Donate above, follow us instagram, share a post, tell a friend! Eileen Thorne Found 32 people in Florida, New York and 22 other states. Or maybe it was Cisco its free-feeling distance from regular life, its suggestion that ruin was not ruin at all. Serah Mead is the General Manager of KZMU Moab Community Radio in the high desert landscape of Southeastern Utah. She sometimes talks about buying an old church in the green wilds of Michigans Upper Peninsula. The spotlight pooled across the front of the cabin. Since launching Home of the Brave in 2019, Muza has had a rotating cast of artists stay with her, as well as friends who use the space for their work. Eileen thought of her as a second mom. It had periods of diversity, though likely the segregated variety. Dean claimed at least three bodies were dumped near Cisco during his tenure, and that the serial killer Ted Bundy stopped by the old store and gas station and immediately turned around when he found a group of armed locals playing cards. That's because Muza lives in Cisco, a ghost town without running water located in the Utah desert, entirely by herself. His son found a dead dog hanging from a pole. The town was created in the 1880s as a fill . A drinking-water advocate named Fern Schultz hit the road following a dear friends suicide and a decision to drop out of grad school and ended up helping Eileen out a couple of times on Utah backroads. Muza, who was 29 at the time, learned about the town (which was built in the 1880s and served as a railroad service station) from her seatmate on her flight from Chicago to Utah. But the $30,000-a-year price tag seemed to lead to impossible debt, so she dropped out, and, after she had worked off her loans, traveled instead. Smiling children cluster in front of a school where there is now only a weed patch. When some travelers fall in love with a particular destination, they buy a timeshare. Muza, who was 29 at the time, learned about the town (which was built in the 1880s and served as a railroad service station) from her seatmate on her flight from Chicago to Utah. About 80% of the guests there, Muza said in the film, are female and ask Muza about safety out in the middle of nowhere. Muza said that she wasn't really all that handy before taking on this project, but that she's since probably fixed, replaced, or built pretty much anything a person can in a house, from putting in windows to installing a stove. To me, it seemed really obvious," she said about buying the abandoned town. Share Article topics Contemporary Taylor Dafoe News and Features Writer The Most Offbeat Artist Residency in the World May Be This One in a Winnebago Parked in a Utah Ghost Town The residency's founder, artist Eileen Muza, is the town's sole resident. But it does feel like a resurrection. A cursory internet search will tell you that Cisco has cameoed in car chases in the movies. Reimagined by visual artist Eileen Muza, the former ghost town is now a working embodiment of the values they and many others have fostered: artistic freedom, creative repurposing, social inclusivity, and sustainable growth. The Denver and Rio Grande Western traveled through, and visitors mingled with local ranchers . She was raw that afternoon, when I arrived for a visit, her face shadowed under a broad hat, her eyes hidden behind sunglasses. For those who want to see the town without planning a trip to Utah, the video below offers an awesome walk-through. The ruins alone couldnt imbue Ciscos scrap of ground with the complexity of memory substance abuse and skeletons in the desert and drinking water carried in milk cans and men crushed between train cars and joy and poverty and house fires and holes in the floor and rooms washed yellow with leftover road paint because it was what there was to use. Check resumes and CV, social media profiles, skilled experts, photos and videos, public records, arrest records, publications, places of employment and business records . There was supposedly an old road, but every track we tried ended in a gully or holes big enough to swallow a wheel. When experiences are sold, when scenery becomes commodity, places can morph into caricatures of themselves, obscuring context and meaning. The original town site was established a couple miles away on the narrow-gauge line. Like with the La Sals and the desert, Eileen came up with her own affectionate name for Cisco: Garbage Island. But by the time Eileen Muza pulled into town in 2015, it was a graveyard of abandoned cars and RVs. And that's what it looks like, people just up and left.". Every day, she seems more interested in her chosen homes future than she is in its past. Natasha Woods was born in Iowa, and currently lives in Columbus, Ohio where she is in pursuit of her MFA at The Ohio State University. ", "Learning to be comfortable with myself is probably the most valuable thing that I've learned out here. Eileen Muza is the sole resident of Cisco, Utah, a scattering of old buildings in the high desert 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of the Colorado line, KUTV reports. Besides having a distraction-free space to get work done, Muza hopes visitors get a new perspective on life, from how many resources, such as water, they use in their-day-today lives, to "learning how to live outside in a way. There is no judgment. What Eileen has done isnt restoration. A gardener, explorer, scrapper, and individualist, Muza bought an inexpensive house there to, in Gilman's words . alex mendez political party We met up with . And on a hot, still day in June of 2017, a man running a raft shuttle found Eileens dog crumpled in the weeds at the roads shoulder. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. In spring of 2018 she spent a month and a half working in Cisco, taking tintypes and developing them in an old shack turned into a darkroom. Water gurgled somewhere beneath the riot, but we couldnt see it. Thanks to the distance as well as the coronavirus pandemic,she tries to limit her grocery runs to once a month. Moab drew the money, and Cisco drew the lollygaggers. That's because Muza lives in Cisco, a ghost town without running water located in the Utah desert, entirely by herself. Photographs of the town that eventually rose in this spot show unlikely squares of lawn, a mercantile, service stations and hotels. Its a separate space away from your life that you can sort of change the way you think and be in a different environment, Muza said. "I guess that's the difference between me and everybody else that comes here because I certainly wasn't the first one to visit," she said. The truck turned again and rolled to a stop between Eileens buildings, not 20 feet away from where we watched from behind the outhouse. I realized after going there that I had sort of driven through it [while] on a river trip at Green River, she said. She watched flabbergasted as tourists climbed under fences to explore ominous buildings papered with No Trespassing signs or wandered onto her own property filming with their iPhones while she was in plain sight. It might be a reason that she stays, though, if she stays. But like the Art Institute, it felt shaky. Bi khi Muza ang sng mt mnh Cisco, mt th trn khng ngi, khng c c ngun nc, nm gia sa mc bang Utah . In the off-seasons, she returned to Utah. Eileen credits her love of castoffs and thrift to her mother, Linda Muza, who is on such good terms with the guys at the dump that she bakes them pies. ON A WALK OUT INTO THE UNKNOWNthis winter, I asked Eileen why she thought so many people were drawn to the town. Wisconsin native and Chicago transplant Eileen Muza doesn't mind the quiet. "It's a separate space away from your life that you can sort of change the way you think and be in a different environment," Muza said. From every corner of the planet, our immersive, caustic, ground-breaking and often bizarre stories have changed the way people think about culture, crime, art, parties, fashion, protest, the internet and other subjects that don't even have names yet. Inside, Farland helped her peel back fake wood paneling, chickenwire and plaster, thick paint and layers of wallpaper. Shes had this really romantic idea of these objects that have this history, and shes just surrounded by that here, Calhoun said. Facebook gives people the power to. And with the work of Eileens hands everywhere here now her soul layered with the others who have rebuilt this place over and over and over she said she wont be leaving if she can help it. Interested in volunteering? Follow Your Favorite Chicago's Afternoon News Personalities [] She purchased it in 2015 and left her life in Chicago to move there. Eileen stomped back to bed, her bare feet pounding the boards. I went home and just kept on thinking about this place and wondering about it," she said. EILEEN CAME TO RELISH THE FREEDOMof The Unknown, all searching walks and random artifacts: a dump full of brown-glass Clorox bottles like the ones Ginger Shuey described; a wooden post hammered into the ground miles from anywhere with a metal file jammed into the top. In a town full of rusted automobiles and tilting structures, most people expect abandonment in Cisco - not Eileen. When a drone whined over the roof of her cabin, she tried to shoot it down. magazine, Muza explained that when she first arrived, she was scared and unsure of whether or not the town was truly abandoned. I went out with my equipment, thinking this will be a film, but still not totally sure if Id be interested, Allen said. When she bought her place, she hadnt realized just how many spectators the ruined town drew. Artist. She laughed when she first heard about Muzas plan to live there, but said it makes sense for Muza. Eileen is a visual artist and sole year-round resident of Cisco, Utah. She tended the garden in her yard until it overflowed with color. I spotted headlights rolling eastward. Its too much of a weak spot for me. She laughed when she first heard about Muza's plan to live there, but said it makes sense for Muza. By clicking Sign Up, you also agree to marketing emails from both Insider and Morning Brew; and you accept Insiders. Eileen bought an acre of land with three cabins, a work shed, a tool shed, an Airstream, a Winnebago, and the town's shuttered post office each filled with garbage, or, as she saw it, material. Muza not only visited Cisco she bought it. He loaded the limp body onto his trailer, blood running over his hands and drove it to her house. Cisco, Utah, is a ghost town alright. A lot of work. When they're not building, they're bathing in an oil drum, having a smoke on their self-built porch or walking the dog in the vast surrounding desert. I cautiously stepped into the dark to find her in trenchcoat and underwear, standing next to her friend Nick on a boardwalk shed built to avoid the gumbo mud that the earth became each spring. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. Over the years shes created work for VICE, PBS, and The History Channel, among others. Kiszla: One-hit wonders? If this town can empty out and blow away, basically it can happen to any town., And it will, Eileen said. 79-year-old Joan Turcotte motto is this: "If you rest, you rust.". She couldnt stay to ward off vandals because she was broke. Cisco is isolated, a steady jog off Interstate 70 with no services and no running water. are goat head thorns poisonous to humans. When she couldnt shake her obsession, Muza decided to make a major life change. Among them was a couple from Arizona who stopped by bearing groceries and some dog treats several months after Cairo died. Tony Kanaan on his final Indy 500 and first episodes, Multiple dead after IL dust storm causes pileup, At least 6 dead after dust storm causes crashes in, Abbott to Lightfoot: Tell Biden to secure the border, BestReviews.com - Top gifts to make everyone happy this spring, Surprise your mom with one of these Mothers Day, Mothers Day inspo: This foot massager has 20,000, Drew Barrymores Walmart collection is perfect for, Best Mothers Day gifts for the budding plant mom, Best Mothers Day Gifts for moms obsessed with books, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. The town, after all, doesnt look like much a desolate mess of ruined buildings on the scenic route from I-70 to the recreation mecca of Moab, Utah, just a few miles from the boat ramp on the Colorado River where rafters load up after running Westwater Canyon. A few days into one of my visits, fed up with the heat, Eileen, her sister Claire, and Claires friend, Amy, piled into an SUV and bumped overland to find a spring that someone had told Eileen about. While we are busy working on updating our residency space, doing T.V. Why would everybody just leave? For tickets, go to slamdance.com/festival. Before the full metastasis of European settlement, the land here was lusher, part of Ute territory. Over the last few years, they have created adistinctive and inclusive environment for artists to experience complete creative freedom under the big desert sky. Is a serial killer dumping bodies in Chicagos waterways? After diesel train engines replaced steam in the 50s, the town leaned on its role as a stopover for east-west automobile traffic. She was quiet for a moment. A musician and woodworker named Michael Gerlach came out from Milwaukee after a bad breakup and stayed off and on for eight months. She loved the diverse cast of coworkers, gay, straight, every shade of skin, people from all over the world. Image credit: Original illustration by Sarah Gilman. My Mountains. The One Tire Valley. The Green Valley. And the Cisco Desert itself a scrubby barren plumbed with pump jacks and shimmering with broken glass? Eventually, Eileen had the cabin in livable shape, the tiny post office overhauled and fitted with an air conditioner, and the shack next door shored up and tightly insulated. The town was created in the 1880s as a fill-station for a railroad, but died off when Interstate 70 was built a few miles north. She eventually overcame her trepidation, though, and became fascinated by the town and its unique history. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. The company has 3 contacts on record. Muza moved there because of the opportunity to own a house, even if it needs work. Hed found a coyote carcass strung in a doorway. In summer, it got so hot that sometimes Eileen would lie down on the dirt floor of the cabins cellar when the sun hit its apogee. Late one frigid December night, I was reading in Eileens post office when I heard a gunshot a few feet away. howdy@eileenmuza.org Our Mission It's beyond beautiful of what we've been able to accomplish since we opened. The company's principal address is 238 E 2nd St, Cisco, UT 84515. Combining Muzas appeal with the mystique factor of the landscape the dry and dead ground, with no ability to grow anything and intrigue about how once-thriving small towns die out, Allen was convinced that she should make a movie. The most challenging thing about Cisco wasnt the solitude, though. Eileen is a gardener who has landed in a place where nothing will grow. A casual plane conversation changed the trajectory of Muza's life, leading her to the tiny abandoned town, which was built in the 1880s as a railroad service station, and was once home to hundreds. He was a murderous desperado in O. Henrys 1907 short story that introduced him, and later transformed into a heroic Mexican caballero with his sidekick, Pancho. He scared them so badly they got wedged in the doorway trying to flee. Shari is a published poet and has worked for years in the trenches of independent bookstores, currently slinging books in the wild west out post of Back of Beyond Books in Moab. Muza lives in Cisco today with her dog, Rima, and is slowly working to turn the abandoned Utah ghost town into an artists haven. Eileen Muza is the sole resident of Cisco, Utah, a scattering of old buildings in the high desert 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of the Colorado line, KUTV reports. The wind was constant, and that spring, it gusted so hard one night that some of Eileens friends heard a lopsided building tear apart and collapse. View contact information: phones, addresses, emails and networks. Muza isnt totally off the grid they have wi-fi and their devices, which for Allen makes it a more modern experience. With her shaved head, chunky glasses, and patina of desert grime, she's a striking character. Muza first became fascinated by the town when she visited it while on vacation. When visual artistEileen Muza fell in love withCisco, Utah, she purchased the entire town. (EKA Pictures) Eileen Muza, the sole resident of the ghost town of Cisco, Utah, has a bath and a smoke, in a moment from director Emily Kaye Allen's documentary "Cisco Kid," which will have its. This is not just making a house. Shari Zollinger is a native of Utah currently living in Moab, an approximately 45-minute drive down highway 128 from Cisco. SUGGESTED VIDEOS | Local stories from 9NEWS. Serah holds a BFA in Graphic Design from California College of the Arts, is a Project M Alum, is a mother, an artist, and is a fierce advocate for creative expression. In 1952, a man named Charlie Steen was living with his family in a tarpaper shack in Cisco when he made the uranium strike south of Moab that spurred the mining and milling frenzy that consumed parts of Utah until the 1980s, when Moabs mill finally closed. Dead of Night, numismatics, Tommy Emmanuel, American Lung Associations Fight For Air Climb, Why some women dont know when fertility declines. An hour down the road in Moab, the county seat, environmental consciousness was growing. It can be hard not to, once you work your way into that feeling of empty space and no one to hold you accountable. An evening dedicated to the celebration of The Home of The Brave Artist Residency in Cisco, Utah. A woman named Farland Fish stopped in town one day to let her dogs chase the rabbits that lurked amid the junk and was surprised to find Eileen there, too. Welcome to VICE.Connect with VICE:Check out our full video catalog: http://bit.ly/VICE-VideosVideos, daily editorial and more: http://vice.comMore videos from the VICE network: https://www.fb.com/vicevideoClick here to get the best of VICE daily: http://bit.ly/1SquZ6vLike VICE on Facebook: http://fb.com/viceFollow VICE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/viceFollow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/viceThe VICE YouTube Network:VICE: https://www.youtube.com/VICEMUNCHIES: https://www.youtube.com/MUNCHIES VICE News: https://www.youtube.com/VICENewsVICELAND: https://www.youtube.com/VICELANDTVBroadly: https://www.youtube.com/BroadlyNoisey: https://www.youtube.com/NoiseyMotherboard: https://www.youtube.com/MotherboardTV VICE Sports: https://www.youtube.com/NOCi-D: http://www.youtube.com/iDmagazine Waypoint: https://www.youtube.com/WaypointVICE The Registered Agent on file for this company is Eileen Muza and is located at 238 E 2nd St, Cisco, UT 84515. Now, she climbed into Eileens car as if she had been there a thousand times, like she was already my dog, Eileen said. "That's how you learn right? She fired once more over the desert. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Eileen Muza is the sole resident of Cisco, Utah, a scattering of old buildings in the high desert 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of the Colorado line, KUTV reports. A man who checked the oil pumps began looking in on Eileen. Eileens mom, Linda, joined her for her first month there, and the two worked on Eileens two small parcels through bitter winter weather and bad head colds, burning debris in a metal barrel as they went. Shes small and hard, with a face darkened enough by sun and dirt that her teeth flash like a signal mirror when she laughs. And Eileen laughed, her teeth flashing up at the slate-gray sky, tassled at its edges by virga that promised rain but never touched the earth. Not to the trickle spring with its dead cow this time, but to the Colorado River, where a shelf of stone sliced into the current. Her grandfather died this spring, and she grieved from a distance, consoling herself by yelling at a bus full of Australian tourists. rules, Utes seeing transfer portals impact on college gymnastics, artists come to live there part of the time. Eileen Muza. What you should know about sustainable investing, Calamos Head of Wealth Management | Investing in, Calamos CEO predictions on the 2023 economy, Senior VP and CMO of Calamos shares why you should, Calamos Co-CIO shares where inflation will go from, The market is the pulse of what is going on in our, I do think were in a recession | CEO of Calamos, More On the Rise with Calamos Investments, More from WGN Radio 720 - Chicago's Very Own, Few leads, false alarms as search for Texas gunman, New bride dead after alleged DUI driver hits golf, US readies second attempt at speedy border asylum. Written on the cabin wall, in cursive pencil, a name: Jesse Gruver, Gingers uncle. Runners-up get invited for three weeks without a stipend, an offer Muza said has yet to be refused. This spring, Le Creuset has introduced an exciting new shade thats already selling fast: shallot, a soft lavender with pink and slight gray undertones. Most everyone speeds on the road that runs alongside Cisco, Utah. She added, though, that she doesnt mind when people pass through and are respectful of her property. These connections helped build Eileen a foundation that property and self-reliance alone couldnt give: a boosted faith in her own vision, and a kind of community. When Muza first visited Cisco she said she was scared, unsure about whether the town was actually abandoned. 289. Are other banks to follow? While their work in Cisco is inherently imbued with their own style, Eileen also takes great care to preserve the heritage and unique character of the original town. Eileen stepped gingerly through the cattails. She and her sisters are planning an artist residency in an old Winnebago that she and another friend are framing as a house. There's electricity and Wi-Fi now, but no running water; Muza says she collects rainwater and has a solar shower. Zooey Zephyr, who has been barred from physically entering the House chamber since being censured on Thursday, has sued over what lawyers describe as an "unconstitutional Censure and . If you need to use the facilities, you'll be using one of the composting toilets outside When Eileen Muza, 36, awoke one morning to the sound of a crying baby her first reaction was that she must be hallucinating or hearing ghosts. "I was always surprised that no one else has done this. They yanked up three shag carpets laid over several sheets of linoleum. Later, she stayed for nearly a month. Linda worried about Eileen being a young woman alone out there, and about Eileen being lonely. But instead of speeding away, the truck turned up the side road toward us. Someone known as Booster, who once lived in an abandoned house next door, needed to register as a sex offender (for reasons neither Muza nor Allen knew, though Muza was alerted by another nearby friend). Eileen taught herself how to build windows and doors from studying how Ciscos builders had improvised. Star Wars cards and a gold ring; old coins and floppy disks. In the end, even this faded. Once they hear him talking about whores and beer farts, she said, people hit the gas real quick.. Then Cisco followed the new standard-gauge railroad to its present location. She was a staff and contributing editor at High Country News for 11 years. It happens everywhere.. Her nearest neighbor brought her bullets. "There's a lot of anxiety around social things and approval. And yet she had a certain tenderness. Her long term dreams of starting an artist residency are being challenged by th. Another, Eileen looked up to discover two men shooting in her direction from the window of a white pickup. Their kids learned to be resourceful. Original illustration by Sarah Gilman. This is a place that people had to fill up with their own sound so they didnt fucking go crazy., Eileen had been warned about Ciscos extremes, but by early winter of 2016, she had settled in full-time. Ghost towns have a certain charm; Cisco, Utah, certainly cast its spell on Eileen Muza, who is restoring the town and offering a three- to five-week artist residency "to both preserve and. There were no neighbors within miles. "I kind of. Cisco is not abandoned, she often points out: "I live here." The La Sal Mountains rise up south of Eileen's home, and Cisco stands in the Cisco Desert, in an exposed, waterless low spot that one book describes without irony as "a hole." But Eileen has her own names for things, her own landmarks. He moved his family house from Green River to a spot west of Cisco and assembled an attached service station from the pieces of a building he bought in a ghost town called Sego. She was on a plane to Utah for vacation when the lady sitting next to her mentioned Cisco as a fun stop on the way to Canyonlands National Park, where Muza was headed.