Washington isn’t just mountains, forests and rainy coffee runs, it’s also packed with ghost towns that’ll give you serious chills.
Hidden deep in the woods and tucked into misty hills, these abandoned spots are like real-life time machines stuck in the spookiest moments of history.
Some of these towns were booming with miners, loggers, and railroad workers, while others fizzled out after fires, floods, or just plain bad luck.
Get ready for an adventure because these 10 ghost towns are seriously creepy and they’re all waiting for you to explore (if you dare).
1. Monte Cristo
Monte Cristo is a spooky old mining town hidden deep in the Cascade Mountains, about 30 miles east of Granite Falls.
Back in the 1890s, this place was booming with gold and silver miners, but constant flooding and bad luck wiped the town out by the early 1900s.
Today, you can hike a rugged 4-mile trail to find crumbling building foundations, rusted mining equipment, and the eerie remains of an old wagon road.
If you visit, bring waterproof boots because the trail is often muddy and wet, and get ready for a true ghost town adventure surrounded by thick, wild forest!
2. Franklin
Not far from the town of Black Diamond, you’ll stumble across Franklin, a ghost town with a history that’s as dark as the coal it once mined.
In the late 1800s, Franklin was a booming coal town until a tragic mine fire killed several workers and the town slowly emptied out afterward.
Today, a short but steep hike leads you to some seriously cool sights like a fenced-off mine shaft, crumbled stone foundations, and a lonely hillside cemetery with weathered old gravestones.
The trail is rocky and a little spooky even on a sunny day, making it feel like the ghosts of Franklin are still hanging around to tell their story.
3. Melmont
Keep heading south and you’ll find Melmont, a ghost town that’s pretty much been swallowed up by the forest near the Carbon River entrance to Mount Rainier.
Melmont started around 1900 as a coal mining town, but after the mines shut down, the place didn’t stand a chance.
If you hike the easy 3.8-mile trail, you’ll see random ruins like the creepy old bridge supports, bits of crumbling brick walls, and a moss-covered powerhouse that looks straight out of a horror movie.
It’s the kind of place where every snap of a twig makes you jump, but it’s also one of the coolest ghost town hikes you can find without having to bushwhack through the woods.
4. Copper City
If you’re up for a wild ride, Copper City is another ghost town that’s hiding out near Bumping Lake and Deep Creek.
Built in the early 1900s for copper mining, the town barely got off the ground before the mines dried up and everyone bailed, leaving behind a few stone walls and rusted relics.
You’ll need a solid pair of hiking boots (and maybe a sense of adventure) to find the scattered ruins tucked into the dense, mossy forest along an old, bumpy logging road.
It feels like nature just grabbed this place and never let go, with trees growing through crumbled buildings and ferns taking over everything in sight.
5. Liberty
Swing over to central Washington and you’ll hit Liberty, a ghost town that’s clinging to life just outside of Cle Elum.
Unlike a lot of other ghost towns, Liberty actually has a few old cabins and mining shacks still standing, some of them looking like the miners just stepped out for lunch…about a hundred years ago.
This town kicked off during the 1870s gold rush, and if you wander around today, you’ll spot weathered wooden buildings, rusty old mining gear, and even people still poking around for gold with pans and shovels.
It’s the kind of place where history feels super alive, even if the streets are totally quiet.
7. Govan
Heading east into the wide-open spaces of Lincoln County, you’ll run into Govan, a ghost town that looks like a real-life scene from an old western movie.
Govan was a tiny farming community in the early 1900s, but after a grisly unsolved murder and years of bad luck, it slowly emptied out and left behind some seriously creepy vibes.
The old Govan schoolhouse is still standing, with broken windows, peeling paint, and a bell tower that’s frozen in time like something out of a ghost story.
It’s an easy spot to visit by car, and if you’re into abandoned places that look like the ghosts might actually still be teaching class, Govan is your dream stop.
7. Bodie
Keep the adventure rolling up north and you’ll find Bodie, a ghost town tucked into the hills near Wauconda.
Bodie sprang to life in the 1880s thanks to gold mining, but like most boomtowns, it went bust when the gold ran out, leaving behind a handful of old wooden buildings that are somehow still standing.
If you pull off the highway, you can wander past creaky barns, an abandoned house or two, and a skeletal old mill that looks like it’s barely hanging on against the wind.
The whole place feels frozen in time, and if you listen close enough, you might just hear the echo of boots crunching on the dirt roads from over a century ago.
8. Chesaw
Not too far from Bodie, you’ll roll into Chesaw, a tiny town that feels like it’s part ghost town, part wild west party spot.
Chesaw started during a short-lived gold rush in the 1890s, and while a few folks still live there today, the old wooden storefronts and dusty streets tell way more stories than the people do.
If you swing by, you’ll spot an old saloon, a scattering of leaning buildings, and maybe even catch their famous Fourth of July rodeo that brings the town back to life once a year.
Most days, though, it’s sleepy, weathered, and will make you feel like you accidentally time-traveled back to the days of cowboys and gold miners.
9. Molson
Just a little farther up near the Canadian border, you’ll find Molson, a well-preserved ghost town that feels more like an open-air museum than a forgotten place.
Molson got its start in the early 1900s with dreams of farming and mining, but when the railroad skipped town, so did most of the people.
Today, you can walk through a bunch of super well-preserved buildings like an old schoolhouse, a bank, and even a jail, all sitting out under the big open sky.
It’s one of the easiest ghost towns to explore because everything’s right there, and it’s packed with rusty tractors and antique tools that somehow survived the years.
10. Nighthawk
If you’re still chasing ghost towns up north, don’t skip Nighthawk, a nearly forgotten spot perched right next to the Canadian border.
Nighthawk boomed in the early 1900s thanks to gold and silver mining, but after the mines dried up, the town pretty much packed it in and let the desert winds take over.
These days, you’ll find a few sagging old buildings, some rusted mining gear, and a weathered post office that looks like it’s clinging to the past with everything it’s got.
It’s super remote, super quiet, and perfect if you’re into that eerie, middle-of-nowhere feeling where the only sounds are the wind and maybe a few curious cows.
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