Wyoming Hauntings- Kirwin Ghost Town
By: Katelyn Parker
There is something spectacularly eerie about abandoned settlements. It provokes the mind to wonder what could have happened to encourage a group of people to abandon everything. Your imagination cannot help but try to visualize the people that once lived there, who they were and what their daily lives may have looked like. Was it something sinister that forced them to leave, or could it have simply been a desire to move on? These are all things that come to mind when you visit Kirwin, a ghost town outside Meeteetse.
The History
Kirwin, a mining settlement, is situated in the Absaroka Mountains near the banks of the Wood River nearly 40 miles outside of Meeteetse. The town was established in the late 1800’s and was inhabited by people from far and wide who sought a better life and wealth that would be attained by the rumored littering of gold and silver in the area. Kirwin became a bonafide town with a hotel, general stores, mining headquarter buildings, a post office and more. The town became home to around, 200 people. Although there was gold to be found, there wasn’t enough to be mined and allow the inhabitants to make any sort of profit. The winters were harsh, making the lack of success even more difficult. In the early 1900’s, an avalanche thundered through the town, killing three people and destroying some of the buildings. This marked the time people began to leave the area and take their dreams elsewhere.
Kirwin Today
Today Kirwin sits abandoned. Many of the buildings still stand and tools lay where they were last used, rusted, and overgrown with mountain vegetation. The wishful inhabitants left a piece of themselves behind when they fled Kirwin, giving the notion that the ghost town is in fact, home to something supernatural. Current day visitors to Kirwin can explore the buildings and the land at their own leisure. The buildings smell of dank decay and the lack of light can make the hair on the back of your neck stand alert. Not to mention the possibility that the local wildlife may have set up home in one of the dark corners.
The Road to Kirwin
If you wish to explore the ghost town and its potential haunting, you want to make sure you have four-wheel drive. The road itself is not for those lacking a sense of adventure and those faint of heart. Almost 40 miles from Meeteetse, the trip is technical and rugged. Climbing high into the mountains the dirt road takes the traveler through running and dry creek beds and up and down steep grades. In the summertime, wild raspberries grow alongside the road and if you keep your eyes peeled, you may be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the elusive, and once thought to be extinct, Black Footed Ferret. The drive is beautiful, offering spectacular mountain views and river valleys. If you don’t have a vehicle that’s up for the trip, there are tour companies in Meeteetse that will take you up and explain the history.
Is Kirwin Haunted?
Seeing as the supernatural are experts at keeping their identity secret and evading documentation, I don’t think this question can be definitively answered. What I can attest to is the uneasy feeling you tend to feel when exploring the ghost town. Both myself and my travel partner felt like we were being watched, even though we were miles away from another living soul. The threat of local wildlife and being in bear country could easily be to blame for procuring this feel. Or maybe, the ghost of the three that died in the avalanche still inhabit Kirwin and it is in fact, a ghost town. Some believe that peril befalls inhabitants of the area. This is supported by the fact that Amelia Earhart commissioned the construction of a cabin in the area just before her disappearance during her world flight. The cabin was never finished but you can still see the concrete footprint on your way to Kirwin.
We will, most likely, never know one way or another if the town of Kirwin is haunted because such suppositions are not generally solved. The possibility of a haunting is just a feeling we get when visiting certain places, so I suggest you take the adventure up to Kirwin and determine for yourself if you think the ghost town to be haunted. Happy exploring and be safe.