Crooked houses, rusty cars and an abandoned church: Haunting images show the once bustling life of a gold-mining town
- Bodie in northern California was a busy gold-rush town that boasted a thriving population of 10,000
- But by 1900, gold was discovered elsewhere and the get-rich-quick miners started to move to those places
- In 1943, Bodie was home to only three people and in the 1960s was officially made a state park
- Many of the derelict buildings are still furnished with the personal belongings of their former owners
- Julien McRoberts, 50, visited the ghost town and captured images of the church, hotel and bedrooms
Frozen in time, these eerie pictures hark back to the bustling life that once existed in this thriving North California gold-mining town.
Bodie used to be a busy gold-rush town that boasted a population of 10,000, as well as hotels, a jail, a bowling alley and around 200 restaurants.
Now the Wild West Town lies abandoned but many of the crooked buildings are still furnished with the personal belongings of their long-deceased owners.
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The eerie pictures show the houses that were once lived in at the turn of the century, when it was a thriving community
A water well in front of an old barn in Bodie gives an insight into the every day life of residents in the once bustling gold-rush town
A bedroom with a remarkably well-preserved mattress and an old sewing machine in one of the deserted houses
Bottles, now coated in dust, still line the shelves inside a shop in Bodie. Its customers either left for other gold-rush towns or moved away following a fire in the town
A wooden cart lies abandoned in the arid land in front of a rusty car and two crooked barns
The Methodist church was constructed in 1882, when Bodie was booming and home to 10,000 people
A photograph of the town in the 1890s, when it was a bustling mining town and home to numerous restaurants and its own brass band
Shops sit in neat lines, a pool table gathers dust, cutlery is laid out on a table and a rusty car is parked on the dusty ground - but there will be no customers, no jokes between friends over a game, no hearty laughs over a family meal and no drivers in this deserted settlement.
Elsewhere, a mill and wooden cart in the fields, a set of scales in the deserted post office and water well in front of an old barn give an insight into the nation's forgotten struggles more than 100 years ago.
Photographer Julien McRoberts, 50, visited the ghost town and also captured images of the church, hotel and bedrooms inside the derelict buildings.
The town also boasted stables (pictured), a railroad, miners' and mechanics' unions, several daily newspapers and a jail
Crockery and cutlery are left on a kitchen table, as well as cooking equipment on the cabinet beside it inside one of the deserted houses
Wood saws and bottles lie abandoned in Bodie's general store. Its residents were so keen to get away that many items were left behind
Old beer and liquor bottles line the shelves inside Bodie's post office - which long ago closed its doors
A rusty car, believed to be a 1937 Chevrolet ,remains parked in the ground in front of two abandoned houses in the ghost town
The interior of the Methodist Church, that still stands in the ghost town of Bodie, 75 miles south east of Lake Tahoe
The elaborately patterned wallpaper is still clinging to the walls inside this abandoned bedroom in Bodie
This eerie image shows an old house under the grey sky in the abandoned Wild West Town
The old mill in Bodie that was once home to 10,000 people - 170 buildings still stand today in the ghost town
The town was named after Waterman Body, who first found gold there in 1859.
By the 1880s, Bodie was a booming town, home to 10,000 people and gambling halls, general stores and dance halls.
But by the turn of the century, gold was discovered elsewhere and the get-rich-quick, single miners started to move away to places such as Butte in Utah and Tombstone in Arizona.
Worse still, the town was ravaged by a fire in 1892. By 1910, the population had dwindled to 698, with the last local newspaper (the Bodie Miner) ceasing publication shortly in 1912. Five years later, the Bodie Railway was abandoned and its iron tracks were scrapped.
A pocket of loyal residents remained in the town, despite another fire in the 1930s.
By 1943, it was home to only three people and in the 1960s was officially made a state park.
A total of 170 buildings remain in the real-life ghost town, trapped in time.
The old Dechambeau Hotel (left) and a building (right) once occupied by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a fraternal organisation
A rusty car lies abandoned (left) while (right) a set of scales remain in the old post office in Bodie
The interior of a bedroom in Bodie - the town started to decline in the 1910s when gold was discovered elsewhere
A pool table gathers dust in the abandoned bar of the Dechambeau hotel in Bodie
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