How It's Used

“Saydia is now a virtual ghost town, where the Shiite Mahdi Army and Sunni Arab death squads roam the streets. If Iraq’s civil war has stalled in other parts of the city, in Saydia the engines of sectarianism are running at full throttle.”

—Damien Cave and Stephen Farrell, “At Street Level, Unmet Goals of Troop Building,” The New York Times, September 9, 2007.

"But in places such as the picturesque village of Fowey near St Austell, the second home problem is all too clear. Full of boutique shops, the place is like a ghost town on a January afternoon. Almost every property near the waterfront seems to be advertising itself as a holiday let. 'The vast majority of period properties down here are second homes,' says Jennie Elderkin, director of Fowey River estate agents."

—Ashley Seager, "Cornwall: Dark reality hidden behind the picturesque scenery," The Guardian (UK), January 21, 2008.

"He turned his back, and paced back and forth through the dock yard, scattering roosters and ducks camped out in beached skiffs, heaps of rope and nets, rusting boat parts and assorted junk.

"'They're people with all kinds of money and all kinds of help,' he said, attempting to explain why Grand Bayou looks like a ghost town sinking into the marsh."

—Cain Burdeau, "Culture Is in Peril As Bayou Town Slowly Recovers; A 'Greater Hurricane' Than Katrina," The Washington Post, March 23, 2008, p. A03.

"Students and striking workers at York University, the country's third-largest postsecondary institution, are bracing for what could be prolonged labour disruptions reminiscent of an 11-week strike eight years ago.

"The campus was a ghost town yesterday, the first day of the strike by contract faculty, teaching assistants and graduate students, with classes for more than 50,000 students cancelled and pickets letting cars onto university grounds only every few minutes."

—Caroline Alphonso and Elizabeth Church, "York University braces for prolonged strike; Work stoppage by contract staff, teaching assistants, cancels classes for more than 50,000," The Globe and Mail, November 7, 2008, p. A13.

"It was once the biggest city in the Wild West. But after a deadly fire in 1923 and more than 85 years of neglect, all that is left of Goldfield, Nevada, are a few falling-down buildings, some rusty mining equipment and 200 or so diehard residents — who complain when the daily 7.45am rush hour involves more than seven cars.

"All this could soon change, thanks to a proposal by the Democratic senator Harry Reid to turn the sweltering ghost town into a tourist destination by giving it National Park status."

—Chris Ayres, "Wild West ghost town whose residents would rather keep it that way," The Times (UK), October 6, 2009.

Links

Beyond eAlmanac
Wikipedia article on Ghost Towns
GhostTownGallery.com Web site