Eureka along the Loneliest Road in America

 An article in Life magazine from July, 1986 listed U.S. Route 50 as ‘The Loneliest Road in America’.

Route 50 extends west to east over three thousand miles from West Sacramento, California to Ocean City in the state of Maryland. That is one long piece of highway. I did not have the time to travel it all at the moment, so a decision was made. I’d only travel the roadway across the section that traversed the state of Nevada. That was still over four hundred miles, but at least two thousand six hundred miles shorter than the entire route.

That was doable.

I cajoled my buddy, Paul, to venture out for this newest adventure. 

We drove north on U.S. Route 395 and enjoyed visiting the towns of Olancha, Lone Pine, Independence, Big Pine, Bishop, Bigger Pine, Lee Vining, and Biggest Pine. 

Cruising the eastern side of the Sierra mountain range is always a great road trip. Desert brown turning to forest green is awe-inspiring. It’s as if Mother Nature is showing all the colors available on her palette. 

We grabbed Route 50 just east of Carson City and were on our way along the loneliest road in America.

Within a hundred miles, it dawned on me why this stretch of highway was given the moniker by Life magazine – it was lonely. There is nothing to be seen except flat lands stretching to the far horizons on either side of the road.

Of course, there are the small towns of Fallon, Middlegate, Austin, and such along the way, but in between these locales, there was nothing but mile after mile of nothingness and loneliness.

We drove for hours and never saw another vehicle. When it was time to camp for the evening, I didn’t even have to pull off the side of the highway. No, just pitched a tent in the middle of the road – no semi-truck ran us over during the night.

Around noon, on the second day of our trip, we pulled into the town of Eureka, Nevada. I believed it would only be for a tankful of gasoline, but I was wrong.

This town, first settled in 1864 by a group of prospectors who found rich silver-lead ore in the nearby hills, was more than just a fuel fill-up for us. It turns out there is much more to Eureka than being one of the best-preserved historic mining towns I have come across. 

One section of downtown Eureka, Nevada

The downtown looks like you have been transported into the late 1800’s. Pristine buildings like the Eureka Opera House, the Colonnade Hotel, the Owl Club Saloon Roadhouse, the Eureka County Courthouse, and the majestic Jackson House Hotel, just to name a few.

Jackson House Hotel in Eureka, Nevada

And the best part about Eureka – it’s haunted.

According to Dana Lee Fruend, a town expert, Eureka has more ghosts than can be counted.

Dana Lee Fruend with John R Beyer, Eureka, Nevada

So haunted, in 2017, the Travel Channel sent Zak Bagan and his crew from the series ‘Ghost Adventures’ to investigate. Since then, professional and amateur paranormal investigators have paid Eureka many visits.

We met Fruend in the Jackson House Hotel, built in 1877, and it is supposedly one of the most haunted buildings in the town.

Many people have reported sitting at the bar inside the Jackson House Hotel and seeing the words – ‘I’m watching you’, mysteriously appear on the fogged mirror behind the bar.

“Perhaps it’s just Alexa, or the government,” I stated to Fruend.

“I don’t think so,” she replied.

During the heydays of Eureka, a violent or mysterious death wasn’t an unusual event for the town. For example, a man keeled over one night while drinking at the bar – he was dead before he hit the floor. Another man collapsed outside the hotel’s front door after receiving a fatal gunshot during a heated argument.

Violence in mining towns was not rare, and Eureka experienced its fair share through the years.

“I actually had a strange occurrence myself,” Fruend stated. “One evening, I was doing some paperwork here in the office when suddenly doors started opening and slamming shut. I heard footsteps right outside the office, but when I investigated, there was no one there. There was no one in the entire building. It freaked me out, so I gathered my things and went home to finish the work.”

Another employee saw two children going up the hotel's stairway and then just disappear into thin air.

“There’s a guy we call Ray, who really is active in the kitchen,” she said. “He’s not there, but the utensils move around a lot as though he’s trying to cook something.”

A ghost cooking? Talk about empty calories. 

It also turned out that the Owl Bar, just down the street from the hotel, is haunted. 

Interior of a bar in Eureka, Nevada

There’s an employee there who has been photographed with floating white orbs around her in numerous photos. There’s a cowboy who has been seen, just hanging out at the bar, but isn’t really there. And, a mirror where a woman is seen in it, and then the mirror can only be cleaned using Gin. No other cleaning product works after she is seen.”

That’s a picky ghost. 

“No, Vodka won’t do. You’ll have to use the good Gin to get me out of the mirror,” the ghost was once overheard saying.

“There are other sightings in different parts of town and at different times of the day or year,” Fruend told us. “But this is a beautiful town with wonderful people who live here. I couldn’t think of anywhere to live.”

Eureka receives over 10,000 tourists a year – not bad, since it sits on Route 50. Most come for the beauty of the countryside or the numerous events held in the town. In June, there is the Legends of the West Bike and Car Fest, the great 4th of July celebration, in September, the art, wine, and music festival, and so much more.

Fruend is a fount of knowledge concerning Eureka, so much so, she described an old dilapidated part of town that most tourists don’t know about. It too is supposedly haunted.

We got the directions and, within minutes, were on our way.

Driving approximately a mile and a half over paved and then dirt roads, we found ourselves on a hill high above Eureka. There was a large production plant of some sort to the northeast of us, and then a cluster of really tattered-looking old wooden buildings to the southwest.

Exploring buildings in disrepair must be approached carefully. You don’t want a roof beam falling on your head. I do it because I’m a professional explorer and have a very hard noggin.

Be careful in abandoned buildings at all times

“Check this out,” Paul stated while he was standing in front of one of the buildings. No windows, no doors, but a very creepy cloth painting hanging on the rear wall. He was snapping photos with his phone.

Rather disturbing image on the interior wall

“That is creepy,” I stated. It was a painting of a woman, tattered and blowing in the breeze, with two dark orbs as eyes.

“My camera won’t take a photo,” Paul stated. He then showed me multiple shots he had taken of the cloth painting, and each one only came out dark blue. He then took a photo of another building, and no issue. Clear and bright.

I’m a skeptic when it comes to the paranormal stuff, but there was something in that small house that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

We walked around a bit, snapped a few more photos, and it was time to go. I felt a bit better as I looked in the rear-view mirror, watching the rundown buildings disappear.

Eureka is more than just a place to look for hauntings. As the tourism director told me, the town’s motto is – ‘Eureka! You’ve found us! History, folklore, and fun, we have it all.’

And, they certainly do.

John can be reached at: beyersbyways@gmail.com