The Abandoned Town Near Denver That Most People Stay Far, Far Away From

On the flank of Battle Mountain, perched on a 600-foot cliff near Minturn, is the abandoned silver boomtown of Gilman, Colorado. In 1886, prospector John Clinton founded the settlement for the prosperous Eagle Mine in the valley below. The town grew to be a thriving community but was vacated overnight in 1984 by order of the Environmental Protection Agency due to “high levels of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead and zinc in soil and in surface and ground water.” Over the years, adventurers, photographers, filmmakers, and seekers have flocked to this contaminated ghost town to explore its polluted grounds and delve into its unsolved mystery. But this is neither wise nor legal, so we urge you to stay away – stay far, far away.

Will Currier/Flickr

Perched atop a cliff below the summit of Battle Mountain Pass at 8,950 feet, are the remains of a once thriving community, which in 1899 had roughly 300 residents.

Photo Courtesy of Battle Mountain Resort

By the early 1900s, Gilman was a flourishing town with a school house, boarding houses, an infirmary, a post office, a church, a grocery store, and even a small bowling alley.

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David Casteel/Flickr

But in 1984 when the EPA discovered 8 million tons of toxic waste resulting from mine pollutants, Gilman was forsaken overnight and declared a Superfund site. If you look closely, you can actually see the rusty mine tailings (aka hazardous waste) streaming down the cliffside and into the river valley floor.

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The Shared Experience/Flickr

Thus, a creepy ghost town was born, and its forced abandonment shrouded in mystery.

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The Shared Experience/Flickr

Trespassers have reported findings such as a laboratory containing massive amounts of X-rays of the miners chests and spines, spent ammunition rounds on the grounds and in the homes, and the remains of children's nursery rooms filled with eerie silence.

kcphoto/Smugmug

How it must have felt to be told that the only home you've ever known has been deemed a toxic waste dump.

kcphoto/Smugmug

To be forced to leave every thing and every memory behind.

Shelby Bell/Flickr

Now all that remains are heaps of questions and boarded up buildings clinging desperately to the cliffside awaiting their reckoning day.

And in the name of continuing on haunting adventures, here are the 10 Best Places To Spot A Ghost In Denver.