Posted in North Dakota
January 28, 2016
These 9 Towns In North Dakota Have The Strangest Names You’ll Ever See
Even though a lot of these bizarrely named North Dakota towns have populations of 20 or less, they’ll still leave you wondering who was in charge when they were named. You’ll get a chuckle or two from the pure absurdity of some of them. I know I quite enjoyed reading and writing about all of these towns, so without further ado, I give you 9 towns in North Dakota with some downright weird names.
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With a population of about 230, Zap once experienced an invasion of about 2000-3000 partiers traveling there in 1969 in a movement called "Zip to Zap." The mayor of Zap panicked when he suddenly discovered the huge crowd and bonfires in the middle of streets and called in the National Guard to push the crowd out of town. I heard the party was electrifying while it lasted!
It's hard not to chuckle at a name like Buttzville, no matter how mature you claim to be. Unfortunately, the town is practically empty and considered a ghost town today, which means there is a sadly small number of people who can call themselves Buttzville-ites... Buttzville-ians? However you would call a resident of Buttzville. I just wanted to say Buttzville a few more times, truthfully.
Deep within the state of North Dakota is the town Deep, North Dakota. Actually it's empty, and not really even a town anymore. It still exists on maps, however, despite being practically nonexistent in reality. That's pretty deep, if you think about it.
I was disappointed to find out that this town was not named after any professional cannon ball divers, or even an authentic antique cannon ball collection, or after cannons themselves, but in fact after the nearby river that has cannon ball-shaped rocks. I guess that's...cool enough. At least kids from Cannon Ball can go to a pretty awesome-sounding school.
I just thought this one was fun to say. I recommend saying it in a very serious, angry tone, which has a very fun effect if you're trying to break someone's straight face, or even your own.
Concrete is another near-ghost town, but there is a very cute little church there. Unfortunately it is not made entirely out of concrete, as you might be lead to believe. There is, however, a pretty cool pyramid-shaped missile defense building nearby that IS made of concrete. It's been out of use since its conception back in the final years of the Cold War, and went up for auction a few years back. Neat!
As far as I've heard there haven't been any major incidents of public nudity in Flasher, North Dakota, but you may want to be cautious there just in case.
The fun thing about this town name is that it was created because of a couple of other towns and areas being covered by Lake Sakakawea when the Garrison dam was constructed. The residents that had to move founded a new town that they fittingly named New Town. I'd move here just so if people asked where I was moving to, I could say "New Town," and have a fun back and forth exchange where they reply, "I know you're moving to a new town, I'm asking WHICH town," until they give up in frustration when I keep responding with the same thing. That kind of situation can't only happen in sitcoms, right?
Another ghost town, but I suppose that is creepily fitting considering this town's name. Bonetraill isn't exactly the most cheerful sounding place to live. Although I think what would bother me the most is the superfluous "L" at the end, but to each their own.
While I continue quietly saying “Hoople” to myself, I’d love to know if there are any other wacky town names in North Dakota you can think of. Particularly ones that are fun to say in silly voices!
