Jerome Grand Hotel or MAKE THE WALLS STOP BLEEDING!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Tomorrow night, my friends and I will embark on a brave journey through desert, tumbleweeds and winding roads at a less than steady incline until we reach our final destination

Duhn-duhn-DUUHN

<a href=http://www.jeromegrandhotel.com>Jerome Grand Hotel</a>.

For those of you playing at home, I’ve been TERRIFIED of this place for as long as I can remember. First, a little background:

On the backside of the Mogollon rim lives a city nearly untouched by the years. Built over a century ago, Jerome Arizona was one of the largest mining towns ever constructed. Today, it is the largest ghost town in existance.
Over the years, four seperate hospitals were constructed in this town that, at its peak, was home to 50,000 Arizonans. Mostly miners and their families. The reason for the abundance of hospitals was clear. Mining is a dangerous business, and the medical technology was definately -not- what it is today. Alot of Black Lung, alot of severed limbs that gave way to gangrene and an influenza epidemic laid waste to many of the towns citizens.

The largest of all of these was the Verde Hospital. On the highest level of the mountain, the Verde Hospital looms over the entire city and from its windows, you can see for miles. It was also the most advanced medical center in Arizona for its time. There was a self-serve elevator installed in 1926, the first in the state, and all of their equipment was state of the art…for the time.
Verde Hospital remained open from 1927 until 1950. In 1950, Jerome no longer had enough locals to make much use of a fancy-schmancy hospital, it’s population having plummeted from 15,000 in the mid-20’s to less than 100 in 1955.

Verde Hospital stood unused and decaying for 44 long years.

Somewhere in the middle of those years, and after a long spook-story powwow, my dad and his buddies decided to break into the abandoned Verde Hospital. I love hearing my dad tell his Verde Hospital ghost stories, pausing in between each grisly detail… refusing to tell us what happened at the very crescendo of the event, only swearing that he would never, ever set foot in that building again.

So in 1994, after 44 years of reckless hippies breaking in to have the bejeezus scared out of them by the ghost of influenza past, Verde Hospital was renovated and re-opened as Jerome Grand Hotel.

I, personally, am the biggest namby-pamby crybaby WUSS when it comes to things that go bump in the night, outright refusing to accompany my dad and friends in exploring the lower decks of the Queen Mary the last time I was dragged on one of these dreaded excursions, so of course I’m the first one to get suckered into staying the night in this godawful hotel.

But! Since I’m gonna be shrieking while securely wrapped around some poor saps ankle for the night, has anyone been to Jerome, Arizona? Any fun/creepy/interesting stories for me? Any places on the mountain that you think would be of interest to myself and my far-too-brave companions?

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Here’s hoping my previewing abilities won’t suffer from the experience. :smack:
Jerome Grand Hotel

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I’ve never been up to Jerome, but I have taught on its geology before.
Which is a…poor substitute…

But I must say, the damn place looks creepy even with all the lights on and everything.

And the restaurant is called the Asylum??? :eek: :eek: :eek:

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There’s another restaurant called “The Haunted Hamburger”. They really sell the ghostie thing for all it’s worth.

I just can’t shake this fear of the old hospital. Eeeee. The idea of old hospitals with squeaky gurneys and sharp, antiquated medical equipment… shudder

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What, no invite for me? I see how it is…

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I used to live in a former hospital out in the middle of nowhere – it wasn’t anywhere near that big, but it was sometimes interesting thinking of all the people who might have died in your house!

Given that, the hotel makes me homesick and very much desirous to go wander up there by myself more than anything else! :stuck_out_tongue:

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Hey, I’ve been to Jerome! Not the hotel though, some other place up on a hill, a mining company owner’s place that’s now a museum. Mildly cool. The town itself is spiffy, take a walk down the streets and be amazed how some of the buildings are still standing.

ArcoSanti is an artist’s community not far from Jerome and I adore that place. You can tour the facility and then check out all the nifty bells. Lots of neat people live there and are fun to talk with.

Have fun and remember that all work and no play makes malkavia a dull 'Doper. At least it reminds me of that hotel, anyway.

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Howdy. I’ve been to Jerome. A bunch of times. (With parents that live in Prescott who love driving around, I can’t help it.)

It is by far the most CROWDED ghost town I’ve ever been in. I’ve seen less shops in Woodfield Mall. (Well I’m exagerating, but they do have a lot of really funky stores and touristy type places.) Be sure and do the Mine Tour!!! THAT was cool!!

If I’m remembering correctly, the hotel is just fantastic. And there are a number of cool mining exhibits I believe out there. (I THINK - like I said, its been awhile since I was there).

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How interesting this should come up! I’ve been scaring myself silly this week reading a magazine article, plus this website, about Waverly Hills Tuberculosis Sanatorium with its hideous body chute tunnel!!!

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Body chute that kids sledded down? Good grief!!

I’m gonna add that to my must-see list. Right under Hell House outside of Baltimore. shudder

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Hell House? Baltimore? Why does no one tell me of these things?

I wanna go!

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Skerri, I’ll try to get more info to you on Hell House.
As for the rest of you, I went, I saw, I slept/played cards/paid too much for dinner, I left.

It was entirely uneventful, although terribly interesting. A huge wing of the hospital is blocked off with fake walls and the windows there are soaped up so you can’t quite see in. There’s no A/C in the individual rooms, so you kinda have to leave that little wooden vent/crawlspace dealie above the door open to keep cool. The original wall and floor tile are still in the bathrooms and you could defiitely tell where the hospital beds were when the building was still the Verde Hospital. The elevator was the best because out west, it’s not every day that we have the opportunity to ride in an elevator that requires a key and has the little metal accordian cage door so you can watch the floors go by and see the gears on the side that tug the elevator up and down.

I’ll post pictures as soon as I get them scanned in. =)

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You still dinnit answer my damned question, malk.

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Oh, cool thread, and perfect timing. I was just sitting down tonight to finish booking hotel reservations for my family’s trip out to the Grand Canyon. We’re going for 9 days, staying in Vegas on nights 1 and 8, and I haven’t booked one of the other 7 nights yet. I have seen www.redgarter.com, that’s the website for an old brothel that “supposedly” has a ghost. It’s definitely not scarey like the Jerome Grand, by no means, though. I was curious about staying in Jerome, that should be fun, but I really wanted a ghost town like the one the Brady Bunch went to… except without getting locked in jail. I’m looking to spend a few days in the Sedona area, and staying at a Grand Canyon hotel, too. Thanks for letting me know about the Grand, though.

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It was a double date type dealie. Two connecting rooms, each with one bed. I dinnit think you’d wanna sleep with us, and I’m pretty sure my lesbians wouldn’t have let you sleep with them. :wink: