Bodie State Historic Park

The best-preserved ghost town in the American West, Bodie peaked at 10,000 residents in 1879 and is now a state park frozen in time. Rangers and visitors report apparitions throughout — a Chinese man near the stamp mill, a woman in the Cain House, children at the schoolhouse. Visitors who take objects from the site report a pattern of bad luck they attribute to the 'Bodie Curse,' with letters returning pilfered items arriving at the park weekly.