Bodie State Historic Park
A gold-rush boomtown frozen in arrested decay since the 1940s, with roughly 200 structures still standing in the high desert.
No public photograph yet
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Share a photoHistory & haunting lore
Founded after William Bodey's 1859 gold strike, Bodie swelled to nearly 10,000 residents by 1880 before mines played out and fires thinned the town. California turned the site into a state park in 1962, preserving buildings exactly as they were left — stocked shops, peeling wallpaper, and rusting mining gear included.
Rangers and visitors have long repeated the park's informal rule that removing anything invites bad luck, a superstition reinforced by returned artifacts in the museum mail. Night photography permits are rare, and the empty streets at dusk feel genuinely watchful even without any official paranormal program.
Current site status
Open daily in summer with reduced winter hours; the last three miles of road are unpaved and rough. Visitors must stay on marked paths and may not enter unstable buildings.