300 graves from a mining town's first decade: plague victims, mine fire dead, and Nevada's most visited dark site
521 N Main St, Tonopah, NV 89049
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Open to visitors at no charge
Access
Limited Access
Unpaved desert cemetery grounds; uneven terrain and loose gravel. No maintained path between headstones.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1901 · 1911 Tonopah-Belmont Mine Fire Victims · Nevada Mining Era Cemetery · Tonopah Plague Victims
Tonopah was founded in 1900 after Jim Butler's silver strike, and the cemetery on North Main Street opened on May 7, 1901 with the burial of John Randel Weeks. Over the next decade, as the silver and gold mining industry grew rapidly, so did the population — and the death toll from the hazards that accompanied it.
During the winter of 1901–1902, a pneumonia epidemic struck the mining camp. Local accounts referred to it as the 'Tonopah Plague,' and some sources place a significant cluster of deaths around 1905, with up to 56 people dying between January and April of that year from pneumonia attributed to unsanitary conditions near slaughterhouses. The cause remains disputed among historians.
On February 23, 1911, the Tonopah-Belmont Mine Fire killed fourteen miners. Among them was William 'Big Bill' Murphy, 28, who died attempting to rescue fellow miners; his marker remains one of the cemetery's most visited. Nye County Sheriff Thomas Logan, killed in a shootout, is also buried here.
By April 1911, the cemetery had reached capacity. The town had expanded around it, and mining activity made the site unsuitable for expansion. A new cemetery was opened approximately one mile west. The original plot was preserved and listed as a historical site; the Clown Motel was built adjacent to it in 1985.
Sources
The Old Tonopah Cemetery's paranormal reputation rests on its documented history rather than embellished legend. Investigators and visitors consistently focus on the section where the 1911 mine fire victims are buried, reporting cold spots and EVP responses near those markers in particular.
The cemetery appears in ghost tour accounts associated with the Clown Motel, with guides citing the mass fatalities of both the mining disasters and the pneumonia epidemic as the source of reported activity. The specific claim that the miners' spirits remain tied to the site appears in multiple independent investigation reports.
Vegas Ghosts, a tour operator that covers both the cemetery and adjacent Clown Motel, documents the site as among central Nevada's most active paranormal locations. The combination of documented mass death events and a physically preserved, accessible burial ground makes the Old Tonopah Cemetery a standard stop on the regional dark-tourism circuit.
Walk among nearly 300 graves dating from 1901 to 1911. Notable markers include those of the fourteen miners killed in the February 23, 1911 Tonopah-Belmont Mine Fire, William 'Big Bill' Murphy who died at age 28 saving fellow miners, and Nye County Sheriff Thomas Logan. The cemetery sits directly adjacent to the Clown Motel on North Main Street.
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