I wrote an article last week about “little known ghost towns near El Paso”. In it, I included Cornudas, Tx., about an hour drive from El Paso.

The term “Ghost Town” actually has a definition. It’s “a village, town or settlement that formerly had businesses, full-time residents, a ZIP code and/or a post office” before losing all or most of it’s population. In years past, Cornudas had a church, a Standard Oil pumping station, several businesses and homes. According to the 2000 census Cornudas had a population of 19.

Today I saw a message about my article and how I needed to do more research. It was from the owner (yes…”owner”) of Cornudas, a man by the name of Jeff Campbell.

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I responded that I wasn’t sure anything I wrote was counter-factual, based on the definition of “Ghost Town”. In the original article I also included Oro Grande, New Mexico which HAS a Post Office and a gas station, so I wasn’t just picking on Cornudas. I was trying to tell people about interesting destinations within day-trip range.

Important note: DO NOT go to Cornudas, Texas. Jeff Campbell is VERY sensitive about the word “abandoned” and, he says, he’s ready and willing to shoot trespassers.

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So, here’s my correction: the old west town (formerly known as “Wallacetown”) is NOT abandoned. It opens, occasionally, for special events. Presumably, they want tourists for these events because, again, the town’s population in under 20. But, make sure you don’t go on the WRONG day (or time of day) because the owner might think you are there to rob him and he might shoot you and then blame it on my article. For your own safety…DO NOT STOP IN CORNUDAS, TEXAS.

I always thought that Cornudas looks like the type of place someone might dump a dead body. I guess threats of violent death really puts the “ghost” in “Ghost Town”.

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