 1892 and a second in 1932—took out most of the town’s original structures, dozens still remain and are now a protected historic site, operating asBodie State Historic Park. Although camping in the park is strictly prohibited, it’s worth setting up camp nearby and coming as a day visitor. Just be warned: Taking anything from the ghost town is not only strictly prohibited, but also bad luck.
Just west of Big Bend National Park in Texas lies the Terlingua ghost town, the remains of what was once a major hub of cinnabar (a form of mercury) mining. Although many of Terlingua’s old buildings are abandoned, a few active businesses sit within the Old West town. You can grab a bite or hang out with cowboys on the porch of the authentic Starlight Theatre Restaurant and Saloon, or mosey on over to the Terlingua Trading Company, a souvenir store inside an old trading post, to pick up a self-guided tour brochure. Don’t leave before visiting Terlingua’s eerie cemetery.
One of the best-preserved ghost towns in Montana—if not the US—can be found at Bannack State Park. The town of Bannack got its start in 1862 when gold was first discovered there, and by 1863 it had a population of over 3,000 residents. It continued to thrive until the 1930s, when supplies of gold began to shrink and prospectors set their sights elsewhere.
Today, the pet-friendly and ADA-accessible park is a popular stop for day visitors and campers alike, offering picnic tables, restrooms, campsites with fire rings, and a rental tipi. Special events include the annual Bannack Days celebration, which features historical reenactments and gold panning, as well as spooky autumn ghost walks.
Although many of America’s ghost towns trace their origins back to gold and silver mining, it was coal mining that led to Centralia‘s boom, and its eventual decline. Once a thriving community, Centralia is now a scary place to be, even if you aren’t superstitious.
A subterranean fire has been burning under the mostly abandoned town since 1962, when firefighters lit an old garbage dump on fire, in an effort to dispose of unwanted trash. The fire seeped into old mines, causing carbon monoxide levels to rise, and by the 1980s, sinkholes filled with the dangerous gas made things even worse. Smoke continues to rise from the ground on certain days.
Deep in White River National Forest, Saints Johns was among Colorado’s larger silver mining operations in the 1870s, though most people lived in nearby Montezuma, which now takes about 10 minutes to reach by car (provided you have 4-wheel drive) and serves as an almost ghost town that has somehow survived the busts and booms over the past century. After a series of switchbacks on a 4×4 trail, you’ll come across a few old structures, including wooden cabins and a smelter—the remains of St. John. But most people come to this off-the-beaten-path ghost town for hiking, snowshoeing, and off-road vehicle (OHV) adventures.
A couple of hours’ drive from Las Vegas and just outside of Death Valley National Park, the Rhyolite ghost town is both accessible and well-preserved. It was founded at the turn of the 20th century during the Nevada Gold Rush and thrived for about a decade before gold began to dwindle. Its demise was brought about by the financial downturn of 1907, and by 1916, the lights were turned out on the once-bustling town. Make sure to visit the Tom Kelly Bottle House, which was constructed using old glass bottles that were stacked together and sealed using adobe clay as mortar.
Unlike many ghost towns in the West, it was wood—not minerals—that led to the establishment of Mabel, Oregon, back in the 1890s. The town was once the third largest town in Oregon and had a thriving lumber industry throughout the First World War, but began to decline shortly thereafter, when demand for wood began to lessen. Some ruins remain to this day, including the old post office, which was later used as a school and as a community grange hall.
Ballarat has a handful of old wooden-plank buildings that look particularly epic against the barren backdrop of California’s Mojave Desert. This former gold-mining town had a short run, and only really boomed between 1897 and 1905. In 1917 the post office closed, and by 1918, the only remaining resident was a man named Charles Derge, known quite aptly as Seldom Seen Slim. Nearby Panamint City, accessible only via a hike in, is another abandoned spot worth a stop.
Photo by Hipcamp Photographer Kelsie Meaden at The Alchemist
Calico Ghost Town, near Yermo and Barstow, was a thriving silver-mining town between 1881 and the 1890s, before transforming into a ghost town when silver lost its value. Walter Knott of Knott’s Berry Farm bought Calico in the 1950s and restored many of its buildings, turning it into a tourist attraction (although today it’s part of the San Bernardino County Regional Parks system). Some people come just for the day, but the Calico Ghost Town Campground is a fantastic place for ghost town camping, offering tent and RV sites, some with full hookups or partial hookups, plus a bunkhouse that sleeps up to six people.
It’s burros, not ghouls, that draw visitors to Oatman, Arizona. This former gold-mining town on Route 66 is said to have a larger population of donkeys than people, and the equines that roam freely here likely descended from some of the original mining burros. Make sure to stop for a drink at the Oatman Hotel restaurant—locals say it’s haunted.
Touting itself as Colorado’s “most original” ghost town, St. Elmo was once a major gold and silver mining hub in the 1890s, with numerous homes, a post office, a telegraph office, and a general store only 20 miles south of Buena Vista. As is the case with many of old Colorado mining towns, when the resources dried up, the population steadily dwindled. The town hall was destroyed by a 2002 fire, but has since been rebuilt. Today, the ghost town is actually still lightly inhabited as the area promises great fishing and 4×4 exploration on the old mining trails, plus snowmobiling in winter. There’s also a seasonal “general store” selling ephemera and antiques.
Photo by Hipcamp Photographer Alyssa Saucedo at Sweet Retreat
Set against a backdrop of rolling hills, Gilmore started as a mining town in the 1880s and became a ghost town in the 1930s. Only a few ramshackle structures remain, including some old houses and churches, plus a spooky cemetery. Just be careful when exploring: The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has found high levels of both lead and arsenic in the soil around Gilmore.
Photo by Hipcamp Photographer Makennah West at The Park at Swan Valley
Less than an hour’s drive from the spookily named Old West town of Tombstone, Pearce is a historic ghost town with a handful of well-preserved buildings. Highlights include an old school, a jail, and the Pearce General Store, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the grasslands west of town, the Pearce Cemetery has over 400 graves, some dating back to the 1890s. Keep your eyes out for Gila monsters, which are occasionally spotted among the graves.
Photo by Hipcamp Host Melanie M. at Sanctuary at Sonoita Creek
Margot Bigg is a freelance writer and editor specializing in travel and culture. Her stories have appeared in publications around the world, including Travel + Leisure, Sunset, Afar, Rolling Stone, and National Geographic Traveller. She’s the author of three India guidebooks for MoonGuides and has co-authored Fodor’s guides to India and the Pacific Northwest. When not traveling or writing, she enjoys reading, studying languages, discovering new music, and daydreaming about her next destination.
