Cerro Gordo Ghost Town, an old abandoned mining town near Death Valley in California, is investigated by Zak Bagans and the Ghost Adventures crew tonight on Travel Channel.
Largely abandoned for over a hundred years, it is alleged the town suffered a murder a week during its heyday in the 1860s.
At that time, people in the area lived in poor conditions, whiskey flowed easily, tempers flared, and the law was scarce; so grisly murders were not unexpected. Therefore, there should be plenty of wandering souls for Zak and the crew to investigate.
Cerro Gordo is remote, very remote. Situated on the edge of the Inyo Mountains in Owens Valley, it is about 200 miles north of Los Angeles and 200 miles west of Las Vegas. The closest grocery store is in Long Pine, 25 miles away.
The town was first founded in 1862 by Mexican miners who had discovered silver in the area. However, by 1869 Americans controlled the mines, and were producing more silver than anywhere else in California. The town was hugely important to the development of Los Angeles.
It was, however, a short lived boom, with silver supplies beginning to peter out by the end of the 1870s. There were a few brief revivals of mining activity in the early nineteenth century, but the town never recovered its former glory.
Robert Desmarais, who is now the town’s only occupant, has lived there for 22 years. He has joked that it’s just him…“apart from the ghosts”. He has also lamented that despite his best efforts he has failed to find any more silver.
Desmarais is the caretaker of the town and the sole employee of Brent Underwood and Jon Bier, the current owners of Cerro Gordo Mines. In 2018 Underwood and Bier bought all 300 acres, including 22 standing buildings, with the hope of creating a tourist attraction with tours and overnight accommodation. Their website currently offers tours, but accommodation is still in the pipeline.
Ghost Adventures airs Saturdays at 9/8c on Travel Channel.