Man Buys A Ghost Town For $1.4M, Ends Up Spending 6 Months There Due To The Pandemic

Back in 2018, two entrepreneurs – Brent Underwood and Jon Bier – purchased an abandoned Californian ghost town named Cerro Gordo for $1.4 M. To buy the abandoned town, Brent actually spent all of his life savings, along with additional money from Jon and investors, and eventually plans to turn it into a tourist attraction.

At the beginning of the quarantine, Brent decided to spend a few weeks in Cerro Gordo self-isolating, but those few weeks turned into 6 months in the blink of an eye. During his extended stay, the man documented all of the interesting things that he found and experienced – and I’m pretty sure you’ll be just as amazed as Brent was.

Brent Underwood spent the last 6 months living in the abandoned town of Cerro Gordo

During its heyday, Cerro Gordo was one of the largest silver producers in California, but as the mines slowly ran dry, all of the town’s 4,000 residents abandoned it. Brent, along with his 7 cats and 4 goats, is currently the town’s only resident.

The man, along with his friend Jon Bier, bought the town for $1.4M back in 2018

Brent initially planned to only spend a few weeks in the town until the quarantine was over

However, those few weeks quickly turned into 6 months

Earlier this month, Brent did an ‘ask me anything’ on Reddit , where curious people could ask him questions about what it’s like to live in an abandoned town. He also uploaded a 38-minute video to YouTube detailing some of his experiences.

Brent is currently working on cleaning and renovating the 22 buildings that still remain standing

He plans of turning the general store into a museum where he could show all of the cool things he found onsite

During his 6 month stay, Brent cleaned up some of the houses, turned an old shed into a cozy office, and even turned the old general store into a museum where he could show off all of the cool and interesting stuff he found while exploring the town.

Another serious project that Brent, along with some distant locals, took up was restoring the town’s water supply. This involved going down 700 ft to the spring and changing the water pump, along with restoring 500 ft of piping. But thanks to their efforts, Cerro Gordo has running water for the first time in 15 years.

The old silver mines are still there and are open to exploration

Brent found some interesting stuff inside, including denim clothes, a rusted gun, and even some dynamite!

Here’s Brent descending into an old mine in search of water

View this post on Instagram Heading 700 ft down an abandoned mine in search for water. Water is a big deal at Cerro Gordo, and we’re trying to find it! More short videos on TikTok. Same username ‘brentwunderwood’ A post shared by Brent Underwood (@brentwunderwood) on Sep 2, 2020 at 3:08pm PDT

In a recent interview with NBC , Brent said that their goal is to “maintain the historical nature of the property and respect the piece of history”. And while the man got some help from friends, he has mostly been doing all of the work himself.

With the help of some distant locals, the man even restored running water to the town

This involved using an almost 200-year-old hoist to go down an abandoned 900-foot mine shaft

They replaced the old water pump and about 500 ft of piping

A lot of things happened during Brent’s 6 month stay at Cerro Gordo. The American Hotel , that stood in the town since 1871, burned down due to tinkering with the old wiring, the town was shaken by an earthquake, and to top it all off, it was also his by an extreme hail storm that damaged the road and the town’s power supply.

Only one house in the whole town still has a functioning stove, bathtub and toilet

The man plans to continue his work for another month, then taking a break during winter, and then continuing again in spring. If everything goes according to plan, Cerro Gordo should open its doors next summer

Sadly, the 1871American Hotelburned down due to an electrical fire

There’s even and old chapel created from an old mining equipment garage

Brent believes that the town might actually be haunted

He once saw the curtains move and a face appear in the window of one of the houses

Here’s a video detailing some of Brent’s experiences

Aušrys Uptas

One day, this guy just kind of figured - “I spend most of my time on the internet anyway, why not turn it into a profession?” - and he did! Now he not only gets to browse the latest cat videos and fresh memes every day but also shares them with people all over the world, making sure they stay up to date with everything that’s trending on the web. Some things that always pique his interest are old technologies, literature and all sorts of odd vintage goodness. So if you find something that’s too bizarre not to share, make sure to hit him up!