Talking Dinner with a Ghost, Gold Point Ghost Town on After Hours AM/America’s Most Haunted Radio John Cushman and Kevin Fretz of Ghost Town Operations stop by

 

Tonight on an adventuresome-yet-gourmet edition of After Hours Am/America’s Most Haunted Radio, 9-11pE Thursdays with hosts Joel Sturgis and Eric Olsen, we take a big bite out of the Dinner with a Ghost events with founders/hosts John Cushman and Kevin Fretz, who also head up the Ghost Town Operations paranormal team. We will chat with John and Kevin in the 10pE hour, in the 9pE hour, Joel and Eric will stomp through the week’s paranormal news and chat amiably as per usual.

Dinner with a ghost? What a great idea, combining tasty eats with paranormal investigations for a night that will leave you satisfied in body and spirit, or spirits. Dinner with a Ghost is a movable feast that always circles back to the historic ghost town of Gold Point, Nevada, for a ripping Memorial Day Weekend of food, ghosts, live music, camping, salooning, wide open vistas, and a dazzling night sky. Gold Point is, shall we say, isolated, baking cheerfully in the desert about 180 miles northwest of Las Vegas, not far from the California border.

Gold Point Ghost Town

The history of Gold Point hearkens back to “Lime Point,” a ragged silver mining tent city clustered around a limestone outcropping in the late-1860s. That assemblage soon blew away with the dry desert wind. About ten years later higher grade silver was discovered and mining resumed, with water, supplies, and milling available in the new town of Lida, nearby. But it was still an expensive struggle to haul the ore to Lida and once again the nascent town of Lime Point slipped away.

At the turn of the century new deposits of silver ore were discovered throughout the area, bringing a surge of 40,000 people, with some of them drifting back to the old mining operation at Lime Point. In 1905 high grade silver ore was discovered and the Great Western Mine began operations about a half-mile from Lime Point, bringing in a rush of hopefuls to the new town of Hornsilver. At its peak in 1908, Hornsilver boasted a population of 1,000, with over 225 wood-framed buildings, tents, and shacks around town, including 13 saloons. With all kinds of turmoil and litigation over claim jumping, operations waxed and waned until 1927 when gold was discovered in the Great Western Mine, which led to a town name change to Gold Point because the only thing better than silver is gold.

WWII interrupted mining, which resumed after the war on a modest scale into the 1960s when a dynamite accident blew up more than anyone was willing to rebuild, and that was that for the mining operation. The town would have blown away — again — also, if it weren’t for the ministrations of Ora Mae Wiley, who had come to town around 1930 from Georgia to have a little look see. She met her future husband, Senator Harry Wiley, one of the founding fathers of Hornsilver, and stayed until her death, at the age of 83 in 1980. The couple operated a little general store and a Standard gas station, and Ora Mae was Postmistress of Gold Point from 1940 to 1964.

There are now about 10 residents of Gold Point and restoration of some of the old buildings has been going on since the late 1970 – two museums are available to the public on most weekends. And Dinner with a Ghost every Memorial Day Weekend.

John Cushman

In 1977 John walked from NYC to San Diego, CA as part of “The Walk for Humanity” to ignite excitement and inspire kids with Muscular Dystrophy. After John’s momentous journey across the country, he continued to work with foundations, charities, and educational organizations to assist the next generation in becoming future leaders.  John has also dedicated a part of his life to history, becoming an expert on the Civil War era, as well as one of the Western region’s biggest collectors of Civil War memorabilia. John has also authored a book series called “History Through the Eyes of a Child.”

The preservation of history became the impetus for John in creating Ghost Town Operations, GTOPS a team of paranormal experts with proven track records in ghost hunting, film and video production, as well fine dining. The GTOPS team has traveled thousands of miles to date to film ghostly encounters, host events, and to help national historic towns preserve their individual unique stories for the benefit of all. John’s vision is to bring Dinner With a Ghost to some of our nations most famous and historical landmarks and pay homage to its ghostly inhabitants.

Kevin Fretz

Kevin has had an intimate relationship with the paranormal world since he was a young child. His clairvoyant gifts and innate ability to connect with the other side have allowed him to interact with fully realized apparitions on multiple occasions. Kevin and his GTOPS partner John Cushman work together as a team creating a powerful conduit to the other side.

Recently, Kevin and GTOPS they made history in the paranormal world in Goldfield, Nevada after speaking to a spirit entity named Frank for over three hours.  In addition to co-hosting Dinner with a Ghost, Kevin personally vets the “haunted” credibility of each location by conducting a pre-investigation on his own.