A Ghost Town Called Jerome By Cheryle Hoover Davis At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Ever want to visit a real ghost town? Jerome, Arizona is one of the spookiest! Situated on Cleopatra Hill, Jerome hangs onto the side as tenaciously as her ghosts.

High on a hill called Cleopatra, in the Verde Valley, Arizona, sits a small town called Jerome. Once a thriving mining town, Jerome was abandoned after the copper, silver, and gold petered out and no soul had any further reason to stay. Except the ghosts. As many living beings as beings passed on, Jerome has a colorful, ghostly, past.

During Jerome's heyday, the population reached some 15,000 people and was truly a wild and wooley place to live! A rip-roarin', foot-stompin', six-shooter kind of town, with so many vices and gunfights it was nicknamed the “Wickedest City in the West”.

Many of her population died in mining accidents. Some in gunfights, some overdosed on opium and had other misfortunate deaths, and so, as the living population dwindled, the ghostly population thrived.

One notable building, now the town's Community Center, is known as “Spook Hall” as there are numerous strange occurrences rendered by the resident ghost. Before this Community Center was built, there stood a number of shacks, one of which was occupied by a prostitute. She was stabbed to death by a miner and her spirit has been seen lingering in front of the Center before moving on toward a hotel down the street. Then she vanishes.

Another Madame, Jennie Banter, had become the richest woman in Arizona at her bordello in Jerome. She, too, was murdered by a client and her spirit haunts the Mile High Inn on the main street.
Jennie has been known to frequent the kitchen and upstairs portions of the Inn, where her apartment was.

Humans are not the only ghosts residing in Jerome. A cat is purported to walk the halls, brushing up against visitors, then vanishing before they can stoop to pick it up.

An elderly gentleman ghost roams the Inn, dressed in work clothes. He has the habit of rearranging pictures on the walls and has often left an indentation in the beds of some rooms. People who have experienced this spirit describe him as friendly.

Further down Main Street is Connor Hotel. Many strange happenings have been known to frighten people half to death. Women laughing, cold chills, armoire doors opening and closing, and odd images appearing on pictures have forced some people to immediately seek out living companions for comfort.

Many more ghostly sightings, sounds, and appearances have haunted the little town of Jerome. As much as the living population has grown, in modern times, it seems the ghostly population has never subsided. Those attracted to Cleopatra Hill are forever linked to the souls of days gone by.

Today, the town bustles with tourists and houses artists from all over the country.

The winding mountain roads leading to the little town on the side of Cleopatra Hill are steep and narrow, but it doesn't stop the hundreds of thousands of tourists from visiting Jerome each year. Be sure to visit when in Arizona!

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