You might want to read this during the day time.
I recently learned about something that sounds absolutely terrifying (though some people into ghost chasing and the macabre would love it): a clown-themed motel next to a cemetery.
Yes.
Oh, and they’re both purportedly haunted.
It’s so bizarre and quirky that I had to share it with you.
Quick History
You’ll find the Clown Motel in Tonopah, Nevada, which is roughly between-ish Reno and Las Vegas. Tonopah is also about 70 miles away from Area 51 and the Tonopah Test Range. (AvGeeks who live in or visit Vegas are likely familiar with the JANET flights ferrying government employees and contractors between LAS and, presumably, Area 51.)
Rates seem to be below $50 a night. I don’t believe they fly any major chain’s flag.
Medium tells us that brother and sister LeRoy David and Leona David opened the Clown Motel in 1985. YouTuber Justin Scarred says it was so they could be closer to their father — who is buried in the adjacent Old Tonopah Cemetery. (More on that in a minute.)
Ownership has changed hands (or oversized gloves?) a couple of times.
Current owner Hame Anand seems like the perfect match. Thrillist reports he went to the circus as a child — and the tigers, elephants, and aerial performers scared the living daylights out of him.
But the clowns were A-OK. (Hey, to each their own.)
Mr. Anand lives at the hotel and told Thrillist, that he often “heard sounds from unoccupied rooms — footsteps, knocking, voices. The thought of wandering ghosts from the graveyard and endlessly staring clown dolls might have spooked the average hotelier, but [he] isn’t the average hotelier.”
I guess not.
The motel has developed a cult following. There’s even an Instagram page dedicated to people’s pictures taken inside the lobby and other parts of the property. Writer Christopher Sebela spent a month living at the Clown Motel — and wrote a book about his experience.
The Cemetery
The dusty Old Tonopah Cemetery was operational for just ten years: 1901-1911.
The cemetery’s website says about 300 souls are interred there. Its “permanent residents” (their words, not mine) died from “plague, injury, the Belmont Mine Fire, suicides, and even murder!”
Yep. There’s an exclamation mark after “murder.” I guess they’re pretty excited about it.
A theory is that spirits of some children buried in the Old Tonopah Cemetery venture over to the Clown Motel. Why? The clowns entertain the kids and make them happy. Spooky stuff, man.
Staying at the Clown Motel
Several vloggers paid visits to the Clown Motel.
Justin Scarred gives us this tour of the accommodations (including a junior suite!):
Omar Gosh recorded himself sleeping. A door creaked open in the middle of the night and a lampshade seemed fairly active. Though I wonder if those could be attributed to air conditioning currents or something like that. Not sure that I buy the clown peeking in on him.
Kelsi Davies seemed to have several encounters with spirits. (Be aware there are some expletives sprinkled throughout.)
Would You Stay — Or Have You Stayed — at the Clown Motel?
No clowning around here: would you spend the night at the Clown Motel? Or have you visited the place? Tell us in the below Comments section!
— Chris
H/T: New York Post
Featured image: ©iStock.com/lisafx
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