15 Spookiest Ghost Towns In America And Their Mysterious History

6. Cahawba, Alabama

It’s hard to believe that a town that was once a state capital is now abandoned. That is the case of Cahawba in Alabama, which is not far down the road from Selma. Open to visitors today, no one lives in the town but it has proven to be a popular tourist attraction. The reason the town fell in prominence was practical, as it would often flood and along with the water came insects carrying diseases. Considered dangerous, the capital was moved in 1826. With a railroad stop, the town still continued to grow until the civil war. Cahawba became the home of the abuse-laden Cahaba Military Prison, which was built to house about 600 prisoners but had more than 3000 by the height of the war. There were 432 beds and over 3000 to fill them, and unsurprisingly many of them starved, got sick and died. Popularly known as Castle Morgan, it’s considered haunted to this day. The town has many other ghost stories as well, and it being haunted has only attracted more people to visit it since it was restored in the 1990s.

7. Kennecott, Alaska

Just looking at the red facade of the abandoned Kennecott copper mine gives us the shivers. Abandoned in the late 1930s after copper prices dropped and most of the mines were depleted anyways, only a handful of residents stayed. By the 1960s the town was sold to a new owner, only to be passed on again. Nobody lives there now but owned by wealthy Alaskans, the town offers tours of the town to curious onlookers. Perhaps since most of the ghost towns we imagine are from the Old West or in the desert, one so high into the mountains surrounded by snow-capped peaks feels somehow, out of place. Honestly, the place looks so creepy we just want someone to shoot a horror movie there.

8. Terlingua, Texas

Terlingua is an interesting case of a ghost town actually regaining about a dozen residents since it was restored. However, erase any images you might have of an amusement park style western town, as things are still dark and dirty in Terlingua. Restored without corporate help, things do seem to bustle along in the town which attracts a sizeable tourist crowd every year. But, lurking below the surface the shadows of the old west still reign. The town was pushed into the news in 2014 because it became the backdrop of a murder case that gained national attention. One of the town’s few and most beloved residents, Glenn Felts, was brutally murdered and his body was left in the parking lot. The accused was his good friend, and most of the town witnessed his pummelled body. While in its new state, the town has attracted many outsiders like writers and artists. It seemed in recent years the isolated desert ghost town has also attracted people escaping from their crimes in the “normal world.”

9. Flagstaff, Maine

Take a look out at the beautiful Flagstaff Lake and you might not know a small town once lay there if it were not for the hints of chimneys still breaking the surface of the lake. Once a bustling town in Maine, Flagstaff was unfortunately landed underwater by a project to build a dam by the Central Maine Power Company. Not an easy process, the company began buying out people’s land and burning out the surrounding area. Those who didn’t want to leave or sell eventually saw their homes plunged underwater, even those who left willingly saw in a way, their legacy erased from the face of the earth. To this day nearby towns recreate life from Flagstaff, and you can (carefully) row atop the Flagstaff Lake and catch hints of the life that once was, now lying below the surface of a lake.

10. Thurmond, West Virginia

As of 2010, five people still lived in Thurmond, West Virginia – a once thriving town that had long been abandoned. Under the care of state park services, the town still stands, a nearly perfect portrait of life in Appalachia during the 1920s. While most ghost towns are built up around prospecting communities, Thurmond fills the other large chunk by being a railroad town. Built around a station laid down in 1888, the town was inaccessible except by train until well into the 20th century. At its height the town had a nationally respected resort and famously has been immortalized in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not for being the hosting place of the world’s longest poker game – it went on for fourteen years. The city more or less collapsed in 1930 when the resort burned down and people started to leave, by the 1950s the town was more or less abandoned. The 1987 award-winning film, Matewan, was shot here, documenting a 1920 coal miner’s strike.