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Apparitions at the Asylum Restaurant
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High on a hill overlooking the town of Jerome, sits the stately Jerome Grand Hotel. This ominous structure was built on a 50 degree mountain slope. It is five stories high and 30,000 square feet of what was once the United Verde Hospital. It opened its doors in 1927, and by 1930 it had become one of the best equipped hospitals in Arizona. 
When Jerome’s mining operations shut down, the population of this once thriving city decreased as well. The hospital closed in the 1950’s. Eventually the town became deserted and Jerome had suddenly become a ghost town. The menacing looking building lay vacant for years decaying like the other structures in Jerome.
In 1994, Phelps Dodge sold the building to its current owner, Larry Altherr and renovations were underway. After two long years, the hospital took on a new agenda. It was now the Jerome Grand Hotel. The sunny hotel rooms are former hospital rooms. The dining room of the Asylum Restaurant was once the entrance and lobby area of the old hospital.
In 2005, the MVD Ghostchasers held a second Spirit Photography Workshop in Jerome. We booked several rooms at the Jerome Grand Hotel for a night of investigating. As the workshop guests began to arrive, we ordered iced tea on the outside patio of the Asylum. We posed for our group picture on the steps that lead into the Asylum dining room. And then we checked into the Jerome Grand Hotel and began to uncover some of the mysteries of the building.
Kevin had been an employee at the Asylum Restaurant for many years. He told our group he had seen many strange things happen in the restaurant including seeing a couple of spirits from time to time.
“The first time I was walking through the kitchen alone taking out the trash,” Kevin told us, “Suddenly, I saw a man appear and disappear right in front of my eyes. He was peeking around a corner and looked me straight in the eye.”
“Do you remember what he looked like?” we inquired.
“He had a twisted smile and wore a blue work shirt,” Kevin recalled, “His hair was stringy and he had a sharp hook-like nose. I had to walk right past him which really creeped me out! Since then, I have met a lot of guests in the restaurant who have seen him too!”
Billie Brannock of Tucson was visiting Jerome and walked up to the Jerome Grand Hotel. It was late and the restaurant had already closed for the night. She stood at the north end of the Grand, in front of the Asylum and snapped a picture of what looked like a nurse standing on the outside patio balcony. She said the nurse had a white nursing cap on her head. She looked dark from the waist up and white from the waist down. Both arms reached down and out. It seemed she was holding a hand of a small child with her right hand and a basket of supplies in her left hand. She had no feet and saw no details in her face.
A gentleman seated at a dining room table excused himself to use the men’s room. While he was washing his hands, he turned to admire an old ironing board displayed along the wall in the restroom. Suddenly, the faucet turned off by itself. First he thought it was an automatic censored faucet system. But after turning the faucets on and off by hand several times, he declared the faucets were operating on their own. 
I received an email from a couple of ghost hunters who were spending the weekend at the Jerome Grand Hotel. Roman and Candace came down to the Asylum for dinner and found a table with a view of the Verde Valley. Candace suddenly announced she felt something touch her leg. They took some infrared thermometer readings and discovered the temperature was between 32-45 degrees. Everywhere else near the table was over 62-65 degrees. Was there an unseen guest seated at their table?
My very intuitive friend, Cap, spent a relaxing weekend at the Jerome Grand a couple of years ago. He had gone down to the Asylum for dinner and drinks and found a romantic corner to study the dinner menu. After ordering, he excused himself and headed to the hallway toward the restroom facilities. As he glanced down the hallway, he experienced a psychic vision that lasted several seconds. What he “saw” in his mind’s eye was a room full of people—doctors, nurses, and patients from another dimension bustling around in what looked like an emergency room. We learned he had been walking near the old emergency room area of the hospital. He was simply witnessing a scene from another time period as the hospital received another trauma victim.
While visiting Jerome, look for the blinking “Vacancy” sign at the Jerome Grand Hotel and drive up the narrow road to the old hospital. The Asylum Restaurant has lunch, dinner and wine guaranteed to get you on your feet again. Grab a table near a window and see breathtaking views of the Verde Valley, Sedona and Flagstaff. It’s like taking a dose of tranquility. And, don’t go to the Asylum if you are not ready to encounter one of the ghosts. That would be just crazy!
200 Hill Street
Jerome, AZ 86331
928-634-8200
200 Hill Street
Jerome, AZ 86331
928-639-3197
For more info: www.mvdghostchasers.com
Debe Branning nazanaza@aol.com
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