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From wild horses to atomic remnants, my journey across the desert just getting to Tybo had already been unexpectedly eventful. The day wasn't done with me yet. The road to get to Tybo is pretty tame as far as ghost town trails go. I had turned off highway 6, past the weathered air force base camp and airstrip used for the Project Faultless nuclear test, among other covert purposes. The area around Tybo is dry, with dust and dim sagebrush as my only companions for the first fe

Paradox is a place that seemed to invite those estranged from society. The West is wide open, and many who crossed it in the 19th century were leaving society behind, at least temporarily. But to be estranged from it is altogether different. Some of the people who came to the Paradox Valley had no place among civilized men and no use for their laws either. One of those men was Axel Peterson. In 1910 he arrived in Paradox, a hard-drinking drifter in his mid-thirties. He looked

In the final installment of the series, we follow the life of a woman whose unwavering dedication helped preserve the historic town of Bannack, ensuring its stories and its spirit would endure for generations. Across the street from the Methodist church near the middle of town lies the Ovitt Store. Once home to a saloon, a bustling boarding house, and even a bakery, the building found new life in the 1950s when Mrs. Mabel Ovitt took over and turned it into a shop. Mabel was b

The heart of Bannack holds its share of stories, but it’s in the forgotten edges of town where the ghosts whisper loudest. While most ghost towns offer only a few scattered cabins, Bannack tells a fuller story. Some came to strike it rich, digging deep into the earth. Others saw opportunity above ground, opening businesses to serve the miners. And then there were the drifters, drawn by the chaos and chance of a town on the edge of nowhere, chasing drink, cards, and fleeting f