Bodie the ghost town of the Serra Nevada

Hello all

If there was a an American ghost town that embodies the image of a tumbleweeds.  rolling in the wind and door banging. Bodie would come to mind.

Bodie is a ghost town in the Bodie Hills east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California, United States, about 75 miles (120 km) southeast of Lake Tahoe. Bodie began as a mining camp of little note following the discovery of gold in 1859.

In 1876, the Standard Company discovered a profitable deposit of gold-bearing ore, which transformed Bodie from an isolated mining camp comprising a few prospectors and company employees to a Wild West boomtown.

Rich discoveries in the adjacent Bodie Mine during 1878 attracted even more hopeful people.By 1879, Bodie had a population of approximately 5000-7000 people and around 2,000 buildings.

But like with all gold mine strikes the gold ore declines and miners were lured to richer strikes in other regions.In 1910, the population was recorded at 698 people, which were predominantly families that decided to stay in Bodie instead of moving on to other prosperous strikes.

By 1920, Bodie's population was recorded by the US Federal Census at a total of 120 people. Despite the decline, Bodie had permanent residents through most of the 20th century. A post office operated at Bodie from 1877 to 1942.

Today, Bodie is preserved in a state of arrested decay. Only a small part of the town survives. Visitors can walk the deserted streets of a town that once was a bustling area of activity. Interiors remain as they were left and stocked with goods. Bodie is open all year, but the long road that leads to the town is usually closed in the winter due to heavy snowfall, so the majority of visitors to the park come during the summer months.

I only hope with the crisis in funding state parks that budget cutbacks will not be the death blow to an amazing iconic piece of Americana.

Hardluck 

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Great thread.
The key word is "Arrest Decay". You can't TH there, although the whole area is bursting with locations where you can. Several "Ghosts" in the hills to the east of there 20 minutes 4wd drive.
Legend has it, that if you take anything from Bodie bad luck will come to you. I'm not superstitious, but... a co-worker of mine found part of an old watch fob just laying on the ground in the hills just north east of Bodie and took it home. His luck changed drastically. He is a financial disaster. His girlfriend moved her Mother in with them, and he was plagued with costly mistakes made at work. I'm not making any of this up. I took the fob to a dealer friend to see if it was gold or brass. For some reason or another he wouldn't even look at it.
I saw a special on TV about Bodie and the caretaker there says that he receives a package about once a week from people returning things they have taken, because of bad luck.
Oddly enough, I have never had any desire to even take the detector out of the trunk while there, and I'm the kind of guy who will coin shoot a cemetery during a funeral. 
DC

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,11584.msg74579.html#msg74579

Hello All

Some site are better left alone. For me Brodie, with the windswept streets and brooding location gives the atmosphere of what a ghost town should be.

Desolate and haunting.

Hardluck 

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,11584.msg74623.html#msg74623

Hello All

I do not think I would like to spend the night there either.

Hardluck 

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,11584.msg75682.html#msg75682

Hello Cornfed

Abandoned places can have that effect.

Hardluck 


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