You Can Buy This Ghost Town On Craigslist

Why bother buying an apartment or house when you could have a whole town all to yourself? There’s currently a Colorado ghost town for sale on Craigslist. (Yes, Craigslist. Apparently, in addition to finding used furniture deals and possibly-sketchy roommates, you can use the website to buy whole cities). For a mere $350,000, you can be the proud ruler of all you survey in Cabin Creek, Colorado.

Located about a 45-minute drive from Denver, Cabin Creek sits on just under 5 acres of land, and boasts a gas station, café, eight-room motel, RV park, shooting range, and two houses. (Most of these buildings are in various states of disrepair). If you’re looking for privacy, Cabin Creek has it in droves; according to the ad, “Most neighbors are hundreds of acres away” (which is either great or terrifying, depending on how you feel about being in an abandoned town in the middle of nowhere).

Current owner James Johnson originally bought the ghost town with the intention of making it a roadside tourist attraction, but now he and his wife are hoping to move on and retire. Cabin Creek has been empty since the 1970s. There have been rumors that the town’s abandonment was prompted by a murder; Joan Lippett, who lives in a nearby town and who used to go to Cabin Creek when it was still populated, told Fox 31 Denver, “There was a murder there. There was some people that they took in, felt sorry for or something, and they found out the couple had money.” (You may want to take that story with a hefty grain of salt, however. Ghost towns, by their very nature — that is, empty, remote, and creepy — tend to attract a lot of urban legends. Owner Johnson even says there have been rumors that the town was lost in a poker game.)

Right now, the only “ghost” that appears to inhabit Cabin Creek is the (fake) skeleton that lives in the window of one of the buildings.

If you are creeped out by the abandoned town, you may be relieved to know that it’s been tricked out with some intense security measures. In the ad, Johnson says that there are 16 HD security cameras on the property, along with alarm systems in the buildings and a chain link fence. These precautions are due, not to some kind of cinematic horror show going on in the town, but to something more mundane: Unruly tenants. Johnson explains that, in the past, “idiot tenants” broke windows, stole wiring, and destroyed property.

Interested in buying your very own town? Check out the full Craigslist ad for Cabin Creek. Be aware that financing might be a challenge — as Johnson pointed out to Fox 31, getting a loan to buy a ghost town might be tall order.

Images: Patricia Marroquin/Moment/Getty Images; Cabin Creek Colorado/Facebook