Haunting Ghost Towns a Short Distance From El Paso, Texas

In El Paso, Texas we all love a good scare -- & sometimes the best way to get it is to visit an actual ghost town. While there are many ghost towns you can visit in New Mexico, Texas is also FULL of these abandoned towns (over 1000 ghost towns). Some you can drive to in just a few hours from El Paso. Here are some worth planning a road trip for. Make sure you pack plenty of water & food before you do...

Acala

Within the El Paso Valley of the Rio Grande in Hudspeth County lies the ghost town of Acala, Texas. Back in the day, it was a major source of cotton farming until the 1970s. Just 53 miles from El Paso, you can easily make the drive within an hour.

Salt Flat

Another ghost town located in Hudspeth County is the small town of Salt Flat, Texas. For a while, the only remaining business long after the town shut down was the Salt Flat Café. Sadly it too has closed down. If you want to travel to Salt Flat, it's about an hour & a half drive away from El Paso.

Lobo

A ghost town that sadly became abandoned thanks to the brutal nature of Lobo, Texas. It had a brief revival in the 2010s as a place for movie festivals. Sadly it's no longer the case; Lobo is about 2 hours outside of El Paso.

Terlingua

Certainly one of the most well-known ghost towns in Texas is Terlingua; it's about a 4-and-a-half-hour drive away (which is about the same as here to Albuquerque). This is the furthest one away here but it's worth the journey if you love all things creepy & eerie.

Smeltertown

While some people wouldn't exactly call Smeltertown, Texas a ghost town, because of its size, some people WOULD since it played a huge part in housing the workers who worked for ASARCO in the early 1900s. Smeltertown is the closest to El Paso -- just 10 minutes away between the Texas & New Mexico borders. Of course, you can also find the Smelter Town Cemetery too.

Honorable Mention - Goler Gulch & Garlock: I know they are set in California, but they are both within the EL PASO Mountain Range so I thought it was worth a mention here.

Of course, these are still towns so please be respectful of the locations & properties. And of course, be respectful to those who once lived there. You don't want to mess with the spirits, do you?

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An Amazing Look At 10 Texas Ghost Towns That Once Stood Proud

These Texas towns once boasted a healthy population with a thriving economy, but along the way, something drastic happened within the town causing its population decline and slow death and eventually becoming a Texas ghost town.'

If you do go on an adventure and seek out these ghost towns, please do it safely. If you go on a journey into the woods please have the landowner's permission to do so or you could be prosecuted for trespassing. Above all, be careful, courteous, and inquisitive.

Gallery Credit: Beyond Civilization (Xplore RC) via YouTube

PHOTOS: The Scrappiest Little Ghost Town in Texas, Wayside

But don't say 'ghost town' out loud while you're there. Despite it's seeming emptiness, the itty bitty community of Wayside is holding on strong. You've gotta be tough to make it out there on the south rim of Palo Duro Canyon. And Wayside is a scrapper.

Gallery Credit: Sarah Clark/TSM