35 Mysterious Abandoned Places Around the World You Can Still Visit
29. Rhyolite, Nevada, USA: The Town Built on a Mirage
Rhyolite sprang to life in 1905 when gold fever swept through the Nevada desert. At its peak, the town had electricity, a stock exchange, an opera house, and a population of over 5,000. But the boom was short-lived—by 1916, the gold was gone, and so was most of the population. What remains are haunting skeletal ruins—a once-grand bank with empty windows, a ghostly train depot, and a bottle house made entirely of glass bottles. Today, Rhyolite is a surreal backdrop on the edge of Death Valley, attracting artists, filmmakers, and history lovers who come to witness the brutal brevity of boomtown dreams.
