Est. 1866 · California's largest silver and lead producer in early 1870s · Most intact surviving ghost town in California · One murder per week documented during bonanza era
Cerro Gordo — Spanish for 'fat hill' — sits at 8,500 feet in the Inyo Mountains above Owens Lake, accessed by a dirt road so steep it is known locally as the Yellow Grade. The first serious silver claim was developed in 1865 and 1866 by Jose Ochoa and Pablo Flores. By 1868, after Victor Beaudry and Mortimer Belshaw consolidated the major mines and built a reduction works, the town entered a period of extraordinary production. In the early 1870s it was California's largest silver and lead producer, with ore assaying at $300 per ton or higher.
The town's population peaked around 4,800 at its height. It was, as contemporary accounts described, a 'wide-open town' with virtually no law enforcement and a workforce paid in cash that cycled through the saloon. Labor disputes were severe enough that the mines constructed escape tunnels between shafts. The surviving saloon retains bullet holes in its walls and blood stains on its floor from the bonanza era. An average of one murder per week was documented during the worst years.
By 1877, ore quality declined and metal prices fell; the furnaces went cold. A zinc discovery in 1905 brought a brief revival through 1912. The site then gradually emptied. On June 15, 2020, fire destroyed the original 1871 American Hotel and several adjacent structures, though most of the town survived. A 2018 purchase by a small group of buyers, including Brent Underwood, initiated an ongoing restoration effort. The town is open to visitors daily from 9am to 5pm at no charge.
Sources
- https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-cerrogordo/
- https://allthatsinteresting.com/cerro-gordo
- https://cerrogordomines.com/pages/visit
ApparitionsUnexplained lightsUnexplained sounds
Cerro Gordo's paranormal reputation rests partly on the sheer weight of its documented violence — a town where an average of one murder per week occurred during the bonanza years, where 30 miners are said to be entombed in a shaft beneath the bunkhouse, and where bullet holes and blood stains are still visible in the saloon. The specifics of what people report seeing are harder to pin down than the historical record that provides the backdrop.
The most directly reported account comes from Brent Underwood, one of the property's current owners. Approaching the bunkhouse, he observed a small face at a window with the curtain drawn aside. Contractors confirmed they had not been on the property for two weeks. Upon reaching the building, Underwood found the kitchen light on inside a locked door. The account appears in a publicly accessible article from the period of the town's reopening.
Regional paranormal accounts cite two recurring figures: a brothel owner and an unnamed man said to have been killed during a card game dispute. The town's Ghost Adventures episode (Season 22, Episode 3, aired November 9, 2019) rated 8.4 on IMDB — unusually high for the series — and the crew's investigation has been revisited in the 2024 Ghost Adventures: Screaming Room.
Notable Entities
The Brothel OwnerCard Game Victim
Media Appearances
- Ghost Adventures (television, 2019)
- Ghost Adventures: Screaming Room (television, 2024)
