Large California Ghost Town Gets a Mystery Buyer

A well-known California ghost town has a new owner, but nobody is quite sure what comes next for Eagle Mountain, California. The desert locale near Joshua Tree National Park was once a mining town before it shuttered in the 1980s, reports the Los Angeles Times. Since then, Eagle Mountain has become something of a go-to locale for Hollywood directors seeking a "surreal" landscape, notes SFGate. The lists of films shot there include Christopher Nolan's Tenet. Various proposals to turn the town into a landfill, a hydroelectric power plant, or perhaps a recycling center have fizzled over the years. But now it appears a little-known company has its own Eagle Mountain agenda.

Ecology Mountain Holdings, based in Cerritos, California, and incorporated only in March, bought the town last month for about $22.5 million, reports USA Today. However, nobody involved with the sale—including the new owner, seller Eagle Mountain Acquisition, or the listing agent—has divulged what the new plans for Eagle Mountain might be. The Times notes that the town's 10,000 acres are nearly surrounded by Joshua Tree park, and conservationists have long argued it should become part of the park itself. SFGate has details on Eagle Mountain's "storied" history, including its run as a company town for Kaiser Steel after World War II. (More ghost town stories.)