The Cheapest Ghost Towns To Visit In The US

What better way to see in Halloween than a visit to a ghost town or two? There is something about an abandoned town that gets so many of us going, especially as our minds run wild at the thoughts of those who once walked those roads and called somewhere their home. The issue? Getting the chance to look around can often be pretty expensive.

That’s where the cheapest ghost towns to visit in the US come in. As well as giving us a chance to learn all about the eerie tales and what caused these places to get abandoned in the first place, these ghost towns won’t cost too much, either.

Rhyolite, Nevada, is completely free to enjoy

Ed Cross and Shorty Harris were the ones to find gold in Nevada in 1904 - and it wasn’t long before Rhyolite was a thriving town. It continued to grow as the gold continued to provide, with the town boasting three hospitals, an opera, three train lines, three pools, three newspapers, and 53 saloons in its heyday. Still, it declined in 1914, and by 1919, Rhyolite was completely abandoned. One of the more unique things about this ghost town is the fact many buildings were made from permanent materials instead of wood and canvas, meaning they are still standing strong. The best bit? It can be enjoyed for free.

Garnet Ghost Town in Montana was never built to last, but it has

There was once a time before the turn of the 20th century when around 1,000 people called Garnet their home. It was filled with gold miners and their loved ones, all looking to earn their fortune, but that all changed shortly before WWI. Amazingly, Garnet was never built to last, with people more interested in mining gold than staying there long-term, and many of the buildings started to fall down. The end of the war sparked a new interest, with souvenir hunters stripping most of the town for what it’s worth. Now, volunteers have helped to make Garnet Ghost Town the best-preserved of its kind in Montana, with tickets costing just $3 a person.

Calico Ghost Town, California, is home to one of the most unusual houses

For 12 years, Calico was a thriving silver town until the price of silver plunged, and the area was completely abandoned by 1907. Calico Ghost Town has since become one of the most famous of its kind, especially as it’s filled with so many strange happenings. After all, there’s the Mystery Shack, where nothing is as it seems and where water flows uphill, as well as the remains of what Calico miners left behind. Tickets cost $5 for children and $8 for adults, with a ghost tour of the area a truly spooky way to take it all in.

Bodie in California once housed around 10,000 people before it was abandoned

Looking around Bodie in California, it can be easy to think it’s a town that’s been trapped in time. Gold was found in the area in 1959, and just two years later, Bodie was born. It started with just 20 miners, but it’s estimated that 10,000 more moved in over the next two decades. People from across the nation all wanted to make their fortune, with Bodie boasting 65 saloons, with most of the miners spending their days collecting gold and their nights enjoying the ladies of the night. Now, around 100 structures still remain, where they are preserved rather than renovated, with tickets costing $5 for children and $8 for adults.

Thurmond, West Virginia, was known as one of the biggest railroad towns of its time

Unlike other ghost towns, Thurmond in West Virginia didn’t start as a gold mining town. Instead, it was a railroad town, with Thurmond seeing more coal pass through the area throughout its heyday in the 1920s than most other areas of the US. However, 100 years later, the population was listed as just five. Now, many of the luxuries that once filled the town still stand, with visitors able to tour what was once such a thriving part of West Virginia.

Burke Ghost Town in Idaho is one of the strangest ghost towns

Like so many other ghost towns, Burke started out as a thriving place to live, thanks to the discovery of lead and silver in 1884. The twist? The town was built in such a narrow canyon that people had to get pretty creative as Burke continued to spread, such as building a railroad through the middle of the hotel lobby. In fact, the canyon is just 300 feet wide at its narrowest point. The start of the 20th century saw Burke start to decline until it was fully abandoned at the end of the century. An unmarked and unknown cemetery makes for one of the creepiest parts of the town, with plenty of ghost stories emerging from the town in the years since.

The cheapest ghost towns to visit in the US might be more affordable, but they certainly don’t lack thriving history and spooky stories.