Welcome to Calico: The Finale!

I pretty much covered the entire area of Calico Ghost Town on my recent trip, but there are still a number of things that I’d love to explore deeper when/if I return. Thanks to the pandemic, many of the attractions were closed, so I had to be satisfied with a peak at the exterior. Here are the things I’d love to take a closer look at: The mine itself:



DEFINITELY take a ride on the Calico & Odessa Railroad:







The Bottle House:





The Restaurant (it had me at “Fried Chicken”):



Lane House and Museum:



The Saloon (this was shot through the door):



Any other suggestions from those more experienced Calico visitors? See more Calico Ghost Town photos at my main website.

Welcome to Calico: The Mystery Shack

One of my friends had told me that I really needed to experience the Mystery Shack at Calico. When I was walking down the Main Street, the girl working at this “attraction” who sold me my entrance ticket said, “This must be your first time to Calico.” With wonderment I asked how she knew. “Because you’re stopping to take photos of everything!” Drats...blew my cover as a first timer. In the waiting area, there are a number of these little visual puzzles. So much fun!



I had a private tour, as Calico was truly a Ghost Town on the day I visited. She was super nice and did an excellent job with the information and the puns.



I was able to see the pool table with balls that roll up:


The broom that (seemingly) defies gravity!



Thanks to the mysteries of COVID, I was not allowed to experience the chair that is almost impossible to get up from.



The floating disconnected spigot that still has water flowing from it!



Later in my visit, I took a snap of the Mystery Shack from above in an attempt to capture all of its ramshackle goodness:



Up until about 2000, Knott’s Berry Farm had a similar attraction called The Haunted Shack. It is still missed today by guests who were once able to walk through its doorways.

See more Calico Ghost Town photos at my main website.

Welcome to Calico: The School House

Welcome to the Calico Ghost Town School House! A selfie was in order for my first visit here. It appears that the School House I saw is a replica of the original that stood on this location. It looks appropriately weathered.

Stepping back in time, here are two vintage views; the first shot shows how it looked back in March 1965:



…and February 1971. Not really all that different!



A different paint scheme; maybe they chose haint blue for the trim to keep the alleged hauntings down at the schoolhouse!




From the other side, I was able to capture the “Calico” emblazoned along the mountain. I wonder how often that needs to be refreshed?



When you get to the door, you are warned about the uneven ground conditions and are also rewarded by a vintage shot of the original schoolhouse:





Even though it was closed during my visit, that didn’t prevent me from getting an interior view through the dusty window:



Nothing vintage about the chalkboard!



See more Calico Ghost Town photos at my main website.

Calico Cemetery

\ I crossed another one off the bucket list by finally making the trek to Calico Ghost Town in Yermo, California. Today’s post focuses solely on the town’s cemetery, shown in this July 1961 image, followed by the contemporary shot that I captured one morning at sunrise.



Sunrise at Calico…sounds like a tasty beverage or maybe a Lifetime TV movie.



Sometimes called Boot Hill Cemetery, this burial ground is about as rustic as they come, with very few decorative flourishes.



The cross on the hill offered little protection, as over the years, the original headstones were pilfered.



In the 1960’s, the great mystery of how many people were actually buried here began to be discovered.



Some of the headstones that remained were discovered to be fakes, such as the one claiming Wyatt Earp to have been buried here. All in the name of tourism.



Thanks to the research that was done, it appears that approximately 160 people were buried here, with only about 49 of those able to be identified.



One day I hope to return again to be able to walk around this historic graveyard when the gate is actually open.

See more Calico Ghost Town photos at my main website.