The Mystery of California's Creepiest Ghost Town - Calico
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- Опубликовано: 26 сен 2024
- Calico is a ghost town and former mining town in San Bernardino County, California. It is located in the Calico Mountains of the Mojave Desert region of Southern California.
It was founded in 1881 as a silver mining town, and was later converted into a county park named Calico Ghost Town. It lies 3 miles (4.8 km) from Barstow and 3 miles from Yermo. Walter Knott purchased Calico in the 1950s, and architecturally restored all but the five remaining original buildings to look as they did in the 1880s.
In 1881, four prospectors left Barstow, California for a mountain peak to the northeast. They described the peak as "calico-colored", the peak, the mountain range to which it belonged, and the town that followed were all called Calico. The four prospectors discovered silver in the mountain and opened the Silver King Mine. Silver King Mine was California's largest silver producer in the mid-1880s.
A post office at Calico was established in early 1882, and the Calico Print, a weekly newspaper, started publishing. The town soon supported three hotels, five general stores, a meat market, bars, brothels, and three restaurants and boarding houses. The town also had a deputy sheriff and two constables, two lawyers and a justice of the peace, five commissioners, and two doctors.
At its height of silver production during 1883 and 1885, Calico had over 500 mines and a population of 1,200 people. The discovery of the borate mineral colemanite in the Calico mountains a few years after the settlement of the town also helped Calico's fortunes.
In the same year, the Silver Purchase Act was enacted and drove down the price of silver...
#calico #ghosttown #mysterious #abandoned
I went to Calico 30 years ago with my husband. He was interested in ghost towns, railroads, historical stuff and I was into crystal and rocks. It was sooo much fun there. It was very hot and they sold giant ice cream cones I will never forget. Love Calico!
Glad you liked it! 👍
❤. I loved this old town as a child. My parents took me there. I remember being able to pan for gold, the Bottle House, and shopping. Great memories. Thank you for sharing this
So glad you liked it 👍
I watch a lot of videos on Ghost Towns n this is the most informative and showed the most different scenery than any I have ever seen!!! Awesome video!!!
So glad you liked it 👍
Stopped there over 35 years ago on my way to Lake Mead. Loved seeing it again and have wanted to go back. Thanks for re-sparking that interest.
Glad you enjoyed it !
First of all I want to say I appreciate your videos. No music. No voice over. Just simple moving footage with closed captioned, usable information. Thank you for the insight to let viewers have the quiet to form our own thoughts on what we're seeing. No bells and whistles, except from that train now and then, but that's understandable. And second, because of this tour of Calico, I finally get to see what a ghost town I've been wanting to get to myself for a very long time.
Thanks for that! 👍
I'd live there in a second. What a very alluring place. Simple, Quiet, Beautiful and laid back for sure. Heck, I could work on the buildings. Love these places to just go to a simpler time.
Glad you liked it 👍
Visited on several occasions and with friends/family of all ages. Calico is not. AT ALL creepy 😊
Glad you liked it! 👍
Grew up in those parts an places loved calico . Was there many times . It's unusual a step back in time .
Haven't been there since the early 60', but still have fond memories. MD
You should visit it again! 👍
Great video. I use to camp here for many years. I loved the sound of the train in early mornings.
I went there on a school field trip almost 39 years ago. Sure brings back some memories.
That's awesome, good memories 👍
I've visited Calico often in the past but it would have been good to see your video first!
Glad it was useful 👍
In the 70's we used to have to drive to Vegas from L.A. a lot. I was about 9 and I remember seeing Calico on the side of the mountain. I remember Kenny Rogers had a song, Candy Gray ? That was about a woman that is buried there. I remember wanting to stop and wonder around. So, one time mom took my sister and I up to Calico. It was fascinating to me! I also found her tombstone! 😂 There really wasn't much there, but I loved the scenery and everything. After that, mom took us more often since we behaved in the car on our long drives to Vegas. I even remember seeing wild mustang back then. Before they started rounding them up..
Good memories 👍
Driven past it probably 150 times as a traveling musician and just running around a lot now I must visit since I just found out it’s open every day except Christmas 😊
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I'd previously liked your narration so I could appreciate your film vs focus on subtitles. I am new subscriber. Best wishes!
Awesome, thank you!
I was there back in the 70’s. Looks Exactly the same still!!
Looks the same after 50 years?
NO BS! EXACTLY What I Remember! I was there at least 3 times in the late 70’s! I was basedat Norton Air Force Base not too far from Calico, in San Bernardino, Ca!
In 1969 my friends and I camped in the area which is now the parking entrance. Someone was throwing rocks into our camp and we could never figure out who was the culprit. It was pitch black and we searched the area, but no one else was camped out there. We chalked it up to Ghosts. I still believe that something was trying to drive us off.
I have heard about similar things too
Big Foot is known to throw rocks, to get you to leave their home.
Fools. Ghosts aren’t real and even if they were, couldn’t physically pelt objects at you.
bigfoot...lol
@@bernsfindsandmore7636The Mojave Desert Bigfoot , a Very Rare Species.
😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅
As Falconers in the 70s & 80s, we used to travel through those old desert mining towns, exploring all the nearby rocky cliffs, searching for Prairie Falcon nests. A lot of history in those deserts.🤠👍
Indeed, so many historical places there 👍
Love Calico😘,, been there a couple of times,, I also enjoyed your video 👍
Awesome! Thank you!
What part of Calico is considered creepy? I’ve enjoyed this town back in the 60s, and I wouldn’t mind living there @ 68! Very historical and great hiking areas in this district. If this town is creepy, then every town in California must be also!
The creepiest part is the entrance to one of the mines where you can hear sounds coming from underground
@@OddlyExplorer. The dead don’t know anything. And there’s no such thing as ghost 👻 .. the dead stay dead 💀. However, the Bible does say. ,, that we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against the spiritual forces of wickedness, and heavenly places. The dead stay dead., until judgment day. But the wicked goes close into hell and they know that they are going to hell when they wake up.
@@OddlyExplorer. AMERICA HISTORY THE BIGGEST LIE IN HISTORY BABYLON
@@OddlyExplorer. There was white slaves here. For thousands of years
@@OddlyExplorer. They 🩸erased 🩸whites🩸 history ✝️
Thank You. Very informative and enjoyable.
So glad you liked it 👍
I took my kids there on year abt 40 yrs ago. First Ghost town ever visit. Very nice place. Than I took them to Calico's Easter Egg Hunt yr after yr. It was pretty fun for the kids. After took them to some of the shops to buy memorabilia. Always had a great time. Thanks Mr. Knotts, if it wasn't for u n ur son's putting all this together. It probably would be another Ghost town with no life to it. 🤠
Very cool! 👍
Camped there when I was a boy scout about 35 years ago. Decided to swing by as I was return back to CA from Tombstone, AZ last year. Still a cool place. May try to get my adult son to join us this year since it is just a couple hours away.
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Beautifully made video! Nicely done
So glad you liked it 👍
I visited Calico 40 years ago, wanting to see the house with animated dolls and wind driven mechanical things outside. Possum Trot. I had seen a special on PBS and just had to see in person. The wife of the doll maker was still living there and invited us inside. I found the video on You Tube last year. I had been searching for it all these years. I dont believe there anything left of their residence or contraptions. At least one wooden doll is in the Smithsonian.
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Jane I visited Calico in 1989 at 5 years old and 2018 when I got my grad degree. They were both exactly as I remember. Theres that amusement park guy who did a documentary on it. You are probably one of the last to see that show because I never saw it. The train still goes. I didn’t get fools gold again though but I’ll cherish my 80s one forever!
i mean living in Barstow, Calico is fun to go chekc out, and they kill it during Halloween. but the offroad trails where tourists dont go...is where the fun really is.
I absolutely agree with you 👍
I remember visiting there and not being able to do the tour of the mine because I immediately started getting a migraine close to the entrance.
It takes 1-2 hours to see the whole town
An awesome historic site! Now a park, kinda touristy but still very interesting to visit!
That’s an amazing place to visit 👍
I think we will have to take a day trip there. Looks like a very interesting place to visit.
You should! It's an amazing place to visit!
Ten years ago or so, I sometimes showed up in period clothing, with handmade gunbelt and holster, filled with an 1873 Colt SAA replica (unloaded!) and just wandered around town. I think my picture is all over Asia, Italy, and Germany 🤣🤣🤣🤣
That’s awesome 🤩 👍
Went there as a kid. Loved it.
Awesome!
I did 2nd and 3rd grade in Barstow (place of my first taco) and Yermo and the ghost town an mines we're our playgrounds.
That's awesome! 👍
The wind ,the essence
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Randsburg and Johannesburg are not too far away and they are both living Ghost Towns 😊
Thank you for mentioning, I think I should go and film these towns too 👍
@OddlyExplorer Talk to the lady who runs the bar called The Joint in Randsburg she is also the local Realtor. My band played The Joint last weekend the people their are very down to Earth 🌎 the population is around 64 people is all.
Hi, I just wondered, which part of the Tiwn did you find creepy? I thought the whole town was awesome n historic !! Very interesting.
The western part is creepy
I don't see anything about this place creepy. It's a beautiful preserved historic site. Thk u for showing it to us.
Glad you enjoyed it 👍
I only came across this cause I follow Dave Meeks Thunder Mesa Railroad and recreates Calico of sorts
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Very. Nice
Thanks
Great looking town!
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Wish you had walked the cemetery to see who's buried there.
That's for the next time
I go there almost every summer and for bdays... It's not actually creepy... It's a charming place
I agree, it’s a very charming ghost town
One of the perks of growing up in the high desert get to go to Calico whenever you want, my kids grew up most of their life thinking thats where Halloween happened LOL🎃👻🕸🪦⚰️🎃🎃
That’s so awesome 👍
I was there 55 years ago with my mom and dad it sure didn't look like that then
The ghost town has been restored recently.
I always wanted to go to Barstow, California after I watched the movie "parent trap 3" when I was little. There's a girl who's a triplet and she runs away with her cool dude boyfriend on a motorcycle to Barstow. 😂 I guess I was a rebel even then!
Nothing at all creepy about it , spent days there as a youngster and have been all over on the Calico mountain , exploring the mines , very cool place and the water source is a underground lake , under the town with room for a row boat to explore !!! 😎
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My parents new Mr an Mrs knotts they use to send the most beautiful Christmas cards
Nothing creepy in the video nor at Calico the town. Maybe the wind whistling through the mic was supposed to be creepy, but it’s the desert and the wind blows all the time. Don’t go to Calico from May through maybe mid October because the desert heat will not be enjoyable, even after the sun goes down. Don’t even consider it.
There are a lot of creepy stories about Calico though…
@@OddlyExplorer I’ve never heard the stories and would like to. I’ll follow up. Thanks.
3 miles from Barstow - try 9 miles.
Will try that soon 👍
Calico ghost town is not creepy it's very interesting, didnt seem haunted to me but I love that time period
Lots of creepy stories about it
Im a volunteer Firefighter for Yermo/Calico.. Hot but not creepy
Yes it’s hot there
Thanks for the video, but I'm blind so I have no idea what's going on. Can you please narrate next time?
Sure thing
Ive been there beautifull place
I agree 👍
It would be better if you narrated this video. You cannot read about the history of the town and watch what is in the video at the same time. Thank you for the video but I gave up trying to read & watch at the same time. Cheers!
Good point to consider, thanks!
@@OddlyExplorer I want to see your numbers go up. I am sure this will do it. Take care.
That town needs a Church.
I think it has one
It's a shame they tampered with it at all. I'd have thought it much more interesting in it's original condition.
Many of the buildings are in original but restored condition
Does the Walter Knott's family still have anything to do with Calico??
I think so
They owned it back in the day
Encounter ghost
👍
Probably bigfoot
Yeti
"The Mystery of California's Creepiest Ghost Town" Ummmm..... NOT!
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Calicos not even a real ghost town
Yes it’s a real ghost town
Isn't calico the town where they found proof of astral projection ?
Yes, they found a lot of projections there
Creepy not at all…interesting sure
There are so many rumors about this town
🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷💯💯💯👍👍👍
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I've only been to Calico once in the mid 80s when I lived in Victorville. Dont remember much about it other than taking that little train around. Live in Georgia now but I pass by when going through Barstow in my 18 wheeler. Plan on seeing it again some day before it dries up and blows away lol
You definitely should visit it again, a ton of money has been invested in restoring it.
I played bluegrass there with a handful of other guys. We played the banjo, mandolin, guitar and even a stand-up bass. People ate it up. But we had more fun than they did!
That’s so awesome to have so much fun! 👍
Thank You. Lots of good memories from when i was a kid in Barsotow...
Glad to hear that! 👍
keep up the good work
Thank you! Glad you liked it!
it’s not creepy
Yes it is!
@@OddlyExplorer nooo, I guess it gets you more eyes, but it’s just a Knotts Berry Farm old town now
Boot hill takes all the creepiness out of it 😊
K!
It would be a nice day ride on our Harley to go to Calico,thanks for sharing!
Great idea! Enjoy! 👍
Randsburg and Johannesburg are not too far away and are both living Ghost Towns and lots of bikers love 😂to visit 😊
Never been there. Very cool. I appreciate the historical info.
You should visit, it’s worth it 👍
I WEENT TO KNOTTS BERRY FARM IN THE EARLY 1960S, AND A LOT OF STUFF THAT WAS THERE WAS FROM CALICO. HE HAD COLLECTED OLD HORSE AND BUGGIES AND PUT THEM IN A BUILDING. I REMEMBER THE ROTTEN LEATHER AND SPRINGS GOING THROUGH THE SEATS OF THE OLD WAGONS, IT REMINDED ME OF OLD CASKETS LOOKING INSIDE OF THEM!!!LATER I WENT TO KNOTTSBERRY FARM IN THE 2000'S AND THE BUILDING AND THE WAGONS ARE ALL GONE!!!!
I think they were taken for restoration
Lay off the caps, chief.