When the last families left Dawson, they took nearly everything with them.
The homes slowly disappeared. The businesses closed. The railroad stopped running. The mines fell silent, and the once-busy streets became little more than memories scattered across the New Mexico landscape.
But according to many who have visited Dawson over the years, not everything left.
Today, Dawson is considered one of New Mexico's most intriguing ghost towns—not simply because it was abandoned, but because so many visitors believe something still lingers there.
Unlike famous haunted attractions that embrace tourism, Dawson sits quietly beneath the mountains, largely undisturbed. There are no nightly ghost tours or costumed storytellers waiting around every corner. The stories have survived because people keep experiencing things they cannot easily explain.
Some visitors have reported hearing faint voices drifting across the empty landscape, even when no one else is nearby. Others describe the unmistakable sound of metal striking metal, as though miners are still working somewhere beneath the mountain.
Then there are the footsteps.
Several people have claimed to hear footsteps crunching behind them while walking near the old townsite or cemetery, only to turn around and find themselves completely alone.
Paranormal investigators have also explored Dawson over the years. Some report capturing unexplained electronic voice phenomena, commonly known as EVPs. Others have photographed strange shadows or unusual light anomalies they believe cannot be easily explained.
As with all paranormal investigations, none of these reports prove that Dawson is haunted. Photographs can be misinterpreted. Sounds have natural explanations. Our minds naturally search for patterns, especially in places where tragedy has occurred.
Yet Dawson has a way of making people question what they think they know.
Standing in the silence, surrounded by the remains of a town that once held thousands of lives, it is difficult not to feel the weight of history pressing close.
Perhaps the most common experience reported by visitors is not seeing an apparition or hearing a mysterious voice.
It is simply a feeling.
A feeling that someone is nearby.
A feeling of being watched.
A feeling that the town is not quite as empty as it appears.
Some believe places marked by extraordinary tragedy retain emotional echoes long after the people are gone. Whether those echoes are spiritual, psychological, or simply the result of standing where so much loss occurred remains a question each visitor must answer for themselves.
For others, Dawson's greatest mystery is not whether ghosts exist.
It is why this forgotten place continues to draw people from across the country more than a century after its darkest days.
History alone explains much of it.
But history does not explain everything.
Perhaps that is why so many leave Dawson with the same thought.
The town may be abandoned.
But it never truly feels empty.
Next week, SpookFest concludes with The Last Shift, as we look back on Dawson's remarkable story, its enduring legacy, and why some believe the final chapter has never been written.