Is Bodie Ghost Town Haunted?

Bodie Ghost Town was once known as the Wildest City in the West. There were nightly shootouts, casinos, brothels, two opium dens, 65 saloons and a jail. Today it is abandoned and completely deserted. Or is it?

On cold clear nights is it the wind that causes a door to bang? What about William S. Bodey who staked a gold claim on a profitable line of gold and was then lost in blizzard? Or the notorious madam who is buried outside the cemetery walls?

Is Bodie ghost town haunted?

Bodie Ghost Town

I found the abandoned town at the end of a ten-mile bumpy dirt road. Terrain at 8,500 ft on the California/Nevada border is desolate and the climate harsh. The only sign of life was a flock of sheep in a gully corralled by a lone shepherd on a horse.

Bodie Time Capsule

Today just 170 buildings remain. All that is left of the town which at the time rivaled Los Angeles in population. The wooden Victorian buildings, some of which leaning drunkenly, are time capsules glowing golden in the afternoon sun.

Along Main and Green Streets are hotels, saloons, a school house, barber shops, carpenters, general stores a fire house and a Methodist church. Like an old snapshot the town is frozen in time.

History Comes Alive

It’s not hard to imagine the wild west scene with gold prospectors riding into town on horseback. Or residents shopping at the general store and children attending school. But in Bodie you don’t have to imagine. Just looking through the windows of the buildings is an instant snapshot of what life was like in this goldrush town.

Frozen in Time

Inside the buildings plates sit on tables and beer bottles march along the bar in the saloons. In some homes layers of wallpaper hang from the walls. The wallpaper was used as insulation from the blizzards in winter. In one home mattresses still sit on the beds, and in another an bird cage hangs on a stand. All signs of life are gone.

Books are piled on the desks in the school house and in the general store shelves are filled with produce packaged in wooden boxes. In the general store a light bulb still glows. It never goes out. There are some strange things in Bodie Ghost Town.

Like An Old Snapshot

This glimpse into the lives of Bodie residents is both fascinating and eerie. Where did the last residents go? Why did they leave their homes, school and stores just as they were? What did they take with them?

The population of Bodie began to dwindle as other goldmines boomed. There were also several big fires. The one in 1932 was massive. Finally in 1942 the mine was closed as it was deemed non-essential to the war effort. The Cain family who owned much of the land eventually sold Bodie to the State of California.

Midnight in Bodie

Today when visitors leave Bodie Historic State Park at 5:00 pm all becomes very quiet. As darkness falls the milky way gleams silently, shining a glow over the old buildings and streets. It is ghostly still.

When the wind picks up it whistles and sometimes howls through the abandoned homes. Then, it is said, a miner and a white mule sometimes ride down main street. Sounds of a party are heard from the old Cain house where the ghost of a maid is seen. It is said.

A door bangs. Is it the wind? Or is there a ghost wandering the deserted Green and Main Streets? Past the empty saloons, opium dens and jail?

Perhaps there is.

Happy Halloween.

Visiting Bodie Ghost Town

Bodie is east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California. It is about 75 miles from Lake Tahoe. From US 395 seven miles south of Bridgeport take State Route 270. Go East 10 miles and continue 3 miles on a dirt road. Cost is $8 for adults and $5 for children.

Take water and snacks as there are no services. Bodie is high and very dry. Restrooms are available in the parking lot.

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