Owner of Abandoned Ghost Town Reveals Chilling Secrets of Tragedy That ‘Buried Dozens Alive’
Ever wondered what it’s really like to buy a ghost town? Not just visit, but actually take the reins of a forgotten slice of history and breathe life back into it? Well, Brent Underwood did just that — dropping his entire life savings to own Cerro Gordo, a once-booming California silver-mining town that thrived in the 1860s. This place wasn’t your typical quiet relic; at its peak, it roared with over 4,500 miners and nearly half a billion dollars’ worth of minerals, but it also carried a dark reputation for lawlessness and eerie, tragic events, especially underground where collapsed mine roofs hid untold stories. Brent’s adventures (and ghostly encounters!) in resurrecting this wild slice of the past raise a spine-tingling question: When you’re dealing with a literal ghost town, what exactly haunts you more—the history or the spirits? Dive into a tale where ambition meets mystery, and preservation is as thrilling as any thriller. LEARN MORE
Content creator Brent Underwood has revealed what happens when you buy a California ghost town and ‘bring it back to life’.
Underwood, who goes by Ghost Town Living on YouTube, spent his life savings to become owner of Cerro Gordo, a former mining settlement established in 1865 which became one of California’s most prosperous silver-mining towns.
At its peak, Cerro Gordo was reportedly home to more than 4,500 miners, with almost $500 million worth of minerals eventually pulled from the surrounding hills.
But life there was even more dangerous than you’d expect.
Underwood says law enforcement generally wouldn’t venture into Cerro Gordo, leaving miners to settle disputes themselves and contributing to a reputation for extreme violence.
Yet some of the town’s most disturbing stories occurred underground.
Describing one infamous incident on his TikTok page (@brentwunderwood), Underwood said Chinese miners were working around 200 feet below ground during the 1870s when the mine roof suddenly collapsed.
(TikTok/@brentwunderwood)
“An unknown number of Chinese miners went to work, and the roof of the mine collapsed on them, burying them where they were, and unfortunately, their bodies were never recovered,” he explained.
“And there was an article a few years later where they were finally able to locate one of the bodies, and it was found almost perfectly preserved.
“And a few years after that, there’s an article that a man was making his way up this ladder from 900 feet below, and as he almost got to the surface right here, he was pulled in by this cage and he fell 900 feet to the very bottom of this mine where he was found a shapeless mass.
(TikTok/@brentwunderwood)
“If you look through the newspapers, there’s countless accidents that happened in this mine, which makes it incredibly spooky, especially when you go down there.”
The town’s history above ground was hardly less grim.
He also highlighted the site of Cerro Gordo’s last recorded murder, said to have occurred on December 29, 1892, when Henry Bolin was shot dead following an encounter with William Crapo.
Crapo allegedly fled into the surrounding mines and disappeared despite a major manhunt and a $500 reward offered for his capture.
Underwood has even experienced something he cannot explain himself.
While walking past the town’s bunkhouse one evening, he claims he saw curtains open, a face peer through a window and then disappear.
After discovering nobody was staying there, he searched and padlocked the building.
The following evening, however, he says the light inside was mysteriously back on.
Underwood has since avoided entering the bunkhouse.
Despite Cerro Gordo’s macabre past, he remains committed to restoring it, with the ultimate goal of allowing more visitors to stay overnight and experience the remarkable ghost town for themselves.
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