Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Jacqueline Miller, Holly Miller, Shane Miller
Date: October 2004, August 2009
The entire town is a National Historic Landmark District. When silver was discovered in 1859, the Comstock Lode transformed this small settlement into a town of 25,000 people. It was the largest town between Denver and San Francisco during the boom. Suddenly there were 150 saloons, a red light district to keep the miners happy and a 100 room, six-story hotel with the west’s first elevator. Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain began reporting for the local newspaper in 1862. The silver industry began to go bust in 1879 and today only 1,000 residents live there mainly supported by tourism dollars.
I visited the city by myself in 2004, explored the town and performed paranormal investigations at the cemetery, Chollar Mine and Gold Hill Hotel. In 2009, the rest of the family except Matt (who was playing college football in Arizona) visited the town cemetery, many historic buildings and shops. We spent the night at the haunted Gold Hill Hotel, built in 1862. I conducted a paranormal investigation there (all investigations are listed under the “Paranormal” category.
