There is something innately creepy about a ghost town. Perhaps it’s the silence, or that unsettling feeling that you are not alone, that someone is watching you from the dirty windows of the abandoned house across the street. It probably all boils down to paranoia, or one too many horror films that use isolation as a threatening force. After all, if you are attacked by someone (or something) in a ghost town, who will hear your cries?

The small town of Thurmond was originally incorporated in 1900. Its largest population was 462 in 1930, which slowly dwindled down to 5 residents. A walk through the silent town will lead you to the old railroad depot, now designated a visitor center.
Flickr/Adam Moss
The visitor center sits desolate along the silent railroad tracks, its faded edifice a hollow shell of a once occupied and vibrant railroad station.
Flickr/Frank Kehren

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Inside the center, there is an exhibit of the station as it existed decades before, complete with a creepy dummy standing in for a station employee. It sits frozen in position, with a decidedly sinister expression on its face. As if the atmosphere wasn't unsettling enough, this doesn't help.
Flickr/bobistraveling
The town itself stands abandoned and silent, its few structures overgrown with dead weeds and brush. It is almost hard to believe that anybody lived there, or that anybody still does. These empty structures stand alone, their interiors like hollow pits of darkness.
Flickr/Aragarthiel
Even Thurmond's tiny business center lies desolate, as if the world has emptied. While walking along the small area, peering into darkened windows, you get an odd sense of being watched. Perhaps you are alone, perhaps not. Your mind can fill in the blanks. Perhaps it will.
Flickr/jamiev_03

Thurmond is just one of many ghost towns spread across West Virginia, but they all carry with them that sense of desolate creepiness; A silence waiting to be broken.

What other ghost towns are as creepy as, or creepier than, Thurmond? Be sure to comment below and join the discussion.

To learn more about West Virginia, check out these 5 trails that lead to extraordinary ruins.

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