Inside an eerie California gold rush town that laid abandoned for 70 years
Jeff Sullivan
In 1859, gold was discovered in California by a group of prospectors, including a tin manufacturer named W.S. Bodey. And the Gold Rush began.
The following November, Bodey died in a blizzard while making a supply trip to Mono County, California. Mines with gold were later found in Mono County around 1861, and the town of Bodey — later spelled "Bodie" — was born, though its namesake never lived to see the town.
People established a community there, full of wooden structures including a church, jail, hotel, bank and schoolhouse, as well as shops and homes. At its peak in 1880, an estimated 10,000 residents lived there, but Bodie was abandoned during the early '40s.
Today, it's a ghost town.
Bodie is now recognized as a National Historic Landmark, and about 200,000 people visit annually, though it still gives off a creepy vibe.
Jeff Sullivan, a California-based photographer, has been capturing images of Bodie since the 1970s, and now leads nighttime photography workshops there. He shared some of his modern-day images of the town.
Located east of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, Bodie has approximately 100 buildings still standing today. A fire ravaged much of the downtown business district in 1932.
Jeff SullivanSource: Bodie.com
A mill was the first structure established in Bodie, though it burned down in 1898. It was later replaced by the one below, which features a gondola system that carried gold and silver from underground mines.
Jeff SullivanSource: Bodie.com
Inside are machines that were used to separate rocks and dirt from the gold.
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