Nevada: Spooky ghost towns and alien hotspots

The state of Nevada is not just the bright lights of Vegas.

It’s an otherworldly place with weird and supernatural experiences. With more ghost towns than inhabited ones and home to the infamous Area 51, paranormal activity isn’t unusual in the Silver State.

Visitors can head out on a ghost hunt, watch the skies for UFO’s, and explore the spooky oddities only found in Nevada.

Keep an eye out for aliens 

Nevada is home to some of the world’s darkest skies, which makes it the perfect destination to spot the flashing lights of passing UFO’s. Even if visitors don’t catch a flying saucer they will definitely spot a shooting star or two. Head to Tonopah Star Park, Great Basin National Park, or Massacre Rim, the perfect places to view thousands of stars, galaxies, and planets.

Learn more about Nevada’s otherworldly history on the Extra-terrestrial Highway from Alamo to Tonopah for a guaranteed martian sighting on the ground. Visitors will find E.T. themed everything along their route, and can stay the night at the iconic Little Aleinn. Employees here can also point extra keen visitors towards The Black Mailbox, a decades long meeting and communications spot for the extra-terrestrial-obsessed.

Supernatural spots

With more ghost towns than living towns, Nevada has plenty of spooky spots. Thanks to the discovery of gold and silver in the mid-1860s, which also gave the Silver State its nickname, hopefuls flocked to the state in search of a fortune. Then the mines dried up and the population moved on leaving entire towns empty. Thanks to Nevada’s dry climate the buildings remained standing and are well preserved as if their inhabitants only just left.

In the north is Virginia City, one of the best examples of Nevada’s former boomtown glory days. It was home of the largest silver strikes in the world. Visitors can enjoy a drink in frozen-in-time saloons with names like Bucket of Blood and Silver Queen, stroll along the original wooden boardwalk-lined streets, and hear tales from local characters who sport period costumes. To learn more about the town’s spooky inhabitants take the “Bats in the Belfry” walking ghost tour through the Silver Queen Hotel, Mackay Mansion, and other historic haunts.

Unusual is the usual  

Nevada embraces its quirky history. Visitors heading out on the open roads will be treated to a variety of unconventional roadside attractions and for those who don’t suffer from coulrophobia, The Clown Motel is a creepy and unique roadside stop..

The motel houses what is possibly the largest private collection of clown figurines and memorabilia in the world, and to add to the spooky vibes, is located next to Old Tonopah Cemetery. then head to Coffinwood, the owners of a custom made coffin business transformed their home into Coffinwood. Everything here is coffin shaped from flower beds to gazebos, there is a pet cemetery, a collection of old school hearses, and visitors can even get married at the ‘Church of the Coffin’.

Paranormal passport 

For visitors heading to Nevada to seek out its spooky sites, Travel Nevada, the state’s official tourism authority, has launched an all-new Paranormal Passport. The passport is free and allows travellers to digitally check in at nearly 50 locations to earn points toward exclusive Travel Nevada prizes. The sites range from ghost towns, to alien sighting hotspots, to the spookiest of weird Nevada experiences. Perfect for travellers looking for something out of this world they explore.