A US man who bought an abandoned ghost town $1.94m ($US1.4m) has revealed what life is really like living alone in the mountains.
Brent Underwood, 39, bought Cerro Gordo, an abandoned 1865 silver mining settlement above California’s Death Valley, in 2018, after a friend sent him the listing as a joke.
He initially planned to visit the town occasionally, but eventually relocated to the 360-acre property during Covid in 2020.
“I left a comfortable life with a decent apartment, great friend group and supportive family to move to the middle of nowhere and try to figure it out,” Underwood said in an interview with People magazine.
With no running water or mobile service and located two hours away from the nearest grocery store, Underwood now spends his time caring for goats, alpacas and chickens while attempting to restore the town.
Cerro Gordo was founded in 1865, with 4,000 miners living there at its peak after silver, lead, and zinc were discovered nearby at the Inyo Range, according to the New York Post.
The town was completely deserted by the 1940s.
Underwood has gained a huge following online, as people want to stay updated with his restoration projects.
He had restored a former dynamite storehouse and built a hidden library inside filled with historic mining books, in honour of the town’s origins.
The 39-year-old is currently converting a former 1800s brothel called Lola’s Palace of Pleasure that was run by local businesswoman Lola Travis into a museum.
“Lola had a remarkable story; she ran a successful business in a mining camp full of drunk and armed men and made it work,” he told the NY Post.
“The women are the part of the history of these camps that gets lost; I want to make sure it survives.”
He is also rebuilding the town’s original 1871 American Hotel to include eight guest rooms, a bar and a restaurant, and plans to restore abandoned movie theatre and reopen campsites across the property.
Underwood’s home is the the former residence of Cerro Gordo’s original owner, Mortimer Belshaw, and he says despite the snowstorms, frozen water lines and hour-long trips for basic supplies, he has no plans of leaving.
“I can keep an eye on everything, plus I get this great view down into the valley,” he said.
“I hope to be working on Cerro Gordo for the rest of my life,” he added.
“It’s one thing to read about history; it’s different to stand in it.”
While it is rewarding to restore a part of history, Underwood has had his fair share of chilling experiences, after living alone for six years.
He recalled his own ghost encounter after just a few days away, saying that he spotted the lights on at the former bunkhouse.
“As I got closer, someone pulled back the lace curtain and looked out at me. I could see a figure,” he said.
When he checked in with a friend who had been staying nearby and asked if anyone was staying at the bunkhouse, “His eyes went sideways, and he said, ‘Nobody.’”
Underwood searched every room, turned off the lights, and padlocked the building shut, but when he returned that night “the kitchen light was on again.”
“There are thirty miles of mine tunnels under this town, and I’ll go into any of them, but I don’t like going in the bunkhouse.”
Images: TikTok
