What the Freak ? Towns of America

(Above: Ruby,AZ)

Elko Tract in Richmond, VA: From this awesome site , here’s a description: During World War II, Richmond created a fake city a few miles east of the airport and during potential air raids, they would blackout the actual city and airport and turn the lights on at the decoy in hopes that from the air, the bombers would unknowingly bomb the decoy and Richmond would be saved.

This man accounted how they went in search of the town. Here’s some description (after having to cross a concrete barrier and fallen trees) “We walked around for a bit, found a few disheveled buildings that appeared to be more maintenance sheds than habitats… Our final conclusion: Its more like a lost sidewalk than a lost city. Sure it was kind of neat to explore it and see it first hand but all and all, there are plenty of places in America where roads were paved and then abandoned. We have experienced much more interesting things – there’s really not much there besides chunks of concrete, a few fire hydrants and an old water tower.”

Centralia, PA: (Wikipedia) Centralia is a borough and ghost town in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States. Its population has dwindled from over 1,000 residents in 1981 to 12 in 2005[1] and 9 in 2007,[2] as a result of a mine fire burning beneath the borough since 1962. Centralia is now the least-populous municipality in Pennsylvania, with four fewer residents than the borough of S.N.P.J.. For some awesome photos of how it looks today, check out Les’s Blog here. He just photographed it.

White Rock, NM: (Wikipedia) In 1947 the United States Atomic Energy Commission acquired land from the United States Forest Service to build a temporary community to house construction workers. That community was the first White Rock, which was abandoned by 1953. By 1958 all of the old White Rock buildings had been demolished or removed. The second and present White Rock was begun in 1963.

Willow Creek, CA: Willow Creek is the self- proclaimed Gateway to Bigfoot Country. Every Labor Day weekend Willow Creek plays host to Bigfoot Days the largest celebration of the creature anywhere. The annual event attracts visitors from all over Northern California and many from other parts of the world. It has it's roots in local Native Americans and their lore regarding a huge manlike creature and his family that dwelled in the Bluff Creek area along the Klamath River.

Brattleboro, VT (AP) -- Vermont's infamous naked town is under orders to keep its pants on. Tiny Brattleboro has long been a live-and-let-live kind of place where skinny dipping was a rite of summer. Last summer, though, it began flirting with a nudity ban after a group of teens took to hanging around a downtown parking lot in the buff. Officials decided then to let winter take care of the problem and never voted. It took an elderly man wearing only a fanny pack and wandering through the center of town last week for the Select Board to decide it had seen enough.

Ruby, AZ: Ruby, Arizona is one of the best preserved ghost towns in Arizona, but you can only gain access to it by helping in the restoration effort. It was founded as a mining camp, producing mostly copper, lead and zinc. At its peak in the mid 30s, Ruby’s population reached 1,200. The population diminished after the mine was closed in the 50s. The few buildings that remain include the jail, a schoolhouse, mine offices and a handful of homes.