LOST CITIES OF THE WEST:
THE RISE AND FALL OF BODIE, CA, AND AURORA, NV
MULTIMEDIA PROGRAM AND LECTURE
A multimedia "edutainment" program and lecture
consisting of stories, facts, and folklore
about the world's most famous Old West ghost town and its virtually unknown sister city.
Designed for classrooms, libraries, historical societies, and theaters.
By the writer-director of Ghosts of the West.
“During the entire year of 1863, Aurora was the wickedest town of its size in America.”
— Roswell K. Colcord (Aurora Resident, 1861-1864; Nevada Governor 1891-1895)
“A sea of sin, lashed by the tempests of lust and passion.”
— Francis M. Warrington (Methodist Minister, Bodie 1880-1882)
ABOUT THE SHOW
In 1859 and 1860, prospectors struck rich-paying ore near the California-Nevada Territory border. The cities that boomed at the discovery sites would enter history and the national consciousness as the epitome of rip-roaring mining camps of the Wild West. Yet while time granted enduring international fame to one and relative obscurity to the other, their histories are so entwined that speaking of one without mention of the other diminishes both.
Lost Cities of the West offers a primer to the rise and fall of Bodie, California, and Aurora, Nevada. The program takes a look at the violence attributed to the mythical “Bad Man from Bodie" as well as the very real Daly Gang, the cycles of boom-and-bust that characterized the towns, and the tragic fates that befell them both.
DETAILS
FORMAT: lecture with projection: digital slides of historical & contemporary images (including then & nows) • video clips with and without music & narration
PRESENTER: Ethan Knightchilde, author and writer-director of Ghosts of the West
LENGTH: 75 to 80 minutes
Q&A SESSION: 5 to 20 minutes, according to needs
MERCHANDISE FOR PURCHASE: Ghosts of the West DVDs, CDs, books, tee shirts, production stills, more