Locked Up In Bodie Ghost Town

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Prison, Bodie Ghost Town, California

With its last gold mine closing in 1942, Bodie Ghost Town was one of the highlights of our road trip in California last year. There was just something so eerie, haunting and quite mysterious about the place. With all of the buildings sitting empty and many possessions just seemingly left in an instant, it really felt like the inhabitants just vanished without a trace. You wouldn’t know to look at it now, but in 1879 it was the second most populous town in California behind only San Francisco.

This is a shot of the town’s jail. While it doesn’t look particularly sturdy today, it’s said that only one person ever escaped – Joseph DeRouche. Unfortunately for him he was quickly apprehended by a makeshift vigilante group and hung for his efforts. In its heyday the town was rife with crime, so this small shack must have seen a lot of people over the years. What a fantastic piece of history!

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19 thoughts on “Locked Up In Bodie Ghost Town”

  3. Nancy Power

    I love this photo Ben! The colours are great and the bush in the foreground also looks like it’s calcifying. Please post more of this place!
    I’m fascinated by places that people abandoned – have you ever seen pics of Famagusta in Cyprus. I think it’s been rejuvenated now but the old pictures were very creepy.

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    1. Ben Post author

      Thanks Nancy! I loved the colours in the bushes too. I’m hoping to post some more about this great place over the coming weeks 🙂 It really was fascinating.

      Famagusta looks very interesting. It must be surreal to explore a place like that with such recent history!

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    1. Ben Post author

      Thanks Jude! I think the town is up above 8000ft so that provided some nice soft tones in the landscape, especially the shrubbery in the foreground.

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    1. Ben Post author

      Thanks Jeff. The town has some great stories, well worth reading about! I love that the history is so recent, you can relate to it but at the same time it feels like a world away.

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    1. Ben Post author

      Thanks Kan! The colour of the bushes was so striking. I’m not sure what causes the white/blue colour but it’s fantastic! Great to see you back around 🙂

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