Nevada's 1906 Boomtown, Now a Living Ghost Town
Goldfield, NV 89013
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to drive and walk Goldfield's surviving streets and exterior structures; the closed Goldfield Hotel is not open to the public.
Access
Limited Access
Paved highway through town with gravel side streets and uneven historic sidewalks
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1902 · National Register of Historic Places · Largest City in Nevada (1906) · Goldfield Consolidated Mining
Gold-bearing ore was located at the Sandstorm claim in late 1902, and within four years Goldfield had grown into a city of close to 20,000 — briefly the largest population center in Nevada. By 1906 the town supported electric streetcars, telephone exchanges, multiple banks, an opera house, a stock exchange, the Goldfield Consolidated Mining Company (one of the largest gold producers in the world during its peak years), and the four-story Goldfield Hotel, opened in 1908 and advertised as the most luxurious accommodation between Chicago and San Francisco.
Production peaked at over $11 million in 1910 and declined sharply afterward as easily worked ore was exhausted. A flash flood in September 1913 destroyed bridges and several rows of frame buildings, and a fire in July 1923 burned through 27 blocks of the central business district. The population fell to a few hundred by 1930.
Goldfield remains the seat of Esmeralda County and retains an active small population and county government. The Esmeralda County Courthouse, the Goldfield Hotel, the Goldfield Consolidated Mining Company building, the former Goldfield High School, the Santa Fe Saloon, and the Pioneer Saloon are among the surviving structures. The town and many of its individual buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Goldfield Hotel has changed hands repeatedly since the 1980s through a series of stalled restoration projects and remains closed to the public.
Sources
Goldfield's paranormal tradition centers on the Goldfield Hotel. The story most often retold concerns Room 109: that hotel investor George Wingfield kept a local woman named Elizabeth chained in the room during a pregnancy and that she and the infant died there. Period sources contain no record of the alleged events, and reporting by Route Magazine and Travel Nevada attributes much of the contemporary lore to Shirley Porter, a 1980s owner who actively promoted the building as haunted to attract investment and visitor interest.
Reports collected by Ghost Adventures (multiple seasons), Ghost Hunters, and independent investigators describe a brick that allegedly levitated and struck a piece of investigation equipment during a 2004 episode of Ghost Adventures, shadow figures glimpsed on upper floors, voices recorded on EVP equipment, and cold spots in the lobby and on the grand staircase. The hotel's continued closure means most accounts come from investigation teams given limited access rather than from a typical visitor stream.
Other Goldfield sites with collected paranormal reports include the Santa Fe Saloon and the former Goldfield High School. The Esmeralda County government does not endorse the paranormal claims; local interpretation focuses on the legitimate mining history and the spectacular survival of so much of the early-twentieth-century commercial fabric.
Media Appearances
Explore the surviving early-twentieth-century commercial core: the closed Goldfield Hotel, the Esmeralda County Courthouse (still in use), the Goldfield Consolidated Mining Company headquarters, the historic high school, the international car forest, and the Pioneer Saloon. Visit annual Goldfield Days each August.
The 1908 Goldfield Hotel is closed to the public after multiple stalled restoration attempts. View the four-story brick exterior from the public sidewalk on Crook Avenue; the building is fenced and entry is prohibited.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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