
A stormy day at the Bodie Historic State Park which was once a violent and lawless booming California gold mining town in the Wild West. Several phrases were born to describe the essence of Bodie and its inhabitants who flocked there to find the motherlode: “Badman from Bodie” fit the infamous and remote town. It’s said that a little girl found out her family was moving to Bodie and wrote in her diary, “Goodbye God, I’m going to Bodie.” The phrase stuck and became famous. A preacher called Bodie, “A sea of sin, lashed by the tempest of lust and passion.” Photo #1 by Photographersnature.com

Ghost town of Bodie, California is located east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The town began as a little mining camp but was later named after prospector William Body who found gold in 1859. It is thought that the man who painted the first sign couldn’t spell very well and wrote “Bodie Stables.” Photo #2 by Wolfgang Staudt

Decay scattered around the ghost town of Bodie. It rivaled Tombstone and Dodge City in violence. At one point, Bodie had a population of about 10,000 people in a town known as second to none for wickedness. The town also has a wicked climate, sweltering hot summers and buried in cold snow in the winters. Photo #3 by Wolfgang Staudt

Old West transport failure – Ghost Town of Bodie. Although Bodie was blown up with two tons of dynamite and burned down twice, Bodie was too wicked to die. What is left in the the ghost town is only 5% of Bodie’s original buildings. Photo #4 by Chris Willis

Vacancy at Bodie Hotel. The ghost town once had two banks, four volunteer fire companies, several daily newspapers, a brass band, a railroad, a whopping 65 wild west saloons . . . and only one jail for those who survived barroom brawls turned to shootouts. Photo #5 by Wolfgang Staudt

Big Wheel left over in the bad ghost town of Bodie, perhaps a reminder of one of the many times the stagecoach was held up. Killings happened every day in Bodie. Filling your enemy with lead or burying a bullet in their brain happened around the clock as if it were an acceptable way to settle all disputes. Photo #6 by Bill Gracey

Outhouse in Bodie, perhaps only frequented by ghosts now. Once upon a time, it was a necessary evil for all the wicked men drinking wicked whiskey in a wicked climate. Photo #7 by Jim code poet

One of the saloons in Bodie. Back in its heyday, the booming gold mine town boasted 65 saloons on a mile long main street, a busy red-light district, and even a Chinatown. For a long time, however, there was not a single church. Photo #8 by Albert de Bruijn

Ghost Town Church in Bodie. After the gold miners moved on to other booming towns, hoping to get rich quick, and the “gambling hells” shut down, Bodie finally built a church and became more family-friendly. Photo #9 by Jim code poet

Abandoned car at Bodie ghost town. At the beginning of World War II, Bodie closed down the school and the post office, and the last residents left town. Only the remaining ghosts didn’t move on. Photo #10 by Wolfgang Staudt

Bodie is officially Out of Gas. Photo #11 by Hot Flash Photography

Ghosts are still at home at Bodie State Historic Park, a ghost town left in arrested decay. Photo #12 by Wolfgang Staudt

Inside a Bodie “mansion.” It might not look like much, but it was pretty sweet in its day. Bodie is located in the eastern slopes of the Sierra, close to the Nevada border where it can be both extremely hot or cold. Home sweet home beats 100 mph winds sweeping through the valley. Photo #13 by Hot Flash Photography
Your site is great. The images are high quality and always interesting. Linking directly to the photographers instead of simply listing an image credit name shows how much you appreciate the photographers’ captures. Keep up the great work. I too love these pics.
Great to know that landmarks like Bodie are still being preserved.
Exactly! It`s amazing! hard to believe!
You are motivating me to become more serious with photography. The used of Light and angle are fantastic!
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the pool table is amazing. it would be awesome to get that thing back in working condition
That table was used to play “carom billiards”.
This game is very hard to master.Notice that there are no pockets on the table.
Google carom billiards. The game has a very interesting history.
BEautiful PHOTOGRAPHY!!!! Bodie… MUST GO THERE!!!! = ) Thanks for sharing!
This is cool, but also creepy! I would be too afraid to even look around there! (shiver) 🙂
Nice!
Wonderful photography!
Was wanting to use some of your pics on our bands website. Please let me know if this would be ok we would give whoever took the pics full credit.
Thanks
That pool room picture is amazing! Do you think that Van Gogh would have painted it, had he seen it?
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Fantastiche foto. Il posto è spettacolare e racconta la vita che si svolgeva a quei tempi!
Vero Far West, complimenti per le foto!
Im going tomorrow to get tht pool table since no on wants it
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