An abandoned ghost town in California was bought for millions, but no one has any idea what is set to happen to land.
Considering it can be so difficult to get a decent sized property in the US, it is amazing to think there are still plenty of ghost towns around the country.
What was once a bustling community has been left eerily quiet for over 40 years, with little to no activity ever happening in the small California Town.
It was reported that the ghost town, Eagle Mountain, was purchased last year in May for $22 million, dollars but even now it is unclear what the fate of the town will be.
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If you visited the town today, you would be greeted by boarded-up homes, concrete ruins, and broken and gravel-filled road.
For decades, the town was made lively by the constant mining of iron from the mountainside. However, in November 1981, Kaiser Steel Corporation’s board of directors met in Oakland and announced it would begin phasing out the mine.
In 1983, the mine was officially shut, which essentially started the decline of the town, with residents being evicted.
It is almost hard to believe the palm tree-lined towned community used to house around 4,000 residents made up of steel workers and their families.
While the town has been uninhabited, amazingly Hollywood directors have been able to find ways to capitalize on the eerie atmosphere. Most recently, Christopher Nolan used it for his time-whimey film Tenet, and less recently, Rob Reiner’s eighties classic, Stand By Me.
The mystery buyer, Ecology Mountain Holdings, has purchased the plot, according to an SEC filing, but the individual (or individuals) behind the purchase of the town isn’t currently clear.
The seller was an Ontario, California company called Eagle Mountain Acquisition LLC, apparently the last of various Kaiser subsidiaries to own the town over the past 40 years.
Interestingly, movie makers were concerned with this purchase at the time. However, Levi Vincent, who coordinates movie and television shoots at the mine, put their minds at ease and offered reassurance that things would 'operate as normal'.
Like many ghost towns, there are a few foremen who live on the premises full-time to keep watch over Eagle Mountain. According to an SF gate report, these foreman deal with trespassers and on at least one occasion shot a shotgun blast into the sky to scare them off.
Gerrard Kaonga