Inside America's Smallest Ghost Town With Only 5 Residents

There's a town in the mountains of West Virginia that once moved more freight than Cincinnati and Richmond combined. Its banks were among the richest in the state. Fifteen passenger trains rolled through every day. And across the river from its strict, dry main street sat a hotel that, by legend, hosted the longest poker game in history — a single game that supposedly ran, without stopping, for fourteen years. Today, that same town has a population of five. This is Thurmond, deep in the New River Gorge — squeezed between a mountain and a river in a place so hard to reach that for nearly fifty years the only way in or out was by train. Built in 1900 around coal and steam locomotives, it became one of the busiest railroad stops in America, handling 95,000 passengers a year. Then the world changed: the roads arrived too late, fires took the hotels, the Depression drained the money, and the diesel locomotive erased the entire reason the town existed. The workers left, year after year, until almost no one remained. But unlike most ghost towns, Thurmond didn't crumble — it was frozen. The National Park Service now owns about 80% of it, preserving more than twenty original buildings exactly as they were. Amtrak's Cardinal line still stops at the old depot a few times a week, but only on request — one of the least-used stations in the entire network. And five people still call this preserved ghost town home. This is the story of how Thurmond rose to rival cities, how it died, and why five people remain. Would you choose to live among the silent buildings of an American ghost town? Drop a comment below. Check out these videos: Top 18 Creepiest Small Towns in the U.S. (Locals Warn You Not to Visit)    • Top 18 Creepiest Small Towns in the U.S. (...   SPOOKY, Empty Towns In Rural, Forgotten Texas    • SPOOKY, Empty Towns In Rural, Forgotten Texas   Inside the Secret Island Only 69 People Call Home    • Inside the Secret Island Only 69 People Ca...   #thurmond #ghosttown #westvirginia #newrivergorge #abandoned VayTerra @VayTerra