Kelly Ghost Town & Mine
April 30th, 2010 by John Wolfe
After taking a ton of photos and video, I somehow managed to whittle my collection down to a ten minute film. It was hard to do because the old Kelly ghost town has really grown on me and I would have loved to have made a longer vid, but I think ten minutes is enough to capture the essence of the location. I hope you enjoy the way I’ve arranged it. Also, Dr. Necropolis and ssflipo13 were asking if I had any paranormal experiences while visiting. I did have an interesting encounter (unfortunately, it wasn’t caught on film) that I was going to write about in this entry, but I’ve decided to save that for tomorrow’s post.
Since this footage isn’t in HD quality, I’ve also uploaded the film to Season of Shadows and added a link so it can be played on your computer’s media player. The vid contains several scans of very old photos taken during Kelly’s heyday and the quality will probably be less than favorable when viewed on You Tube’s embedded player.
Click here to view on your media player: Kelly Ghost Town
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April 30th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
That was really nice John. Great work and the music was so relaxing. I’m all keyed up from today so that was all very nice.
I love areas like that. Had one very similar while living in Apple Valley, CA, which is next to Barstow and Victorville. There are a lot of dead areas out there and mineshafts everywhere.
April 30th, 2010 at 10:31 pm
[...] out more and watch John’s cool video here. Posted in fortean, ghosts | Tags: fortean, [...]
May 1st, 2010 at 12:14 am
John; that was so lovely. The music was a wonderful touch–that’s just the right kind for a New Mexico ghost town. I’m surprised how much structure was left. How exciting! It looks like you had it to yourself. I will be certain to get some good film when I hit the mining towns with my ghost hunting pals in May. Really loved that film!
May 1st, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Atrueoriginall,
Great to hear from you! Thank you so much–glad you enjoyed seeing Kelly. I love the old boom towns and their mines, too. California, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada are loaded with great ghost towns. Did you ever have any strange experiences while visiting the location in Apple Valley?
autumnforest,
Thanks. It amazes me as well when it comes to what has been left intact–especially the mine’s headframe over the shaft. An interesting fact about that framework–it was manufactured by the same company who created the frame for the Eiffel Tower–so it’s built to last.
I look forward to seeing all the cool places you guys will be visiting and thanks again.
May 1st, 2010 at 3:43 pm
That was so amazing. I love the relaxing music that was playing while you took us around the place. It was nice to see some of the buildings still there, abandoned with lots of stories to tell. The graves reminded of some of the cemeteries around AZ. Thanks for sharing your wonderful video.
May 1st, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Hmmm, Apple Valley eh? I wonder if that’s near or around Apple Hill? I’ll have to look that up. This video was splendid John! One of the many things that stand out when you take video footage is your extremely respectful of the land and of the dead who are buried there. I’ll say this again my friend, you would be an excellent addition to Destination Truth and between you and Josh, you both would bring about spirits that are usually dormant
I do wish that with so many paranormal shows on tv these days that they would get back to the true basics of respecting the dead and not trying to upset them or worse yet play around where that person lost their life.
I felt that this video was most charming and your attention to detail always come through. This is one of the best “guided” tours via the video I’ve seen in a while now and though you aren’t speaking, the music you play, the video you capture and the wonderful old photos tell us everything we need to know about Kelly Mine. I adored the old photos. I find it incredibly captivating to see what a location looked like even 100 years ago and then what it looks like today. I also wanted to thank you for the shots of the cemetery. Rarely do any of our cemeteries ever look like that, more rustic that is, and that photo of the man on his tombstone is in remarkable condition. It’s almost as though he just died 1 month ago. Oh and that vertical shot down into the mine gave me goosebumps!!!! Thank God you have long arms cause I really wouldn’t want you must closer to the delicate edge of that mine shaft!!
Lastly I look forward to reading about your paranormal experience that happened to you while at the cemetery. You seem to attract the most usual situations
Nice work my friend!
May 1st, 2010 at 8:22 pm
Julie,
Thank you so much for watching and commenting. I really appreciate it. As I walk through Kelly, I always wish the foundations and walls could talk! While I haven’t been to any cemeteries in Arizona, I’ve seen several videos including some of autumnforest’s and I definitely can see what you mean about the similarities.
Goldie,
Thank you, my friend! I’m not sure if I’d be exciting enough for DT, that is unless I dug into my repertoire of practical jokes during the trips–that would probably keep Josh and those guys on their toes.
I agree 100%, there is definitely a shortage when it comes to television programming dealing in the paranormal who respect those who have crossed over. Whenever I’m doing all my amateur paranormal stuff, I never do any of that provoking or insulting garbage and I always do my best to respect all locations I visit.
Glad to hear the video conveyed Kelly’s story without me doing a voice-over, or loading it up with a ton of text. Granted, I shot the video and put a lot of time into it during editing, but I wanted Kelly to tell Kelly’s own story instead of me weighing in heavily on it. Also, I’m always hopeful when I make these vids that I do the location justice, so I’m glad to know it feels that way to most who have viewed the footage.
I know what you mean about Mr. Tafoya’s photo on the wood over his headstone. It’s really amazing that image is still visible, especially considering his photo faces directly into the late-afternoon sun.
LOL about the mine shot! I should have made it even more dramatic with a zoom into the darkness, but it was tricky enough holding the camera with my outstretched arm without working the zoom too.
Thank you so much.
May 2nd, 2010 at 10:32 am
“Did you ever have any strange experiences while visiting the location in Apple Valley?”
No, not really. The only real association I had with the various mine shafts were off-road crashes. If you go off the course in a desert race you can end up in one since they don’t fill in the holes or the mine collapses and big holes are formed above ground due to rain and flash floods. Motorcycle racers have actually died falling into them. Those suckers are dangerous, especially when there are no structures remaining above ground.
May 2nd, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Whoa, if I were participating in a race where I knew there was the potential for encountering a mine, I’d never be able to concentrate. Rather than trying to win, I’d probably just be thinking about trying to avoid the hazards.