This Haunted Ghost Town Is for Sale in Colorado

Colorado Ghost Town
James Johnson / Craigslist
James Johnson / Craigslist

If it's time for new digs, but buying a regular old house seems kind of boring, maybe buying an entire "ghost town" is what you need to keep things exciting. If that's the case, jackpot, it's the best day of your week. Just 45 minutes outside Denver lies the dormant town of Cabin Creek, and the entire town can be yours for just $350,000.

It has everything you need to build your own self-sustaining waypoint on the path between here and there. It comes with an "old Gas Station, 8 room Motel, Road Side Restaurant Café, 8 space RV Park, 2 Houses, and private shooting range" according to the posting on Craigslist. It's rife for building its own folklore, with a gas station that was once a movie theater and a racetrack drawing visitors down U.S. route 36, right through Cabin Creek.

Colorado Ghost Town
James Johnson / Craigslist

The town was once "quite the gathering spot," according to a local FOX affiliate. Joan Lippett, a resident of a neighboring town called Byers, attests that "the café served the best chicken fried steak in the state."

But then things got ugly for the previous owners. "There was a murder there. There was some people that they took in, felt sorry for or something, and they found out the couple had money," Lippett told FOX. 

Colorado Ghost Town
James Johnson / Craigslist

The current owner, James Johnson, wanted to turn it into a Route 66-style roadside attraction, but now he and his wife are focused on retirement. The only problem with getting your hands on your very own ghost town is that there aren't a lot of banks that are giving loans for this kind of thing.

"You're not going to get a regular conventional loan on this property," Johnson says. "You say ghost town and they say what?"

Colorado Ghost Town
James Johnson / Craigslist
Colorado Ghost Town
James Johnson / Craigslist
Colorado Ghost Town
James Johnson / Craigslist
Sign up here for our daily Thrillist email, and get your fix of the best in food/drink/fun.

Dustin Nelson is a News Writer with Thrillist. He holds a Guinness World Record, but has never met the fingernail lady. He’s written for Sports Illustrated, Men’s Journal, The Rumpus, and other digital wonderlands. Follow him @dlukenelson.