Driving through an abandoned town that, up until quite recently, was home to nearly 10,000 residents is little like driving directly into the Twilight Zone!

An eerie feeling comes over you when you pass through neighborhoods surrounded by uninhabited, deteriorating homes. You will see lawns unkempt for 40 years, silent bus stops, and a deserted school with its roof collapsed into the classrooms below.

St. Marie is now a ghost town, left over after the shutdown of the Glasgow Air Force Base in 1976.

The Glasgow Air Force Base was operational from 1957 until 1976, when it ceased all USAF activities. During the Cold War, it housed B-52 bombers and KC135 refueling aircrafts. The facility is now all but unused, known as the Glasgow Industrial Airport. The town, 17 miles north of Glasgow Montana, was built to house military personnel.

In the early 1970s, I lived in Sidney, Montana not far from Glasgow AFB. The appliance market in eastern Montana and western North Dakota was flooded with used appliances after the shutdown of Glasgow AFB and the military housing. Some of the abandoned homes were sold and moved to nearby lakes to be used as summer cabins.

A population of 264 people (as of 2010) still lives in the privately owned semi-ghost town of St. Marie. You will need to go a bit out of your way if you want to visit, and don’t expect services like gas stations, food, or lodging! No matter what, you will leave St. Marie with a very eerie sensation!

Videographer David Eggebraaten travels across the state to document the stunning, one-of-a-kind features in Montana. Check out his videos of this eerily beautiful ghost town, his Fort Missoula Complex flyover, the stunning Kootenai River, and the otherworldly ruins of the Canyon Creek Charcoal Kilns!

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