• In 2018, Brent Underwood bought the California ghost town of Cerro Gordo for $1.4 million.
• In April, Underwood became trapped in the town after a snowstorm blocked the road, forcing him to spend the coronavirus lockdown there.
• On June 15, Underwood said a fire broke out and burned down three buildings in the town including the hotel on the anniversary of the day it opened.
• "The hotel was the heart of the town, literally and metaphorically," said Underwood, who is vowing to rebuild it.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Brent Underwood has had quite the spring and summer. In April, he lived out a real-life adaptation of "The Shining" when a snowstorm trapped him in an Old West mining ghost town he purchased in 2018. During that time, Underwood dealt with isolation, a wandering bobcat on the property, and a dwindling food supply. 

In the newest chapter in the strange saga of the mining town of Cerro Gordo, the town's hotel burned down on the anniversary of the year it opened – almost 150 years later. 

Underwood, a marketer, plans to rebuild, and a GoFundMe page has been set up where people can help with the costs of the construction.

"You just got to rebuild," he told Insider. "We're not giving up."

Read on to find out more about the hotel's history.

In 2018, Brent Underwood bought the ghost town of Cerro Gordo for $1.4 million.

Cerro Gordo was founded in 1865 and was once the largest mining town in California, but it was left abandoned for almost 100 years after the silver mines dried up. According to Underwood, the town has a long and bloody history. At one point, there was an average of a murder a week, and miners used to line their bunks with sandbags to stop stray bullets in the night. 

"There's a story that 30 miners got trapped in one of the mines underneath the building I live in," Underwood previously told Insider. "As grim as it is, they're still down there."

Underwood had planned to open the town for overnight visits and tours, but the opening was delayed due to the coronavirus.

In April, Underwood became trapped with dwindling supplies in the town for weeks — but that was just the beginning of his bad luck.

Underwood decided to social distance at the mining town so the primary caretaker, Robert Louis Desmarais, could be with his wife during the pandemic.

But after Underwood got there, a bad snowstorm covered the road heading from Cerro Gordo with several feet of snow. The nearest town was miles away. Underwood kept himself busy by working on renovations on some of the buildings, taking astrophotography of the night skies, and possibly being stalked by a bobcat.

While in the town, Underwood said he suffered an appendicitis, but the snow had cleared enough for him to seek medical attention two and half hours away.