Some people are not afraid to challenge themselves with completely mad ideas. You could say that's definitely the case with Brent Underwood. This 32-year-old American took the gamble of buying the ghost town of Cerro Gordo in California, a few hours away from Los Angeles. He passed the financial milestone in July 2018 and spent nearly $1.4 million or over £1 million to finally acquire the 301 acres piece of land.
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A sizeable ambition
To raise the money, Brent Underwood spent all his savings, took out a loan, and even collected a few donations. But he was determined to embark on this adventure. While he was still based out of Texas during the purchase, he ended up moving permanently to Cerro Gordo in March 2020 since he found himself without any occupation due to the Coronavirus.
Thus, he was able to start his crazy project: transforming this ghost town created in 1865 into a tourist place so that people from all over the world could come and observe the remains of this place which made Los Angeles so fortunate and prosperous at the end of the 19th century. Indeed, Cerro Gordo was an old mining town which produced large quantities of gold.
And to make people want to know more about this place that fascinates him so, he started a Youtube channel called Ghost Town Living on which he recounts his adventures in video form.
Attention from all over the world
Brent Underwood may live alone in this ghost town, but there is no shortage of visitors. Indeed, his story has attracted the attention of a few curious people who did not baulk at embarking on this long distance adventure and come to discover this so very unique corner of the New World. But beware, for famous people also come to him. He explained to Vice that in May 2020, Jeff Goldblum came to shoot an episode of his series The World According to Jeff Goldblum.
