Bodie is haunted… and cursed.

High in California’s Eastern Sierra, just outside Bridgeport, sits Bodie, one of the best preserved ghost towns in America.

Today, more than 100 historic buildings remain, preserved in a condition known as “arrested decay.” Homes still contain furniture, stores hold old merchandise, and personal belongings remain where residents left them.

But in the late 1800s, Bodie was anything but quiet.

THE GHOSTS OF BODIE
Visitors and employees have reported strange experiences throughout the town, including footsteps inside empty buildings, unexplained voices, music, strange lights, moving objects and shadowy figures appearing in windows.
One famous location is the J.S. Cain House.

According to Bodie folklore, the house is haunted by the spirit of a Chinese maid who once worked for the Cain family. People have reported doors opening and closing by themselves and the feeling of an unseen presence inside.

Some stories even describe visitors waking up feeling pressure on their bodies or struggling to breathe.

Another reportedly haunted location is the Mendocini House.

Visitors have claimed to smell food cooking inside the abandoned home, including the strong smell of Italian food and garlic. Others have reported hearing children laughing and the sounds of a family gathering.

Some paranormal investigators would describe this as a possible residual haunting, an event from the past somehow repeating itself.

The Gregory House has its own stories.

An elderly female apparition has reportedly been seen inside, sometimes sitting in a rocking chair. Visitors have also claimed to see the chair moving when nobody is sitting in it.

THE ANGEL OF BODIE

One of Bodie’s saddest stories surrounds the grave of Evelyn Myers.

Evelyn died in 1897 when she was only three years old. Her grave is marked by a beautiful white marble child known as the “Angel of Bodie.”

Legends claim Evelyn’s spirit has been seen or heard playing around the cemetery.

A popular story says Evelyn was accidentally killed by a miner’s pick, although historians have questioned this version of her death. Like many Bodie stories, documented history and folklore have blended together over time.

THE BODIE CURSE

But Bodie’s most famous supernatural legend may be its curse.

According to the story, anyone who removes anything from Bodie will experience terrible luck until the object is returned.

It doesn’t have to be valuable.

A bottle, nail, piece of wood or even a rock is supposedly enough.

And strangely, people really do mail objects back.

Over the years, Bodie has received stolen artifacts accompanied by apology letters from visitors claiming that after taking something, their lives suddenly went wrong.

People have blamed the curse for illnesses, accidents, car problems, financial trouble and other streaks of bad luck.

Eventually they returned what they had taken, hoping the curse would end.

There is no evidence that a supernatural curse actually exists. In fact, the legend appears to have been promoted over the years as a way of discouraging visitors from stealing pieces of the historic town.

But the returned objects and frightened apology letters are very real.

Maybe it’s coincidence.

Maybe it’s guilt.

Maybe it’s the power of suggestion.

Or maybe something in Bodie simply doesn’t want its belongings taken.

Whatever you believe, there is one rule worth following when visiting Bodie.

Take pictures.

Take memories.

But leave everything else exactly where you found it.

Because there’s really no reason to find out if the Curse of Bodie is real.