Road Trip to See the Ghosts, Spring 2010, Vol 2: Bounty

Text and photos (c) Robert Barry Francos, 2010

This April, fellow photographer John Penner and I went on a two-day road trip through southwestern Saskatchewan in search of ghost towns.

Many of the houses were left wide open and ranged from either ransacked at some point, or actually relatively intact. Bounty is the town where I found the travel diary recounted in a blog from last month.

Here is the second part a photo journal of the trip, with descriptions. The images can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Bounty, Saskatchewan
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounty,_Saskatchewan

The town's location sign is shot up and falling down.


Tufts of hide hair - either cow or buffalo - grasp a fence on the road to town.


The local theater now locked up tight.



This must have been one of the first houses broken into because there was some obvious police presence at some point. However, the windows remain broken, though the doors are locked.


Furniture remains on the back porch, rotting away.


This crime scene tape was wrapped around this tree from whenever the house was broken into, but never removed.


The roof is starting to cave in on the house, and some inital patching was done, but not in quite a while.


The back door is barred. We did not try to enter the residence.


Through the smashed window was evidence of someone being there, with empty soda cans left behind.


Abandoned houses lined the streets.


Someone must have skipped town fast and was then evicted, with all of their goods abandoned on the street.


Some of the stuff was holiday-related.


This container was full of empty pill jars, though I'm assuming it was not in that condition when left behind.


A truly reclining chair, with a style that looks like it came from the 1970s.


Ironic that this was away from everything else.


John looks into a shot-up car in front of the evicted house. They must have left fast.


More irony in the form of a Monopoly board on the front seat of the car.

Tricycle and chair on the side of the house.


The side of what must have been a lovely church. We could not tell its particular demonination, but it was oddly filled with a mixture of religious shells and dentistry equipment. I found a notebook from 1953 with school notes from Dental school, but it was moldy so I left it be.


Looking in one window, and out the other.


The Dentist's dias to preach about gum disease?


The preacher's x-ray to look into the soul of your tooth?


This electrical wire reminds me of a Leo Fulci zombie flick, Paura nella città dei morti viventi (aka, The Gates of Hell, The City of the Living Dead,, and others).


Wagons in the church's back yard:



The community center, alone in a field, across from the dental church.


The door to the hall, which was open (as was the side door).


A great old hinge. Do they even make them like this anymore?


Inside the hall:




A scorched house.


Interesting bench on the front porch of the burned house.


Lots of old canned goods in the burned house's garage.


Amazingly unbroken Christmas balls on the front lawn!



The biggest house in town


Skates hanging by the basement stairs.


Family items strewn through the living room.


A kitchen where some hearty meals were once served. There were still some groceries in the pantry, such as flour and sugar (no, we did not even touch it!).


The older daughter's room (Trina?). As in all the kids' rooms, note the funky matching wallpaper.


The son's room (Benny?).


The younger daughter's room (Sam?).


The playroom. We didn't check to see if the television was still working. Neil Postman would be proud.


More strange wallpaper on the staircase.


Ovens in the garage.




On the road again, to the next ghost town.