Six Impossible Episodes: U.S. Ghost Towns

We've had a lot of listener requests related to ghost towns, so this Halloween season, we've got six places in the U.S. that could be labeled as such. But not not all are empty today. Research: Knutson, Julie. “The End of Centralia’s Abandoned, Colorful, Anarchic ‘Graffiti Highway.’” Atlas Obscura. 9/14/2020. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/centralia-graffiti-highway-buried California State Parks. “Bodie State Historic Park.” https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=509 California State Parks. “Bodie State Historic Park.” https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/509/files/BodieSHPFinalWebLayout2016.pdf Severn, Carly. “This Ghost Town’s 'Curse' Isn't What You Think.” KQED. 7/12/2018. https://www.kqed.org/news/11640709/how-this-ghost-towns-curse-backfired-on-park-rangers Alabama Indigenous Mound Trail. “The Mound at Old Cahawba Archaeological Park.” https://alabamamoundtrail.org/mound-site/old-cahawba/ Alabama Historical Commission. “History of Old Cahawba.” https://ahc.alabama.gov/CahawbaHistoryFacts.aspx Jones, James. “Cahawba Listed as One of World’s 10 Spookiest Ghost Towns.” Selma Times Journal. 10/19/2023. https://www.selmatimesjournal.com/2023/10/19/cahawba-listed-as-one-of-worlds-10-spookiest-ghost-towns/ Pykles, Benjamin C. “Iosepa, Utah’s Pacific Islander Pioneers.” Utah Historical Society. https://history.utah.gov/iosepa-utahs-pacific-islander-pioneers/ Chapman, Hannah. “Iosepa: Utah’s Little Hawai'i.” Intermountain Histories. https://www.intermountainhistories.org/items/show/388 Fitisemanu, Nafanua. “Iosepa: Utah Ghost Town.” https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/a9e6a54ef1124c4e80d8eecfac09263d Schirer, David L. “Iospa.” Utah History Encyclopedia. https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/i/IOSEPA.shtml Utah American Indian Digital Archive. “History: The Goshutes.” https://utahindians.org/archives/goshute/history.html Atkin, Dennis H. “A History of Iosepa, the Utah Polynesian Colony.” https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4489/ Heinrich, Kieth. “Pithole City.” Pennsylvania Heritage. Fall 2015. https://paheritage.wpengine.com/article/pithole-city/ Comet, Jorge Navarro. “Pithole: The Rapid Rise and Sudden Fall of an Oil Boomtown.” AAPG. 7/1/2022. https://www.aapg.org/news-and-media/details/explorer/articleid/63602/pithole-the-rapid-rise-and-sudden-fall-of-an-oil-boomtown Town of Jerome. “Jerome: Then and Now.” https://jerome.az.gov/jerome-then-and-now Penn State. “Anthracite Coal Mining Region of Northeastern Pennsylvania.” https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/anthracite Turino, Mitchell. “Centralia Mine Fire.” Environment and Society. https://www.environmentandsociety.org/tools/keywords/centralia-mine-fire Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. “The Centralia Mine Fire” https://files.dep.state.pa.us/mining/Abandoned%20Mine%20Reclamation/AbandonedMinePortalFiles/Centralia/CentraliaFrequentlyAskedQuestions.pdf Blakemore, Erin. “This Mine Fire Has Been Burning For Over 50 Years.” History. 5/27/2025. https://www.history.com/articles/mine-fire-burning-more-50-years-ghost-town Currie, Tyler. “Zip Code 00000.” Washington Post. 4/2/2003. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2003/04/02/AR2005033108150.html Lewis, Herbert J. “Cahaba.” Encyclopedia of Alabama. 5/20/2008. https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/cahaba/ Shahin, Alexandra Kennon. “Alabama's Ghost Capital.” 9/21/2018. https://countryroadsmagazine.com/travel/getaways/alabama-s-ghost-capital/ Alabama Tourism. “Tour of Old Cahawba.” 10/25/2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L18GAP-vQY Splain, Shelby Weaver. “Pithole or Bust!” 7/24/2024. https://pahistoricpreservation.com/pithole-bust/  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.