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South Dakota is the Sunshine State. Nothing spooky ever happens in the bright sunshine. But of course, each evening the sun goes down and the darkness creeps in. And then things can change.

South Dakota is filled with ghost town's, communities that used to live and breathe and thrive. Churches and schoool's, businesses and post office's, saloon's and a place to gather and gossip. Life was good, and then....something happened.

Maybe the train stopped coming through town. Or maybe there wasn't 'gold in them thar hills'. Whatever it was, it either killed the town or just left it to wither and die.

When I lived in Rapid City we'd go for drive's through the Black Hills and it seemed that around almost every turn, up the gravel road near every creek, there was a ghost town. Maybe just a foundation of something that used-to-be. But was-no-more.

According to one website you don't have to go to the Black Hills to find one of the spookiest towns in South Dakota, you just have to motor out to Jones County, about nine miles outside of Midland.

Welcome to Capa.

And no, Capa isn't a ghost town. Not yet.

According to the website Ghosts Of America Dot Com (which has great picture's from Capa) there is one resident left in Capa, Philip O'Connor, who lives in the same house that his parents and grandparents lived. But undoubtedly the town is a lot different then their younger days. And I'd bet Philip doesn't think of Capa as 'spooky'...He thinks of it as home.

So the Capa Catholic church is gone, the newspaper hasn't published anything for decades, and many of the buildings look, well, abandoned and rundown. And I suppose they are. But when I see these pictures, I see history. I see people living and breathing, laughing and crying, working and playing.

So yes, maybe there are ghost's in Capa, South Dakota...but they're the friendly, warm kind. And the town isn't a total Ghost Town yet. Not while Philip is there.

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