This is the conclusion to a long standing mystery that has been slowly unraveling on my channel since, well, actually before I started this channel. I have covered the story of the wreck of the SS Atlantic in 1873 extensively. This is not a retelling of that. If you want that, check out my documentary from 2023 that tells the full story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w4U4vwCS8o

Lauriston Davidson (Umphelby) and her daughter, Lillian, were lost in the sinking of the SS Atlantic in 1873. For the past 6 and a half years, I have been trying to track down the location of their grave, even having traveled across the continent to Telegraph City, California - their intended destination. We searched Lower Prospect, Camp Hill Cemetery in Halifax, and everywhere in between, following the story of the wreck and hunting down clues to see if we could find these lost graves.

It’s remote. It’s empty. And it’s sitting high up on the top of a mountain in the Flint Creek Range of the Rockies.
Granite is the home of unique ruins, a sprawling mill site, and what were once two of the longest aerial trams in the United States. Come along as we explore the ruins of this old mining town that was once one of the biggest cities in Montana, and at its height was the largest producer of silver in the world, earning this town the nickname “The Silver Queen”. This is the story of Granite, Montana. In this video, we explain the ruins of the mill site and what's accessible of the mine, as well as Main Street Granite, home of the Miner's Union Hall.

This was a spur of the moment video put together while driving to film the construction site of the Mary Celeste back in December. I didn't think I'd ever use this footage, but then I found out the building was torn down only a few weeks afterward.

This is the old Broderick Hotel in Five Islands, Nova Scotia. When I was filming my Mary Celeste documentary in November, 2022, I saw it on the side of the road and had to pull over to film it. I expected I might never see the building again and I was right. It was torn down early 2023.

There’s not much I can find on the hotel aside from a few sparse details. The earliest reference I can find to the hotel is an 1883 travel guide book that highly recommends the place, but locals have told me it was there as early as 1850.

This massive field of hard, limestone rocks are what’s left of the deadliest rockslide in North America, after 110 million tons broke from the unstable Turtle Mountain, sweeping down the mountainside and pummeling part of the mining town of Frank, Alberta.

In this video, we’re exploring the site of the disaster, looking for what is left behind of this once booming town, and visiting the Frank Slide Interpretive Center to see what stories we can learn and remember. This is the town of Frank, Alberta, in mid-west Canada, and this is the story of the terrible Frank Rockslide.

I’ve explored several ghost towns across North America, but this town’s history ranks among the most dramatically gripping stories I’ve looked into, right up there with the underground fires of Centralia, Pennsylvania.

Cumberland County is a large section of land in Nova Scotia, Canada, jutting into the Bay of Fundy. Thickly forested, its history is made up primarily of logging, mining, and shipbuilding, with its southern shore producing famous ships, including the infamous Mary Celeste, previously explored on this channel.

But, on its north shore, once sat a thriving community now erased from most maps. We’re exploring the site of an old logging camp and mill and the small town that was built around it. There’s not much left here to actually see, but there are countless stories to uncover and tell. This is the town of Shulie, Nova Scotia.

Today, in the heat, humidity, and swarms of bugs, we’re exploring what little remains of this once thriving community alongside Fred Priest, who is a descendant of several residents of Shulie. He also happens to be my wife’s grandfather.

We also explore the story of the giant logging rafts sent out from near Joggins down to New York City in the 1880's.

For genealogical purposes, here's a list of family names discussed in this video: Priest, Patterson, Colbourne, Warren, Hoeg, Goldstein, Copp, and Greer.

This is considered one of the best ghost towns in Montana, but few have heard of it. It’s a small treasure hidden in the hills near Helena which twice in its history boasted a population of around 300 people, all working the silver mines and flotation mill on the hillside.

This video isn’t exactly giving away some secret. There are hopes to preserve this small piece of history as a sort of museum and they need help and awareness to do so. It’s on private property, but visitors are welcome if you respect the site.

Now, let’s explore the history of Comet, or Comet City, Montana, one of the most unexpectedly interesting ruins I’ve visited.

This is the third of four Montana ghost towns I filmed and documented in 2022, the first being Keystone and the second being Elkhorn. Next will be Granite. I also have another one, Pardee, that is exclusive to my Patreon subscribers (we didn't quite make it to the town due to forest fires, but filmed the adventure nonetheless!)

Gunfights, Trainwrecks, and Gold. That’s what you’d find at the small, abandoned mining town of Bonnie Claire, Nevada, a junction between the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad and the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad.

The history of Bonnie Claire, put simply, is a mess. There’s a lot that we don’t know. There’s a lot that the history books gloss over, and even meticulous publications of local history can’t give more than a couple paragraphs about the site.

I was drawn to it because of how photogenic the place is; there are some stunning shots I’ve seen photographers take at this ghost town, but the mystery of this town; the lack of documentation, and the

There are scattered ruins here; wooden buildings falling apart, stone buildings dating back farther, and a rusty, creaking old mill on the hillside. A wooden trailer, left behind by one of the last residents, and two lonely graves of young women, their information already partially obscured. The abandoned track beds coming through this railroad stop remind us of the town’s dependency on its two railroad companies, and give us a clue as to where the train wreck occurred, but beyond the immediate ruins, there’s more waiting to be discovered.

Looking back on the excitement and tragedy, the ups and downs, and the humble beginnings and lonely end, can we assemble this town’s story like never before? And can we find the earliest remains of the town-site, currently lost to the history books?

Elkhorn, Montana has to be the most preserved ghost town I've seen in the Northwest and is debatably the most iconic ruin in the state. High in the Elkhorn Mountains of Central Montana, about an hour south of Helena and tucked behind the small town of Boulder is one of the state’s most visited ghost towns. The town is so popular, in fact, that the population has actually begun to regrow up from zero about thirty years ago to about a dozen now.

It was one of the most cosmopolitan, civil, and refined mining boom towns in the Territory, though it had its fair share of excitement. Let’s dive into the ghost town of Elkhorn, Montana.

Famous across the world for the ongoing underground fire which forced the town's abandonment, Centralia is located in central Pennsylvania. Let's explore the remains of this town, looking into the history before the fire, from plane crashes to gang violence with the Molly Maguires, through the causes of the fire, and to the terrible management of the situation which led to the near-total abandonment of a town that once was home to nearly 3,000 people.

Sitting on the side of the road, White Butte, South Dakota is easy to miss. Today, it's in complete ruin and only a couple of buildings remain standing, but the town once was home to around 100 people and had its own post office. We nearly passed this town by and stumbled upon it by accident, but was a nice challenge to find a ruin that we knew nothing about, film it, and then piece together the clues and history later. We had nothing to work with - I didn't initially even have a name. What little information could be found in research is contained in this video.

Keystone is a tiny ruin, nestled in the back hills of Montana. Originally called O'Rourke when founded in the 1880's and then renamed Carter with the opening of the post office, the success of this town seemed to be directly tied to the value of silver. As the sun sets above the forest, let's explore what remains of this old mining town.

For five years, I've wondered about the location of the graves of Lauriston and Lilian Davidson, lost in the sinking of the SS Atlantic in 1873 off of Halifax, Nova Scotia. They were on their way to visit their uncle, John Umphelby, in the small ranch town of Telegraph City, California. In the hopes of finding the site of their graves, I've traveled across the country to explore the ruins of the ghost town of Telegraph City.

Thurmond, West Virginia was built as a railroad town along the New River at a junction for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. First settled in the 1870's and growing as more trains came in, the founder of the town, William Thurmond, tried to keep the town clean and upright. However in the early 1900's, a seedy hotel opened up just across the river, and their "anything goes" attitude gave Thurmond a notorious reputation of treachery and murder.

The town began dying in the 1930's but never became truly abandoned. Even today, 5 people still call Thurmond their home. Thurmond is also located within one of America's newest National Parks - so new that it wasn't even a park yet when we shot this.

Trains still pass through the town and we got to see some incredibly long consists roll through, then we went up to do a bit of urban exploration in the abandoned houses behind the main commercial row.

So very little is known about this town deep in this remote canyon. We aren't actually even certain of the name! My friend, Alan, spotted marks for four vacant buildings on a 1957 map and what they were was completely unknown. For his new book, we had to hike in and find out just what was there!

Does this town date back to 1875, when the very first claim was worked in this canyon? Or is it later working from the 1920's? In the summer heat just beyond Death Valley, CA, we had to hike down and find out.

Between Alum Creek and Uncle Sam Creek in Nevada, just south of Goldfield, we found several collapsed structures and even an old automobile.

In theory, a town should be able to thrive anywhere in the world, so long as there's enough water to sustain it, right? That's what Harry L. Pierce wanted to prove in 1909, by creating a 40,000 acre, 10,000 population city in the middle of the Nevada desert, but getting the water out there turned out to be a whole different problem.

Operating with the Pacific Reclamation Company of New York City, advertising an already thriving city with orchards and farms, and partnered with the Mormon Church, Pierce was even quick to secure a railroad contract with the Southern Pacific Railroad to have a train line to the city built within the first year of its life.

The nearby Bishop Creek was dammed using rubble from the 1906 San Fransisco Earthquake, and water diverted to the town. The town began to flourish, but ranchers downstream, now deprived of the water they relied on, sued the Pacific Reclamation Company. The company was forced to limit Metropolis' water consumption, and the town began to dry up. Famine, disease, and infestation of wild animals tool its toll on the town until fire finally gave it a death blow.

Now, even most of the streets have disappeared beneath the dust and sagebrush, but the Lincoln Hotel and the old Metropolis Schoolhouse ruins have become iconic among the ghost towns of the west. The arch for the school still stands as a grave stone for this ambitious town.

Metropolis is located in Elko County, Nevada, a few miles north of Wells.

Potts Ranch, abandoned since the 1940's, stands alone in the middle of a virtually uninhabited desert valley about the size of New Jersey - the Monitor Valley in central Nevada, stretching through Nye County. Very little information on this ranch exists, but I've been able to find enough to piece together this vague history of the house and former post office. Let's explore this peaceful, windswept ruin and the geothermal vent nearby known as "Diana's Punch bowl".

Located about 40 miles north of Belmont, this was home to the Potts family from 1870 to 1940. Belmont was the nearest major population at the founding of the ranch, but by the time the ranch closed, Belmont was a ghost town as well. Behind the ranch house are several out buildings including store sheds, outhouses, and a stable, most of which likely are as old as the ranch itself.

I've been to this site three times since 2015. The ranch is on private property, but non-intrusive visitors are permitted. On the last visit, a "No Trespassing" sign was on the wall. Interior footage was shot on visits before that sign was put up.

This house was the home of the Norris Family for who knows how many generations and in the early hours of April 1st, 1873, it gave refuge to some of those rescued from the wreck of the White Star Line steamer SS Atlantic, but over the summer of 2020, the decrepit and abandoned house was torn down. Shot in 2018 before its destruction, we take a brief look inside the collapsing walls of this old fisherman's shack and shine light on its unique history, saving its memory before it's forgotten.

Deep in the New Jersey Pine Barrens are ruins of two sites right on top of each other - the old Fries Mill settlement dating back to 1770, and the ruins of the New Jersey Silica Sand Company from 1915. Let's hike out there and see what we can find.

A ghostly shell stands where a once grand hotel stood in the Catskill Mountains of New York State. Built in 1871, this hotel was once visited by presidents, but repeated fires prevented the place from ever achieving the success it deserved. The final years of the building were plagued with suicides, and ultimately the site of the merger of the two existing Communist parties in America in the 1920's.

Let's climb the trail to the top of the mountain and see what remains of this ruined hotel overlooking Woodstock.