Ghost Adventures – Jerome Grand Hotel – S04E20

Ghost Adventures heads out to Jerome Arizona to investigate the Jerome Grand Hotel which used to be a hospital for the miners and others who lived the area over a hundred years ago. It treated patients with tuberculosis as well as the regular injuries associated with working in mines. There are claims that a patient a day passed away at the hospital and that the death toll could be as high as 9,000.

I was really interested in this episode because I’ve actually been to Jerome and stood in front of this very hotel. However, I had no idea about its past or that it had any connection with the paranormal. A good friend of mind lives in Arizona and this was one of the places we visited while going through Jerome and Sedona up to Boot Hill and Tombstone. Now I obviously need to plan another trip and make a return visit to the area. I have to say though I certainly got no air of paranormal activity when we were there. We spent the day there taking photos of the buildings the landscape and got no sense that paranormal activity was close by. There certainly wasn’t any marketing to the idea. I think the Haunted Hamburger was the biggest hint of paranormal we saw.

But on with the investigation.

Besides the deaths from the hospital there are several reported suicides among employees. Two maintenance workers committed suicide, but not before claiming to see apparitions and other paranormal events. They both talked about what they had seen and shortly thereafter took their own lives.

There is also a report of Claude Harvey who was killed near an elevator shaft. There is a tape outline of him on the floor where he passed and by the looks of things his head would have been removed by lowering elevator. Pretty grim stuff. But some say his death was on purpose and was covered up by the mining company.

They talk with Lonnie Anderson (no not the one from WKRP) but a man who works in the smaller building that used to be part of the hospital. He makes furniture and admittedly doesn’t go into the main building unless he has to. He hasn’t had specific experiences but he does feel things when he goes in there. He also feels he saw something moving around in there. He also feels that entities are in the building and that they have followed him home a few times. Lonnie also talked with one of the maintenance men about his experiences. Shortly thereafter, that man, Michael, took his own life. Was he troubled by the spirits in the buildings or the demons in his own life? Sad either way.

Zak wants Lonnie to come along for the investigation so they go talk to his wife Renee and she relays several experiences they’ve had in their house. She has felt forces and feels they have even blocked her from moving around from time to time. She isn’t scared of them, but she does think their place is full of activity and that they do in fact follow her husband.

As they gear up for the first part of the investigation they now have cameras mounted on to their shoulders. Egad, it’s taken this long for someone to come up with the head of some sort of camera that’s pointed the same way as the investigators? However, it would make more sense for it to be on their heads or foreheads so that it would actually move as they move their heads, but I guess this is a step in the right direction even if it is a tiny one.

The guys head off to the elevator shaft to see if they can communicate with Claude. They supposedly get the voice of a woman asking for them to listen and give her help. That is really all that happens during this first part, it is quite subdued.

For the second part they head to the smaller building where Lonnie works and bring him into the investigation. Right as they start there is a very loud bang as though a door was slammed, but it wasn’t captured so we really have no idea what happened. The part to note here is that Zak is wearing a new jacket they’ve come up with that has sensors throughout it that detect temperature fluctuations as well as EMF readings. By accident Zak proves that it can be triggered by their walkie-talkies. It’s not bad, it just means it can go off by coming into contact with ordinary, everyday things.

After the scare with the door slamming they split up and go to different parts of the old building. Aaron goes to the old morgue, Nick goes to the second floor while Zak and Lonnie try to talk to Michael, one of the maintenance guys who committed suicide.

Aaron feels that he is being watched and that people are circling him, checking him out. Nick says he saw a black mass and went after it. He says he feels cold and numb. Zak and Lonnie feel cold and Lonnie feels a pain in his leg as they try to talk to Michael. There is the sound of another door closing or some other bump while they talk.

Aaron eventually calls out so Zak and Lonnie go to find him. He’s all worked up over feeling watched. They go get Nick and head to the attic. I’m not sure why they head to the attic (I suppose the spirit ran in there) but up they go and while panning the area there is some sort of blob that rises on the screen. Zak firmly believes it to be some spirit orb rather than any sort of air pocket, rising gas or heat bubble.

Overall I don’t think the guys really caught that much. A slamming door here and there doesn’t mean too much. They got one supposed EVP and that isn’t really compelling. I certainly love the place they went to, I’m actually quite jealous. But is the Grand Hotel haunted? Is it full of spirits? I’m inclined to say no, but I wouldn’t mind staying there myself to find out for sure.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Ghost Adventures – Mizpah Hotel – S05E02
• Ghost Adventures – Crazy Town – S07E13
• Ghost Adventures Documentary
• Ghost Adventures – Return to Linda Vista Hospital – S06E05
• Paranormal Lockdown – St. Ignatius Hospital – S02E04
• Ghost Adventures – The Stanley Hotel – S04E05
• Paranormal Challenge – Jerome Grand Hotel – S01E12
• Ghost Adventures – Linda Vista Hospital
• Ghost Adventures – Hotel Leger – S16E05
• Ghost Adventures – Tuolumne Hospital – S08E03