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 Post subject: Our Ghost Town Explorations Out In Hawthorne Country......Re
PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 3:57 pm 
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Location: Las Vegas, NV
Our Ghost Town Explorations Out In Hawthorne Country......Reports & Adventure!

In the first month of every new year I try to put forth a series of really great explorations. I believe it is important to start the New Year off setting the tone for great things. I am sure other paranormal groups practice this to its in our blood when we have the will to want to work with the paranormal all over the passion we have for it.

I would head out to Hawthorne its surrounded by mills, ghost towns, mines and many other wonders. I always thought of it as a dismal place lets face it the military base spans for miles. Its mainly a base that stores weapons maybe even nukes so I get a bit uneasy when passing through the area. But it is very secluded and there are some sites that deserve paranormal investigations.

It was a hard decision to go out we were being hit with a major snowstorm however the further south you go in NV the less likely your going to hit snow. I theorized this and gave it a shot. We loaded up the truck early morning with supplies, food, medical gear, blankets etc as we would be visiting many sites throughout the entire day.

When I had left town none of the roads had even been plowed yet let alone the main highway. It still was flurrying till I was able to get south of Yerington then we got into some much warmer weather. I would be bringing Tammy and Jarrod along on the trip. Jarrod wanted to use his metal detector for rocks and minerals. I just wanted to do some good old fashioned exploring.

On the agenda we had the Luning Magnesium & Artinite Mill, Mina & Sodaville Nevada. I did have another ghost town owned by a governor of NV but someone recently purchased the property erasing most of its history. I am not sure why some people do this if it had been a year or two ago I probably would have gotten to explore it. Its a hit and miss with Nevada ghost towns and mines.

I was enjoying my morning had hot coffee, good food, brownies, pizza etc and a beautiful scenic ride through central Nevada. The skies were clearing up some of the fog on the mountains was beautiful and snow capped peaks.

We would stop at some old shed in the desert where I did some offroading. It was a good way to stretch my legs and figure out my next move. Further up the road I seen in the distance the old Luning Mill which I read about and thought about exploring. Our adventure would truly began here and boy would it be a great one.

Luning Magnesium & Artinite Mill

Jarrod had searched with his metal detector he actually found a piece of magnesium ore. Its not worth anything other then the sentimental value of knowing we were there.

The site was littered with a massive mill with rebar ladders, outhouse, weigh station and warehouse. I started off with my investigation of the warehouse. The train use to go right past this place but all that remains is the wooden railroad ties where the payload was weighed.

I had to climb up into the warehouse it had three entrances but the easy accessible ones were not so accessible. There was a room with shelves, desk and compartments. The sun peered through the roofing and the flooring was concrete. There were massive cargo doors I tried to get some of them to budge but they would not.

I went over to the mill its very large with many ladders leading to various levels. My goal was to get to the top left my gloves in the truck so after climbing to the top I could not feel my hands. The metal was ice cold it still was morning and the iron stays cold.

The first ladder was a bit tricky after 20' of climbing I had to reach over to a stairwell and pull myself over a drop off. There is no room for error when you cliff climb let alone climb high heights at mills. The first ladder was a bit shaky the rest of them were more solid. I worked my way up each tier with Tammy taking my photo to show everyone the various levels.

I would eventually come on back down for awhile to explore the mill there was an outhouse we took some paracomedy pictures there. We also went into the weigh station where there was a giant scale inside that went up to about 65k lbs.

We did use the EMF detector at the site it went off a couple of times but not much. I think more so we had readings inside the mill which was very foreboding. There was a power room which had collapsed and a few other large rooms inside that were empty.

We also seen a stairwell that led into the basement and grate with a chute above it. We had to be careful the floor had some areas wide open and so Jarrod ran to the truck to get us flashlights. It was so dark in the basement we were not sure what we would expect.

The basement was a very narrow passage way with a conveyor belt, motor and some other machinery I never seen at a mill prior to this. It was very dusty from the ceilings old metal lamps hung over us. It appeared that the basement was the final state of processing. We also found a ladder with a closed hatch in the basement.

The basement was not a pleasant site allot of feathers, brush and probably rodents. The old wood stairs that were very steep really told us the age of the mill itself. I was quite pleased with our exploration and trying to take EVP's of any residual energy.

Jarrod left the mill and I decided it was time for one last climb to the top. They have inside the mill a massive ladder which starts at the bottom taking me a few stories up through the roof. I wanted to climb the ladder looking down was a thrill for me knowing that below my feet it was 35' down and here I was having a go at it.

I eventually made my way to this small little area high above the mill to take video of the mountains and surrounding landscape. You guys know how I am about making videos it allows you to get a perspective on the work that we do to show you that we are really doing this and not talking about it.

There was these massive rods that connected the upper parts of the mill to the lower rooftops. When the wind blew you could feel the entire mill in motion it was like being on a ship. I would make my way to a little suspended structure that had a room with another conveyer belt. It would appear the ore started off very large here then fell to the lower floors through the grate where it the processing was finalized.

On the walls surrounding the mill you could see various stop and start buttons. There was graffiti in this outcrop and below was grating so I could see two stories below me. It always felt as if I was going to fall no matter where I climbed or walked around at. I think once you see the photos and the video you will come to understand how cool of a location this truly is.

From above I also seen buried under the earth an old stone foundation. In the distance you could see the town of Luning. Most of the residents live in smaller homes or trailers its not a very large town. But at one time it did thrive more then likely when the railroad and its mill were operative.

As an urban explorer I took photos of light fixtures, motors, iron work, cables etc I want others to have a feel for this place so that when they view places like this on the website they feel like they are there. I cannot say it is or it is not a haunted mill but I do know where there is history there is also ghost.

We would then gather together Jarrod showed me some of his rocks he found while mineral searching. I was just hooting and hollering nothing like a morning climb to get the blood pumping. We would move on to another old railroading boomtown called Mina. This would take up a good portion of our day as there is allot to see if your a ghost town explorer like me.

Mina Nevada

We would have to stop in town to use the bathroom of course there is only once gas station and they are strict. If you do not make any purchases you do not get the bathroom key. I guess I was lucky because as a gift I found Tammy some cool sun glasses and a chopper pocket knife very cheaply priced. You know your loved when I buy you your own knife something I eventually do for team members as a gift.

I started my investigation off by driving around town or at least what is left of it. Mina is a very quiet place you hardly ever see anybody out then again there is probably about a hundred folks living there on both sides of the highway.

I did not do Mina for the paranormal I did it because its a ghost town with allot of historic value. Some of you may have heard of it although it boomed later then most towns it thrived off the railroad at one time. I drove around taking photos of all the towns historic structures there was a boarded up saloon I wanted to get in but then there is the whole thing of its like fort Knox right on the highway lol.

We did pay our tributes to the Mina Cemetery and I will say this I am very very pleased with its condition. It is not only well kept but every single gravemarker has a ribbon and flowers of some kind. The place is lit up with beautiful colors including a stone monument. I very rarely ever see a cemetery this well taken care of its a must visit plus we did get some EMF readings here.

Many of the markers were made of wood or were crosses. I seen a few small statues and a few marble headstones. I also seen older stones that were very white and slightly faded. Tammy may have found an older relative buried here before she was born strange how the world is smaller then we think.

Some of the burials of the men here were miners they had minerals placed around there stones. The Mina mine overlooks the cemetery off in the distance high up on this snow capped peak that overshadows the region. Most of these men buried here were miners hell some of them worked at the ore mills and even railroad. So much history just as we walked through the aisles of graves.

We also seen the old Desert Lobster Cafe which has a big boat out front of it. The owners use to live in Sodaville prior to it becoming a ghost town. Around town foundations and other wooden dilapidated structures are scattered everywhere. One of them I went in had no windows, green flooring and a stove inside.

Jarrod and I went downtown to the historic district where a series of wood cabins and homes remained scattered along a few streets. They tell you to stay out and I can see why people have vandalized them. However I was there to preserve them since most of them were barely standing. One of the homes we went into had a few rooms it was dark inside but we walked around taking are readings.

There was another cabin with a small front porch while another one didn't have a roof. Nearby an old general store or perhaps boarding house stood. I walked around it till some guy took something and banged it really hard to try to scare me. The guy was walking around with his face hidden staring at us trying to scare us away and we were not even on his property. I wonder why he has so many cars on his property or why he thinks he feels the need to try to scare me. I just spent money at the towns general store without people like me there would be absolutely no business in this town.

Many of the original homes have been integrated with other peoples houses even today. Just driving around town you can see classic cars and relics of the past. The entire town is like one giant museum and for the most part some people are very nice as someone waved to me. While others just do not want you there again that is just ignorant thinking considering towns like these are borderline ghost towns as it is.

Overall my experience of visiting the relics of the past throughout the town was a learning experience for my son. I think Mina is going to look great on our site it has an eerie feeling to it and nestled in the Nevada mountains. Our next destination however would be the grand finale of the day a ghost town where a famous shootout occurred. We would have the entire town to ourselves to do our work without having to worry about somebody trying to bang on metal to chase us away which was Sodaville Nevada.

Sodaville Nevada

When we pulled up into Sodaville the first building I went into was an old hotel or boarding house. It had about 10 small rooms connected by a long hall. Each room had old furniture left behind hell I even found an old typewriter by the front desk. Most of the rooms had piles of boxes, lamps, bed springs and we even found a painting of the sierras. I thought this was a rather unique site to investigate it was a decent sized structure with a surprise found in every room.

Behind it was some room made out of concrete not sure what it was used for but we went inside and it had a U shaped hall. There were many shelves and work benches in this structure. There was also various jars of unknown substances sitting on the shelves.

Jarrod and I could see the city lined streets the town is well grafted everything runs perpendicular to one another. There was a few large homes on site as well and behind the cinder block building some structure with a ramp protruding from it.

The mill was the largest building on site which you could still see cyanide takes for ore processing. There was also another weigh station I found with railroad ties still existing where the train came through town. This scale however only went up to about 45k lbs.

Most of the mill was in tact however there was still allot of machinery inside while the warehouse portions roof had collapsed. We found giant mixers, motors, conveyor belts, fans, acid vats and other ore processing machinery. Its not often you get to see this kind of thing while visiting mills as most of the machines are removed not in this case.

Attached to the mill was a workshop or tool shop kind of eerie. There was all sorts of tools everywhere, drums and even a fridge. Allot of everything had been left behind even when walking the city streets you could see horseshoes, mining equipment, furniture, vases and other things you would expect to find when the locals just decide hit dodge.

There was a garage with an old fridge with some canned moldy vegetables while across from it was jars of feces. I am not sure what the deal is behind that not sure if I want to know. Walking around this place felt as if I was in some kind of serial killer movie.Its a very very eerie ghost towns even though its abandoned you never feel all alone here at any given time.

There was a very large house which was full of junk and piles of furniture. There was also an old picture of a lady and a man in it. One of the rooms in the house had American Flags for drapes while another room was aqua, bright yellow and bright green. I called this place the odd house and it was allot of everything was left behind including an old wood desk.

Other houses we went into not so large but we explored them always opening new doors not sure what we would find. Some of the old miner cabins had collapsed while others were half standing. One room in a house was filled with a foot full of clothing that we had to walk across.

Jarrod also found some fools gold here its not even real but at least its something. To be honest when walking around town it look like a tornado had hit it. There is bookshelves outside with old jars and paint cans on it. Just as old buckets and the typical artifacts you would see in such a ghost town. There were piles of bean cans even tires on one of the rooftops of one of the homes.

Despite the shape the town is in its not vandalized with graffiti but you can tell some of its been stripped from treasure hunters. Of course I consider a horseshoe a great artifact of its day especially when a bucket of them sat out behind one of the homes.

I finished off the investigation walking along the front of the town. Off in the distance was some shack and you could see where open pit mining had been done off in the distance. I also found some old foundations and these giant metal chutes just outside of town. Across the street the sign lobster crossing still had hung which has actually a historic story that I will feature on our site at a later date.

We did not get to many readings here all but a few it was hot and cold. I did take EVP,Videos and many photos. This is a true ghost town one where shootouts took place and the railroad stopped to have ore loaded upon. Today what's left are remnants and a mere 10 structures all of which we spent time at explore.

After leaving Sodaville we had one last plan to maybe visit a couple large mine sites. I had driven down a mining road when it ended at the base. Apparently the mine is now government property. I thought by going underground near the base I might come across something weird going on.

Mines are just as important as any other place we investigate some are haunted some are just historical. Without the mines some of these towns may never have been built or existed. Its hard to believe towns of thousands vanished to towns of no residents at all except with places like Mina that still try to hold onto what is left.

I did take a long drive around the base down a secluded road which goes up into a canyon did see some signs of starter mines but nothing worth checking out. I lit a cigar and just admired the view of Walker Lake below from afar. You could also see the entire military base at Hawthorne she is a beauty its hard to believe the size of this place as dismal and desolate it is more then likely you cant access those mines because our government does build underground. This may explain why Hawthorne experiences so many seismic events per month as perhaps the fault lines have been disrupted by tunneling, mining and construction. Of course this is my opinion nothing is for certain.

All in all it was a good day any day I can visit three historic sites document them and bring them home to our viewers is a true adventure. It was nice to have enough food for the ride home and when we arrived back into town most of the snow had melted. It truly turned out to be a day of adventure and success!
Lord Rick
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Love is like a ghost sometimes you cannot see it but it is There


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