Spooky season is approaching, and what better way to embrace it than by embarking on a road trip to some of British Columbia’s eeriest ghost towns? From abandoned mines to underwater mysteries, BC offers a treasure trove of haunting history waiting to be discovered. a
1. Ioco: The Silent Remains of an Oil Town
- Located near Port Moody, Ioco’s eerie silence conceals its past as an old oil refinery town.
- Once bustling with up to 200 residents, now only a few boarded-up houses stand as witnesses.
2. Retallack: Lost Prosperity in the Valley of Ghosts
- Nestled in BC’s ‘Valley of the Ghosts,’ Retallack was a prosperous silver mine town.
- Today, it’s a shadow of its former self, with only a couple of mining buildings and a thriving biking/skiing operation.
3. Zincton: The Zinc Town’s Mysterious Disappearance
- A stone’s throw from Retallack, Zincton was a prominent zinc mining hub.
- When the mine dried up in the ’50s, the town vanished, leaving behind only building foundations. A proposed ski resort may resurrect it.
4. Waldo: The Underwater Lumber Town
- Waldo, once a thriving lumber town, now lies submerged in Lake Koocanusa due to the Libby Dam’s creation.
- Explore its eerie underwater remains or rent a boat for an unsettling experience directly above it.
5. Sandon: Western Canada’s Famous Ghost Town
- Sandon, renowned as one of Western Canada’s ghost towns, hosted silver prospectors and served as an internment camp during WWII.
- Abandoned by the end of the ’50s, only a handful of residents remain from its peak population of over 5,000.
6. Coal Creek: Ruins Accessible via a Trail
- Accessible only via a walking trail from Fernie, Coal Creek offers a ruined townsite to explore.
- Despite many buildings succumbing to fire or relocating to Fernie, it retains its ghostly charm.
7. Cassiar: A Town Built on Asbestos
- Cassiar’s history revolves around asbestos mining, and it survived until the late ’90s.
- Now, with a drastically reduced population, it relies on jade mining and nearby work to sustain itself.
8. Barkerville: The Gold Rush Town Frozen in Time
- Barkerville, founded during the Cariboo Gold Rush, is a National Historic Site of Canada.
- This exceptionally preserved ghost town offers a glimpse into BC’s gold rush era, though it’s quite a drive to reach.
9. Fort Shepherd: A 150-Year-Old Relic
- Built as an HBC trading post in the 1850s, Fort Shepherd has been a ghost town for over 150 years.
- Explore the dilapidated remains of chimneys, foundations, and a stone cairn.
10. Phoenix and Anaconda: The Metal Mining Duo
- Phoenix, once the ‘highest city in Canada,’ thrived around copper mining but was bulldozed in the ’70s for open-pit mining.
- Nearby Anaconda focused on smelting copper ore and shares a similar fate with abandoned buildings outnumbering residents.
As you plan your road trip through these intriguing ghost towns, prepare to step back in time and uncover the eerie stories that still linger in British Columbia’s forgotten corners.