Historic Silver Café

When it comes to ghost towns, Nevada offers plenty to choose from. Pioche, a tiny hamlet on the state’s southeastern border, is the state’s “liveliest ghost town.” Rumor has it that Pioche was so overrun with criminals during its boom years that 60 percent of Nevada’s homicides took place in the town, and boot tips once poked out of the town’s shallow graves. Today, thrill-seekers vie for a night in room 10 of the famously haunted Overland Hotel, site of a notably spooky episode of a Travel Channel reality show. 

Suffice it to say, hobbyist paranormal investigators passing through town are sure to work up an appetite. The Historic Silver Café set up shop on Main Street after most of the mining in Pioche died down, but the establishment has already been going strong for over a century.

Ghost hunters in need of sustenance flock to this family-operated cafe for southwestern-American diner classics, with a breakfast menu of pancakes, breakfast burritos, and eggs-any-style. After noon, it’s sandwiches, burgers, and country-fried steak. It’s also a prime place to pick up a souvenir Pioche T-shirt or coffee mug. After all, not even the dead want to part ways with the place.