Weird history38.2434° N, 118.3387° W
Marietta, NV
An isolated former borax-and-mining settlement survives as scattered ruins in a basin now better known for wild burros and extreme remoteness.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
Weird history in Nevada
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Weird history87
Suggest a stopReal events too strange to have made the textbook.
- Weird history41.2268° N, 115.0599° W
Metropolis, NV
A grand school arch and hotel foundations remain from an ambitious planned farming city that failed after water problems, pests, and economic collapse.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Weird history37.9318° N, 114.4527° W
Pioche, NV
This ornate 1872 courthouse became notorious for the extraordinary debt created by construction bonds, eventually costing taxpayers far more than its original price.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Weird history36.4410° N, 114.5156° W
Overton, NV
A short canyon trail passes one of Valley of Fire’s densest concentrations of petroglyphs before reaching a natural basin associated with Paiute outlaw lore.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Weird history35.7072° N, 114.8261° W
Nelson, NV
The photogenic remains around Nelson preserve the violent mining history of Eldorado Canyon, with old structures, vehicles, mine relics, and desert ruins.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history39.2593° N, 114.8691° W
Ely, NV
A remarkably intact operating railroad complex preserves locomotives, shops, yards, and equipment from the copper-mining railway; excursion schedules vary.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history39.1594° N, 119.7358° W
Carson City, NV
The closed 1862 territorial prison occupies a quarry site tied to Nevada’s earliest penal history and later executions; access is limited to authorized tours or events.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history35.9706° N, 114.8565° W
Boulder City, NV
A working railroad museum on the historic Boulder Branch Line, with preserved equipment and seasonal excursion-train operations.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history39.1485° N, 119.7683° W
Carson City, NV
A major collection of locomotives and cars from Nevada’s railroad era includes equipment tied to the Virginia & Truckee and occasional operating demonstrations.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history36.1806° N, 115.1335° W
Las Vegas, NV
The remains of the 1855 adobe fort mark the first permanent non-Indigenous settlement in the Las Vegas Valley, long before the Strip existed.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Weird history38.0720° N, 117.2389° W
Tonopah, NV
The 1901–1911 cemetery contains miners, boomtown residents, and victims of the 1911 Belmont Mine fire; its position beside the Clown Motel adds to its eerie reputation.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Weird history39.0930° N, 114.3927° W
Osceola, NV
Remote ruins and placer-mining traces mark a once-important gold camp below Wheeler Peak; roads are primitive and active claims should be respected.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history40.6102° N, 116.1987° W
Palisade, NV
A canyon railroad town once staged fake gunfights for passing train passengers; today only sparse ruins remain near active rail lines and private parcels.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history39.1657° N, 119.5001° W
Dayton, NV
Gold in the Pine Nut Mountains drew several hundred miners and merchants here from about 1860. The neighbouring camp of Como overtook it within a few years and Palmyra vanished. Reached over a long rocky unpaved road southeast of Dayton; scattered ruins only.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history37.7161° N, 117.2520° W
Goldfield, NV
A famously bizarre cemetery marker identifies an unknown man whose epitaph says he died after eating library paste, one of Nevada’s classic strange-grave stories.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Weird history37.9308° N, 114.4521° W
Pioche, NV
Remnants of an old aerial ore tramway still cross the hills and historic district, leaving suspended buckets and cables above parts of town.
- Access
- Roadside, no entry
- Weird history37.9348° N, 114.4469° W
Pioche, NV
Boot Hill preserves graves from Pioche’s violent mining years, including markers tied to gunfights and the town’s reputation for frontier lawlessness.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Weird history35.8324° N, 115.4319° W
Goodsprings, NV
A 1913 pressed-tin saloon preserves bullet holes, mining-town artifacts, and the local story surrounding Clark Gable’s wait for news after Carole Lombard’s plane crash.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Weird history39.3108° N, 119.6517° W
Virginia City, NV
A succession of Piper theaters hosted performers, politics, boxing, and community events during the Comstock era; the surviving opera house still operates for events and tours.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history39.3095° N, 119.6501° W
Virginia City, NV
A saloon contains the entrance to a real mine tunnel, creating an unusual combination of working bar and underground Comstock history; tours are scheduled.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history39.8223° N, 119.3659° W
Nixon, NV
The tribal museum presents Pyramid Lake Paiute history, culture, natural history, and the lake’s landscape from the perspective of the people whose homeland surrounds it.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Weird history36.9009° N, 116.8293° W
Rhyolite, NV
One of Nevada’s most substantial ghost towns preserves the skeletal remains of a once-booming Bullfrog mining city only a few miles from Death Valley.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Weird history36.8996° N, 116.8300° W
Rhyolite, NV
The concrete shell of Rhyolite’s large school shows how confidently the town built for a future that vanished only a few years later.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Weird history36.9036° N, 116.8289° W
Rhyolite, NV
The 1908 Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad depot survives as one of Rhyolite’s most complete buildings; restoration work means the structure itself should be viewed from outside.
- Access
- Roadside, no entry