The former Gold Rush boomtown of Bodie, California, is one of the state’s most striking and best‑preserved ghost towns.
Today it survives as Bodie State Historic Park, a lonely cluster of abandoned buildings marooned in the high desert near Mono Lake, close to the California–Nevada border.
You can visit in any season, but if you have the nerve, it is worth timing your trip to coincide with the rare after‑dark Ghost Walks, offered only on a handful of evenings each year.
2026 Bodie Ghost Walks
The Bodie Foundation hosts rare after‑hours Ghost Walks in Bodie, inviting guests on a living‑history tour of the ghost town after dark. A knowledgeable guide recounts tales of eerie apparitions, unexplained sounds, and the notorious “Bodie curse,” said to haunt anyone who steals from the site.
On these special evenings, the park remains open late until 10 pm, with three different tour options scheduled on just a handful of Saturdays each year. Tickets must be reserved in advance for specific dates, as spaces are limited:
- Saturday, June 27, 2026
- Saturday, July 11, 2026
- Saturday, August 22, 2026
- Saturday, September 5, 2026
- Saturday, September 26, 2026
History of Bodie
Bodie began as a lonely mining camp in 1859, after prospector Waterman S. Bodey struck gold in the surrounding hills. It became a full-blown boomtown within two decades, home to roughly 2,000 structures and thousands of residents. The dusty streets held everything from saloons and brothels to a schoolhouse and a small Chinatown.
Devastating fires in 1892 and 1932 wiped out much of the town, and only a few people remained by the 1940s. Bodie’s remote location turned out to be its saving grace: rather than being redeveloped, its remains were left relatively untouched until it became Bodie State Historic Park in 1962.
Today, California State Parks maintains roughly 100-200 buildings in a state of “arrested decay,” meaning they are stabilized but not rebuilt, making it one of the best-preserved ghost towns in the American West.
