Bodie

Love it so much I named my dog after it! My husband has a family cabin in Twin Lakes, near by

Bodie is rad and super creepy, the only ghost town I’ve ever been to. It almost looks faked, but it’s not, it’s totally real, and beautiful in a weird way. Nobody knows why everyone just up and disappeared, but there are a few theories. Check this place out.

I loved my visit to this place, it’s a real ghost town! Took awhile to get there on the bumpy dirt road, but it was worth it. Felt very authentic, because it was. I’d love to see it in winter!

Must be one of the most photograph-able places on Earth; I got SO many gorgeous pics out of this place. I love the “arrested decay” state of the place—it really conveys a sense of the weightiness of time, as well as making it a wonderfully spooky place to be.

I posted a few pics of it on Buzznet: http://scarletlark-elsewhere.buzznet.com/user/photos/?id=3303571

High desert, so be prepared for really hot, really dry, really serious sunburns, but sometimes it rains in the summer, and when it happened to us, it was so magical!

This whole place has been preserved in a state of arrested decay, and left as is – no theme park, no concession stand, no noise, just the whistle of wind around the low hills and through the deserted streets. I swear when I go there, I can hear the whispers of dead miners and prostitutes haunting the streets. I really do believe the church is haunted because I felt cold air on my face coming out of the church on a hot, still day, and I later discovered that I had captured a streak of light in the darkened interior, where there had been no light – it was a moving orb, for those who are into paranormal photography.

Anyway, believe it or not, this is an incredible experience, but wear good strong shoes and be prepared for a bit of climbing around the streets. It’s high altitude, so you’ll get out of breath more easily, and you’ll need plenty of water for you and any pets you bring. Most of the water there is non-potable (bathroom sinks, for example) although I think there is a water fountain – can’t remember.

Not to contradict anyone, but the reason everyone left over the years is the same reason most ghost towns become abandoned – the silver mines dried up and there was no other reason for Bodie to exist miles from everywhere civilized, with just about the worst weather in the state, Alaska-like deep winters and hot, nasty, dry summers. Nothing can grown there besides the scrub that covers the hills, there’s almost no water, and you can’t get in or out during the winter, so the survival rate in Bodie’s early years was something like only 50%...