A few years ago, around 2016, I went and visited a small city called Tonapah.

And listeners to the show might already be familiar with Tonapah, Nevada, because it

is the home of the clown motel.

In a place we have done an episode on, a place that I have stayed the night at, filled

with hundreds and hundreds of clowns, clowns everywhere.

And one of the things I did, besides sleeping in the clown motel, was I went and explored

the Tonapah historic mining park.

If the word park makes you think of rolling green grass, with nice little quiet benches,

or maybe even more like a wild west theme park, where everything has been made to look old

but is actually, you know, kind of manufactured, the Tonapah historic mining park is neither

of those.

It is really the real deal.

It is an actual old mine, acres and acres of it.

And as I wandered around, you know, you see all of these relics, these old dusty minor

shacks, these huge wooden and steel mining frames, it kind of looked like big oil rigs.

And if you opt for a self-guided tour, you really left to your own devices.

You can even walk into an underground tunnel, feeling the blue sky and the fresh air get

further and further away in the distance.

At the very end, there is this steel viewing cage.

If you go inside, you look down, there is an old mine shaft and a 500 foot drop.

Blow down there!

I'm Dylan Thores, and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange incredible

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