12 Creepy Ghost Towns in the American West You Can Still Visit

The American West is scattered with ghost towns that once roared with life miners striking gold, trains whistling through, saloons spilling with stories. Now, these places sit frozen in time, their wooden storefronts weathered, windows empty, and streets silenced but not forgotten. Every creak of an old board or clang of a rusted sign feels like an echo of the past. From gold rush relics to desert outposts whispered about in legends, these 12 ghost towns let you walk through history’s shadow and maybe feel a shiver in the wind.

1. Bodie, California

Bodie is the quintessential Wild West ghost town frozen in time under California’s sun‑bleached sky. Once home to 10,000 gold seekers, the boom ended, leaving behind weather‑worn saloons, a silent schoolhouse, and abandoned homes still set with plates and pianos. Preserved as a state historic park, Bodie feels eerily alive, as if its residents just vanished. Dusty streets and creaking wooden doors make every step feel like you’re walking through history and into a haunting.

2. St. Elmo, Colorado

Tucked high in the Rockies, St. Elmo is one of Colorado’s best‑preserved ghost towns. Founded in 1880, it once thrived with saloons, hotels, and even a telegraph office but when the mines closed, so did the town. Today, faded storefronts, a weathered general store, and rusting trucks remain, surrounded by pine forests and mountain air. It’s an easy trip from Buena Vista, but the stillness feels worlds away, as if time stopped and the ghosts stayed.

3. Rhyolite, Nevada

Rhyolite rose fast and fell even faster. In the early 1900s, this Nevada boomtown had it all three railroads, a stock exchange, even electric lights before the gold vanished and the dream crumbled. Within a few years, businesses closed, families left, and the desert began reclaiming it. Today, the skeletal remains of its grand bank, a broken jail, and the quirky Bottle House stand under an unforgiving sun. The wind howls through empty frames, turning this once-thriving town into a haunting reminder of how quickly fortunes fade.

4. Garnet, Montana

Garnet isn’t just abandoned, it feels frozen in time. Tucked into Montana’s forested hills, this former gold-mining town still has weathered cabins with furniture and personal items inside, offering an intimate glimpse of life more than a century ago. The old post office, saloon, and general store stand quietly, their doors creaking in the wind, while winter snow often softens the dirt streets into a hushed, white stillness. Unlike more decayed sites, Garnet remains eerily intact a hauntingly beautiful reminder of how swiftly fortunes, and whole communities, can disappear.

5. Jerome, Arizona

Once called the “Wickedest Town in the West,” Jerome, Arizona, clings precariously to a steep hillside a mix of legend, ruin, and revival. During its copper boom, the town pulsed with saloons, brothels, and miners chasing fortunes. When the mines closed, its population plunged from 15,000 to just a few dozen, leaving streets eerily quiet. Today, Jerome straddles two worlds an artist colony with quirky galleries and a semi‑ghost town where leaning buildings and ghost stories keep its wild past very much alive.

6. Virginia, Montana

Virginia City, Montana, once glittered as the territorial capital, its streets overflowing with gold rush dreamers and rowdy saloons. Today, the crowds are gone, but the past lingers in every creaking boardwalk and weathered storefront. Restored yet still haunting, the town’s opera house, rustic saloon, and wooden sidewalks evoke the 1860s, when outlaws and miners ruled. Ghost tales whisper of hangings, restless spirits, and shadowy figures, turning Virginia City into a living museum where history feels just a little too close.

7. Calico, California

Calico, California, rose on silver dreams in the 1880s, only to be abandoned when the mines went dry. What’s left is a sun‑scorched mix of weathered storefronts, creaking mine shafts, and echoes of the Old West. Revived by Walter Knott of Knott’s Berry Farm fame, Calico now blends real history with a dash of showmanship think staged gunfights, ghost tours, and wandering cowboys. Yet when the crowds thin and the desert hush settles in, Calico’s eerie side slips through, a reminder that the past here never fully left.

8. Thurmond, West Virginia

Thurmond, West Virginia, isn’t your typical ghost town, it’s a rail hub caught in a time warp. Once a thriving stop for coal trains, its red‑brick depot, hotel, and bank still stand watch over the tracks, even though only a few residents remain. Freight trains still rumble past but rarely pause, amplifying the eerie stillness. On the deserted platform, it’s easy to imagine the clatter of steam engines and crowds, now replaced by the hush of history and the whisper of passing wheels.

9. Ashcroft, Colorado

Ashcroft, Colorado, rests high in the Rockies, where silver‑mining dreams faded into whispers on the wind. In the 1880s, it thrived with saloons, hotels, and hopeful miners now only a handful of weathered log buildings stand, surrounded by alpine meadows and aspen groves. The air is crisp, the silence heavy, broken only by birdsong and breeze. When snow drapes the cabins in white, Ashcroft feels like a Western fairytale paused mid‑story, its ending left untold, but its beauty hauntingly intact.

10. Chloride, Arizona

Chloride, Arizona, is often called the state’s oldest mining town, and while a handful of residents keep it alive, it still carries a ghostly air. Weathered wooden storefronts sag along dusty streets, and sun‑faded murals splash color on the surrounding hillsides, hinting at the stories buried here. The old jail, shuttered shops, and creaky saloon echo with memories of rowdy mining days long gone. Today, Chloride’s quiet feels almost sacred history left unpolished, gently wearing into the desert itself.

11. Kennecott, Alaska

Kennecott, Alaska, feels like a ghost frozen in time at the edge of the world. Once a thriving copper camp in the early 1900s, it was abruptly abandoned in 1938 workers left machinery, furniture, even dishes on tables. Today, its towering red mill buildings stand stark against glacier‑crowned peaks, an eerie monument to boom‑and‑bust dreams. With no direct roads in, reaching Kennecott takes effort, but that remoteness makes the silence and the haunting sense of history unforgettable.

12. Silver Reef, Utah

Silver Reef, Utah, is a ghost town with a twist, it’s the only place in the U.S. where silver was mined from sandstone. In the 1870s, the desert outpost boomed with banks, hotels, and saloons, but when the silver ran dry, so did the people. Today, a handful of stone buildings, a small museum, and a hauntingly beautiful cemetery remain. Sun and wind have softened its edges, and as you wander, it feels like the desert itself is slowly folding Silver Reef back into its timeless embrace.