Jerome

Jerome, Arizona is a ghost town with a haunted hotel, located on the mountainside above Verde Valley.

Jerome was once called “The Wickedest City in the West” in its heyday. It was a copper mining down, but once the copper deposits ran out, the mines were shut down and the population dwindled. Today it is a ghost town, haunted by the spirits of its early settlers.

Locals call the town’s Community Center “Spook Hall” because of all the paranormal events that have taken place there. The Community Hall is said to be haunted by a young woman who was accidentally stabbed to death during an argument between two miners. Her ghostly figure has been seen at the front of the building, walking toward the hotel, where she disappears.

The Inn at Jerome is haunted by a woman named Jennie. People have seen her ghostly figure moving about the house, followed by a phantom cat. Jennie often moves things about in the kitchen, rearranges furniture, and moves objects around.

The Jerome Grand Hotel was once a hospital and always had a reputation for being haunted. The ghostly sounds of coughing, moaning and labored breathing have been heard throughout the wards. A man named Claude Harvey was killed when he was squashed underneath the hospital elevator in 1935. Since that time, strange lights have been seen in the elevator shaft and when the building was vacant, the elevator was heard slowly traveling up and down, even though the power had been shut off. Guests and staff members report seeing doors opening and closing on their own, hearing ghostly footsteps and horrible cries in the empty halls, and the groaning sound of the elevator as it continues to operate on its own.

The abandoned shafts of the old Phelps Dodge Mine are rumored to be haunted too. A miner they called “Headless Charlie” was decapitated in a grisly underground accident years ago. His head was recovered, but his body fell down a shaft and couldn’t be reached. They say his ghost still lingers there. People have heard unexplained footsteps approaching them and then suddenly they are confronted by the ghostly apparition of a headless man in miner’s clothing.