Ten great ghost towns in the West

Spooks and evil spirits? You don't have to believe in that stuff to love a good ghost story. But some of the best tales of fright come from the old mining towns of the American West, where greed for gold and silver drove prospectors and settlers to unspeakable violence and mayhem. They don't call them ghost towns for nothing. Here are 10 ghost towns to put on your Halloween travel list.

Goldfield, Nev.

When Goldfield was the richest and most populated gold mining town in Nevada, all the wealthy elite stayed at the swanky, four-story Goldfield Hotel. But after the boom turned to bust, psychics and paranormal investigators claim the now-defunct hotel became the haunting grounds of several ghosts, including the spirit of a pregnant prostitute who died while chained to a radiator in a small first-floor room. The story goes that her infant was tossed into an abandoned mine underneath the hotel. Ghost hunters say the hotel is one of seven portals to the Other Side.

Directions: From Las Vegas, drive 184 miles north along U.S. 95. For more information, call (775) 485-6365.