GHOSTMAP

The historic artist’s community of Jerome, Arizona is located on a mountainside above the Verde Valley. During the town’s heyday in the 1920’s, the Phelps Dodge Mining Corporation turned the town into a “billion dollar copper camp” but once the deposits ran out in 1953, the mines were shut down and the population dwindled. Years before, it was called the “Wickedest City in the West” but today, a small group of year-round inhabitants support and artist’s colony, art galleries, antique shops, colorful restaurants and bars and a number of museums devoted to days gone by. Not surprisingly, the living inhabitants are not the only ones to linger in Jerome!

There are many ghosts in Jerome and some of them reside at the town’s Community Center. It is said that many of the local citizens called the place “Spook Hall” because of the odd happenings that take place here. In fact, locals have become so used to their resident phantoms that a newsletter called the “Jerome Ghost Post” was published for awhile! The ghost of the Community Hall is actually a young woman who has been seen at the front of the building, walking toward a hotel that used to be the site of prostitution “cribs”.

One of these “ladies of the evening” is also said to haunt the Inn at Jerome, located on Main Street. During the copper camp’s heyday, it was said that more than 120 prostitutes plied their trade in town. One of madams, Jennie Banters, was said to be the richest women in northern Arizona. The Inn at Jerome is Jennie’s former home and while it is no longer a brothel, Jennie has remained behind. In fact, one of the eight rooms here is called the “Spooks, Ghosts and Goblins” room. Jennie and her phantom cat have frequently been reported in the house. The cat often vanishes before guests can pick her up and loves to brush against people in the kitchen. Jennie often moves things about in the kitchen as well and keeps the maid busy by rearranging furniture, moving objects and rotating the ceiling fan.

Bisbee, Arizona is thought to be one of the most haunted towns in southern Arizona. Founded in the late 1800′s as a mining town, Bisbee has seen its share of mining accidents, barroom brawling gone bad, and tragedy in general. This has paved the way for a veritable cornucopia of hauntings, sightings, and other miscellaneous paranormal activity.

A woman with worms crawling out of her eye sockets was observed walking down the dark alleyways of Brewery Gulch. The majority of the sightings are after midnight. When approached, she just vanishes into thin air. The ghost of an old lady carrying a rifle was spotted smoking a pipe under a streetlight in downtown Bisbee.

The ghost of a cleaning woman was seen mailing a letter at a Bisbee post office. The eye witness was frightened and ran away.

The ghost of a young air force pilot was observed by a man camping at a campground outside Bisbee. Other sightings of this ghost have also been reported.

The ghost of an Indian chief was seen walking from house to house in the early morning hours before sunrise on a Bisbee street.

A woman with an axe sticking out of her head showed up walking by a road outside Bisbee. The witness fled when she saw the ghost.

A man with a large hole through his torso was observed sitting in a chair outside of a house near Brewery Gulch.

British comedian Ricky Gervais got the fright of his life when publicity for his new movie was ruined by paranormal activity in a Hollywood hotel. Office star Gervais was recently hosting a series of press junkets for his new movie, Ghost Town, at the Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, but left in a hurry when spooky happenings scared him and his co-workers.

A terrified movie executive revealed that their work was disrupted by a string of supernatural occurrences.

The exec tells British newspaper the Daily Star, “We wanted the junkets at the Roosevelt because of its ghostly reputation. But we got so much more than we bargained for. A photoshoot we prepared was wrecked and two runners say they saw the figure of a lady in the full-length mirror. The final straw came when a production assistant stayed in the room earmarked for Ricky and claimed to have been freezing cold on the hottest day of the year. He said he woke up with someone whistling in his ear, even though he was alone, then heard a giggle before being pushed out of bed.”

The Roosevelt has long been known as the most haunted hotel in Hollywood after years of reported ghostly sightings.