My Trip To Jerome, Arizona

A Bit of History

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A bit of history: Known for its prosperous years as a copper mining town, Jerome's economy thrived during the world wars, it was home to more than 10,000 people in the 1920s. As the ore deposits ran out, the mines closed for good in 1953, and the population dwindled to fewer than 100. However, in 2010 its population was 444. It is now known for its tourist attractions, such as its "ghost town" status and local wineries. 

Jerome had a post office by 1883. It added a schoolhouse in 1884 and a public library in 1889. After four major fires between 1894 and 1898 destroyed much of the business district and half of the community's homes, Jerome was incorporated as a town in 1899. Incorporation made it possible to collect taxes to build a formal fire-fighting system and to establish building codes that prohibited tents and other fire hazards within the town limits. Local merchant and rancher William Munds was the first mayor.

By 1900, Jerome had churches, fraternal organizations, and a downtown with brick buildings, telephone service, and electric lights. Among the thriving businesses were those associated with alcohol, gambling, and prostitution serving a population that was 78 percent male. In 1903, New York's proclaimed Jerome "the wickedest town in the West".

The Jerome Grand Hotel was originally constructed in 1926 under the name United Verde Hospital, owned by the United Verde Copper Company. The hospital, however was closed in 1950, as the mining operations began shutting down and medical services were available in the neighboring community of Cottonwood, where many of the staff transferred to. The building stood unused for the next 44 years. The former hospital was purchased by Larry Altherr from Phelps Dodge Mining Corporation in 1994, and was renamed the Jerome Grand Hotel, opening for business in 1996. Larry Altherr remains the owner.

While it operated as the United Verde Hospital and later became the Jerome Grand Hotel, many alleged hauntings have occurred. According to ghostlyfavorites.com., "Due to the high level of activity in the hotel, it is a quite popular destination for amateur ghost hunters". Guests that have stayed at the hotel reported hearing coughing, labored breathing, and even voices coming from empty rooms. Guests also reported smells coming from rooms, such as flowers, dust, cigar smoke, and whiskey. Others report light anomalies and the television sets turning themselves on with no explanation.

Many guests and hotel staff have heard and seen what appears to be a 4 or 5-year-old child running down the hallway on the 3rd floor, sometimes crying or laughing. This child also likes to appear at the foot of the bed in various rooms, just staring at the bed's occupant. The sounds of a newborn baby's cry are common on the 3rd and 4th floors, as well as the faint smell of baby powder and zinc oxide. table lamps and televisions being unplugged, shampoo bottles rolling across the floor or flying across the room. The sound of doors opening/closing while the room is otherwise vacant is common. Guests have found electronics such as cell phones and camcorders dead center beneath the bed. Front Desk staff, particularly the graveyard shift, have reported hearing coughing and sneezing from the hotel's laundry room, seeing shadows in the same area of whom they believe to be Claude Harvey, the hospital's maintenance man who was found dead on April 3, 1935, pinned beneath the Otis elevator, presumably murdered.

During its hospital days, many deaths occurred from illness or injury, but also some rather suspicious in origin, like that of maintenance man Claude Harvey. Claude was found pinned by the back of the neck by the elevator, quite dead. A thorough inspection of the elevator was done, as well as a coroner's inquest, that determined the elevator could not have caused Claude's death. No autopsy was allowed to be performed, nor x-ray taken, as the United Verde Copper Company, who owned the building, did not want suspicion pointing in their direction as accident nor intent. Claude's is the only death in the hospital whose cause has yet to be determined. Speculation is, Mr. Harvey was murdered and his body placed in the elevator room, with his head hanging over the elevator shaft, to look like an accident.

A Spirit Cat is a frequent visitor to the hotel. Its origin unknown, the cat has been heard meowing, hissing, and scratching at doors and walls. Both staff and guests have heard and felt the cat brushing against their legs and snuggling against them while on the bed. 

Only one other known death since the hospital closed down in 1950, that of Manoah Hoffpauir, a local man hired by Phelps Dodge Mining Company to be a presence in the vacant building, hoping to offset the years of vandalism. Manoah was found hanging from a steam pipe in the Engineer's Office, where he resided while serving as the caretaker. His death in 1982 was ruled a suicide. During its days as the United Verde Hospital, an estimated 9000 deaths occurred, however, no known records are present, so that number has yet to be validated. When purchased in 1994 by Larry Altherr, the hospital records were gone, so any information regarding staff and patients is via word-of-mouth, with little or no verification. The hospital was a general surgical hospital, meeting the needs of all who entered; unlike the name of the resident restaurant, a separate business from the hotel named Asylum, the building was never an insane asylum nor exclusive for tuberculosis patients.

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This ladies and gentlemen, is where our story begins.