* Terlingua, TX * 01.11.2022 *
Located outside of Terlingua Ghost Town, formerly abandoned quicksilver mining camp turned tourist attraction and home of desert dwellers, misfits, and recluses. This was the final resting place for miners who succumbed while digging for the highly toxic rare earth element Mercury. Not only mining accidents but other miners found their final resting place here due to succumbing to “salivation”, a form or Mercury poisoning in which inhaled fumes from the smelting process stimulated the salivary glands, causing the teeth to loosen and fall out. Newly spirited residents moved in with greater numbers due to the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919. Next visit I want to go back for Day of the Dead in early November. The cemetery is transformed with a colorful array of floras, candles, and paper streamers, all set against the stunning one-hundred-mile view of the Chisos Mountains and the Sierra Del Carmen’s beyond. The day after the Day of the Dead kicks off the towns biggest event all year, the Grand Daddy of ALL Chili Cookoffs.
