squatting in ghost towns

don`t know too much about it, but from what I understand, most ghost towns have at least a couple people living there as wardens, so you`d probably have to work it out with them. There`s one in southern AZ where that is the cases anyway. But if there was absolutely noone there, I can`t imagine you`d run into too many problems.
 
A very interesting idea. I've visited a number of ghost towns while travelling, mostly in the Southwest but also a few in the Northwest (Eastern Oregon is sooo deserted!), and Texas. These are my thoughts based on what I've seen in those places.

Offhand, it seems that your main problem would be access to water and food, since those things often go away with the population. With water being somewhat more likely to have around. Bowhunting might be a practical way to get food in some areas where there is not much plant life (Southwest deserts). If there are wardens living in or near the area, you can ask them what they do for food/water. Depending on the rapport with said wardens, you might be able to work out a deal where you chip in on their store runs.

But then again, you're not going to find much in the way of employment in a remote ghost town - perhaps farmhand work within the same county (in Texas this comes to mind)? You would have to really want to be 'off the grid & self sufficient', in my opinion, to live in such a place.

Ghost towns are often ghost towns for a very good reason - many of them were built by a specific company to house workers for a now-closed mine or quarry, and without the resources that the company provided in the past, humans would find it mighty hard to survive there. In other words, many of these settlements did not spring up 'organically' because it was a fine place to settle as pioneers, but they were put together lock stock and barrel as company towns. Still, squatting one would be a fabulous feat if you can pull it off!

Without outing the exact town you may have in mind, what geographical region is this question concerning? We can probably give better tailored advice, if we know the general lay of the land.
 
they are alot of fun to explore. you do have to be careful of the wardens but some are quite nice. you need to make sure your stocked up on food and water. its easier if you have transportation. also its good to know a bit about the history of the place, because sometimes there are very specific reasons why the town was abandon. also its fun to know the history because then you can get all ghost-hunterish and sketch out on some crazy vibes. haha.
 
Also, pay CLOSE HEED to warning signes. There's a small town in Est Ok, the gov bought it out because of some kinda local poison. It looks perfectly fine, but has all this poison stuff in the ground & water.
 
on the west coast of canada where i'm from there are many ghosttowns and old minesites not much left of them usually remnents of old gardens and piles of old bricks sometimes. with mine sites you haveto be very careful not just from pollutants but also sinkholes as well as hidden vertical shafts its really amazing to see how nature can hide these things in only a few short years. deffinitly do your reserch, i was looking for a old townsite a few years ago and was suprised to find paved streets and concrete foundations still left and occupied by a few rubber tramps a freshwater spring cleaned up and no problem from the police or townies nearby. this was all within 2hr drive from a major city and about a 25min drive from a smaller city. people are pretty chill up here in b.c. about these type of things as long as you keep the place clean and dont cause trouble, you might want to come check it out up here in the summer if you get a check every month and you dont have to work
 
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