In the shadow of the clowns, just across the motel’s parking lot, lies a cemetery that holds the story of a truly ghoulish history. A little over a century ago, Tonopah was a bustling silver mining town of about 3,000 residents. Then a mysterious illness decimated the population. It was one of the most nightmarish events in Nevada’s history — known as the Death Harvest. In the spring of 1905, a local newspaper began reporting that about a dozen seemingly healthy men in their 20s were dying every day of an unknown affliction that killed four out of every five men it infected. Early details coming out of the town were sparse and horrific. A victim’s neck would swell, then his skin would turn black. Most died within a day of getting sick
In the shadow of the clowns, just across the motel’s parking lot, lies a cemetery that holds the story of a truly ghoulish history. A little over a century ago, Tonopah was a bustling silver mining town of about 3,000 residents. Then a mysterious illness decimated the population. It was one of the most nightmarish events in Nevada’s history — known as the Death Harvest. In the spring of 1905, a local newspaper began reporting that about a dozen seemingly healthy men in their 20s were dying every day of an unknown affliction that killed four out of every five men it infected. Early details coming out of the town were sparse and horrific. A victim’s neck would swell, then his skin would turn black. Most died within a day of getting sick
I’m asuming the Clown Motel was built long after the Mystery Plague. But if the town was so small that its history was well-known, you gotta wonder about a guy who’d choose to build a clown-themed motel there.
Heck, you gotta wonder about a guy who’d build a clown-themed motel anywhere
This is perhaps not the thread to fully explore why clowns are creepy, but I know why they’re creepy to me: when I was a kid, pediatricians’ offices everywhere were filled with clown paintings. I came to associate those clowns with being sick, and scared. But I have to assume (charitably) that those who selected the clown paintings just thought “Eh, kids like clowns.”
What I’m saying is that there was a time when clowns were not default-creepy, and that time was the 1960s and prior. Hell, the motel guy might have thought “this town has a creepy reputation – let’s wash that right out of people’s minds with a clown theme” and been completely sincere about that.
When I was a boy in the mid-50s to early-60s, I loved clowns. So did most of my classmates. My favorite show for awhile was International Showtime (hosted by Don Ameche), and they spotlighted famous clowns around the world every week.
As a kid I wanted to either be Emmett Kelly or Albert Einstein. I ended up just being a smartass.
My Mom used to stay at The Clown Motel a few times a year. She had a house in Vegas and would drive from Reno and stay in Tonopah half-way. The people knew her well, and always had a room for her and her dogs.
I never really asked her much about the place. She did hint that it was pretty gaudy, but nice enough.
There is another Boom hitting Tonopah, and from what I hear, every room in town is booked solid, including the Clown Motel.
