Overnight in an Abandoned Ghost Town (Bodie, California)

About 12 miles off of 395 in Northern California, you will find Bodie Ghost Town. Now Bodie is quite truly set in the middle of nowhere. It is one of California's most famous and best preserved ghost towns. So today, not only are we going to be teaching you all about Bodie and touring the ghost town, but we are going to be staying there overnight and documenting the entire thing. And with my track record of ghost towns, this should get pretty interesting. How's it going everybody? I'm Nikki Delventhal and this is my dog Camper Delventhal. We lived in a Prius full time for three years, but now we're in a 4x4 Sprinter. And we're here to take you along on the wild ride. So fasten up your seatbelts and let's have some fun. Don't forget, if you like what you see, like, subscribe, comment, share with your friends and turn on notifications. Camper and I would be so thankful. On last week's episode, we wake up on the side of the highway, one of the perks and to some, downsides of living in a vehicle. Luckily, this was a scenic one. We start our day testing out my broken toe with a hike to an ice cave and a beautiful lake set in the mountains. After we find camp for the evening and we leave off our adventures with a peaceful morning and making our way to explore a ghost town. Somebody is excited to see the ghost town, my fearless warrior. Despite them opening at 9am and it being 9.15, we've already got a line to get in the park. Let's talk history. So in 1859, W.S. Bodie discovered gold here and the town progressed very, very slowly. There was maybe 20 people, but then in 1875, one of the mines collapsed and it revealed a huge amount of gold ore. Word spread super fast. I'm talking so fast that this area had almost 10,000 people living here and between all of the gold and silver that they found, it was estimated around $38 million of it. The town was raging and the peak was about 1877 for four or five years. We'll talk about how that ended later, but if you look behind me, this is only about 5% of the buildings that remain. There were 60 plus mines, nine stamp mills, 60 plus saloons, they even had a Chinatown and a red light district. It was really an amazing place, but get this, it was also truly the Wild West. They had a reputation of pulling in a rougher and tougher crowd and apparently it was pretty lawless, so they were wild times indeed. Let's get a little deeper into these buildings and the stories really feel like we were there. As you first walk into the ghost town, you'll see the McDonald Dolan house. They were miners, school teachers, the father was actually killed in a shootout here. It's pretty crazy, but as you look inside, you can just imagine what their life was like. What's really cool about Bodie is that they're only stabilizing and restoring to a certain degree. They're not rebuilding, they're really just going with what was still here, so it truly is exactly what you see. Next up, we have the church. This is a Catholic church that was built in 1882. Also really fun is that you can join history talks while you're here. Right over here, you'll just see a typical large barn that they would have here. That's really cool because you can still kind of see the red paint. Here we're in another typical house. This happened to have been the Miller house. This family came from Canada. What's really cool is that this town brought people from all over the world. It's really nice that we get to walk inside the house and really see what it was like firsthand. Incredible. This one's a little creepy. This is the morgue. This is one of two mortuaries and you can even see two of the caskets inside. It's believed that they were moved from the Bodie house from the fire, but I always find those to be super creepy. And across on the other corner of the street from the morgue, we have the firehouse. Fires are a huge part of Bodie's history. There were a number of fires over the years, but there were two major ones. In 1892, there was one that took out 60 plus buildings. It was really detrimental to the town, but then the final one in 1932, which was said to be an addictive act, where a boy lit a match. And what you see now is what's left after that fire. Now, one thing to keep in mind is putting out fires wasn't the same as it was today. The infrastructure wasn't the same. It was a lot harder. Maybe the pipes were clogged up. You know, the elements here were so much harsher. Talk about that later, but firehouse was so important. Let's move on. All right, friends. In case you didn't know, I was a tour guide for like seven or eight years all over the world. So I'm so in my element telling you these stories, and it's so much fun. So let me tell you about one of my favorite spots in town. This is the Miner's Hall. This was the center for social life in this town. You would come here for masquerades, religious events, socials, balls, you name it, it happened here. But now, with all the fun, sometimes there's a little scandal. So there was a man named Thomas and a man named Joseph. Now, Joseph had an affair with Thomas's wife, and one evening, right over here, decided to murder him cold-blooded. He was arrested and put in jail, but hours later, he escaped. So a posse found him, they put him back in jail, and here's where it gets interesting. So there was a vigilante group in the miner's town that was known as the 601, and they went out and they took him from his cell and hung him. Quite wild times. Wanted to get a little closer here to the murder scene, because this was next to the post office, which was next to what was once a fraternal society, but then, in its latest, it was an athletic gym. I'm huge into fitness, so it's really fun to see what equipment was, things like that. So what do you say we take a little walk across town, where things get a little bit more lawless? Let's go. So on the way to the other side of town, I realized we're getting pretty hungry. So I'm taking a little pit stop. So a miner's diet usually consisted of corn, beans, local game, bacon, hard bread. At one point, prices were pretty reasonable, but then supplies started getting scarce in California and things needed to be imported, and merchants started jacking up the prices. For instance, in 1849, a gold pan that would cost 20 cents eventually cost $8, and the same thing was with eggs. Plus, a single egg would cost anywhere from $1 to $3, which doesn't sound much different from today. Now, with gold, you could also strike it rich, and many did. You could uncover $2,000 worth in just one day. So that brings us to today's brunch. We are going to do our own spin of the California gold rush famous recipe, the Hangtown Fry. All right, let's get to cooking. So the Hangtown Fry is a gold rush recipe. It originated about 3.5 hours from here in Placerville, aka Hangtown in the 1850s, when gold prospectors would strike it rich. They'd demand the most expensive dish the kitchen could provide. Commonly, this was eggs, bacon, and oysters. Today we are going to use crab. All right, you guys, I've got a little bit more of a hometown scramble than we do a fry, but I'm into it. I'm excited to try this. That's actually so good. Camper, you want to try it? Oh, good boy. Camper's afraid of flies, and they are all up in here. Don't worry, Camper. I got you. All right. Let's keep exploring. So the sawmill here is pretty significant, because this is known to be one of the coldest towns in California. Not only would there be 100-mile-an-hour winds and 20 feet of snow, but you could get below 30, below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, so firewood was very, very important. All right, let's get to the brothels, huh? This is the vault to the bank that was here in Bodie. Yes, they had a bank, and this is what's left of it after the fire of 1932. Now, the Kane family, they were the bankers, and they actually ended up owning the property here, and then in 1962, sold it to California State Parks, and it is what it is today. The jail cell. Oh, my goodness. Camper, do you want to get locked in jail? Oh, no. No, no. I'm just trying to see if there's anybody in there. For this next area, we're going to have to use a little bit of imagination here. And right next door to the jail, this is where they had Maiden Lane, or Virgin Alley. That was their own version of the Red Light District, and that was conveniently right behind the saloons, which was right near Chinatown and the opium dens. So this was kind of the crazy side of town. Wow, you guys. This place is incredible, and we have just started making a dent in the history of this place. So if you ever wanted to visit, there is so much more to learn, from the residences here to the large mill over here. It is fascinating. But for now, we have one more stop before we have our spooky campout, which, by the way, I'm so nervous because I've definitely seen my fair share of paranormal activity. And every time we're in a ghost town, something bad has happened. From when my bike wheel fell off, to when my brakes stopped working, off-road in Montana. Lots of weird experiences. So, with that being said, let's hurry up and get over there. Walking around the cemetery, it really is fascinating. Looking at the dates on the stones, thinking about what their life was like, and really honoring them. And speaking of honoring them, do you guys remember W.S. Bodie, the one that they named this town in honor of? Well, unfortunately, Bodie was never actually able to see this town in its heyday. Just months later, he died in a blizzard. But get this, in 1879, I think it was, his bones were rediscovered and misplaced. So they actually believe that his remains are somewhere out in the hills. But no one really knows. What an amazing day. Alright, we are going to get back to the van and show you where we're going to sleep tonight. Home, sweet home. Okay, right up here is an open area we're allowed to sleep tonight, and really experience the spirits of Bodie. But don't think about taking anything. Anyone who has gets the curse of Bodie, a string of misfortune and bad luck. So be warned, keep your hands to yourself. Alright, two options. We can wait and see if the rain comes and we take a shower in the rain. Wouldn't be the first time, it's very fun. Or, we hurry up, take a shower in the back right now with the doors open. I'm thinking number two. Camper, you want to take a shower? Oh, heck no. We are going to grab some pajamas here. Yes we are. I feel so much better now that we are clean. And we have about like a half an hour until the sun goes down. So, I think we're just going to chill out, make some food, and maybe set up the camera to see if there's any evening activity. It is so cold out. They were not kidding. This is one of the coldest places in California. I'm not used to this. Alright, another typical miner's meal. We're doing beans, baby. Alright. Bean soup. The sun is officially down, which means it's time to go set up. Get the camera outside. We can do this. Come at me, bro. But don't. Don't actually come at me. I'm just going to leave it on. We're going to set up this camera on a time lapse all night. It's maybe about to pick something up. Sounds like... Sorry. Sounds like something's outside. But there's nothing. Oh my god, it's happening. You guys, I don't know. I didn't have a ghost costume. All I had was a banana in my van. I'm not really sure why. So, here we are. Alright, you guys. But actually, let's close this door and see if this camera catches anything other than a banana. There's a ghost in my van. Good night, good boy. I love you. Hey, everybody. We'll see you in the morning. Good morning, camper. Hi. How did you sleep? Did you get haunted? I got haunted. You're kicking me in the stomach all night. Full caffeine today. Alright. It's not the oysters. It's the milk that's going to get me. So, you know, maybe we should have just gone with it. I just checked the cameras. The GoPro only took an 11 second video, so that wasn't very helpful. And this one, for some reason, only picked up 45 minutes. I've done this so many times, it usually does hours. So, I'm a little confused there. We saw two things crossing the screen. One was this big yellow formation. And the other one, there was actually a light. And I can't really tell if it was maybe like a car or... I don't know. But pretty cool. Alright, you guys. I think we should be doing more of these things. Let me know in the comments if there's any type of adventure or any specific place you would like Camper and I to go. And in the meantime, we love you all. Thank you so much for supporting us. And we'll see you next week. Have a good one. You know what is really spooky? California gas prices.