London Meets Arizona

The London Times travel reporter visited Jerome and checked out the Jerome Grand Hotel and it's famous ghosts...

The word was that the ghoulish denizens of the Grand Hotel in the old Arizona mining town of Jerome are fond of fiddling with visitors' toiletries. Why on earth would they be interested in your mangled toothpaste tube and travel-size shampoo?

 

The hotel used to be a hospital serving copper and gold miners in the boom of the early 1900s, so perhaps cleanliness is as vital for the paranormal inhabitants of today as it was for the flesh-and-blood patients of yore.

 

Guests at the Grand often report the sound of deathly groaning and consumptive coughing coming from empty rooms and hallways at dead of night. I am scared of the dark, so I was secretly relieved that the wandering spirits left me alone.

 

“I've had guests who stayed in your room come to me and say that they dreamt of a nurse walking about at the foot of the bed with a clipboard,” said Ingrid, one of the receptionists. “Others say that things were moved around in the bathroom.”

 

Her colleague Bob nodded gravely. “There are a couple of rooms that used to be called ‘the death rooms' because patients were moved there if they were likely to die in the night. Guests have woken to the sound of people struggling for breath,” he said. In most hotels that means you can hear your neighbours' hanky-panky, but in the Grand it is a haunting.

 

The hotel's original grille-fronted lift is still in working order, but is also said to be haunted by a hospital worker who was decapitated by machinery in 1935. A maintenance man is also believed to have hanged himself in the basement. “Mind you, that probably happens all the time at some hotel chains, but you don't get to hear about it,” Bob said.

Unfortunately, the reporter did not meet any ghosts. Such is life in the world of ghost hunting but even more often in the world of real paranormal investigation.

Jerome does remain one of my favorite little Arizona towns. I do prefer it to Tombstone, although I fear it will eventually become a "ghost tour" wasteland like Tombstone is now. Yet, for the time being it remains somewhat less "touristy" and charming.

Even without a ghost sighting the town provides a great weekend getaway. I strongly suggest the Mile High Inn which is LGBT Friendly (and owned) and comes with a Victorian lady and a cat! Their breakfast is also awesome. So, even if you don't find ghosts you can find some of the best pancakes I've tasted in years!

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