ROAD TRIP: Things that Went Bump in the Night

It's early morning, the week before Halloween. 

I'm sitting here in the dark, wondering if there is a halfway finished blog somewhere I can wrap up, add a few pictures and post. Then it occurs to me that I've never posted my "Bohemian Hedonist" essay here in the Thumbnail Traveler, which is really more of a lifestyle essay than one oriented on the subject of "being somewhere else". Maybe I'll republish that at a later date, but not this morning.

So, it being o'dark thirty, I figured I'd just launch into things and see where we go.

This being the Halloween season and all, I've been looking up all sorts of scary and haunted information on the web. Just up the road sits the Queen Mary, reputedly one of the most haunted places in America. And no wonder, really, given her history. A number of deaths, accidental ones, have occurred on the ship, giving rise to her reputation. Many people, including a few film crews, have seen and/or heard things which cannot readily be explained, at least by those people who want to believe in ghosts.

(I'm personally on the fence. While my romantic and fantasy-oriented nature make we want to believe such things exist in this world, my logical side hoots in derision. And my imaginary HATES being hooted at.)

But I have to keep an open mind, particularly in light of something that happened to us in the small -- and very haunted -- town of Jerome, Arizona. 

Located a few miles west of Sedona, itself the center of a mystical mythology, Jerome is a former mining town. It clings to the side of a mountain, giving the townspeople a sweeping view of the Verde Valley, and in the distance, Sedona and her famed red rocks.

Being a former western mining town, the history of Jerome is rough and tumble. A real boomtown after the discover of copper under Cleopatra Hill, the mountain upon which Jerome is situated. And, like all towns built upon the hope for vast riches, there were more than a few gruesome deaths (both deliberate and accidental) over the years.

Today Jerome is a small community of some 500 people, mostly based around the arts community. There are many galleries and artisan shops throughout town. The hotels are rustic and fun, and there are a number of places to get a good meal.

Sitting at the highest point in town is the Jerome Grand Hotel, built in 1926 as a hospital to care for the sick and injured -- again, in a mining town there were ample volumes of the latter. Being a hospital, the building is full of history. And death.

So...bearing in mind my logical side is openly rebelling, I have to relate a story which, to my imagination, leaves the subject of ghosts very much in the air.

A handful of years ago, we were on a moving vacation, visiting some of our favorite spots in Northern Arizona. The Grand Canyon, Route 66, Sedona, Flagstaff. And in my pre-trip planning, I found the Jerome Grand. My wife was game, so we made reservations and planned for a fun afternoon and evening in a town marketed as Arizona's Largest Ghost Town.

We checked in, getting a balcony room on the fourth floor, and confirmed reservations at the hotel's wonderful ASYLUM restaurant. However, it still being relatively early, we decided to go into town and look around. 

As we were getting ready, my wife went in to check her makeup in the bathroom mirror, calling out to me a moment later, saying the room smelled like rubbing alcohol. I went in and could smell it too. A strong scent, and very identifiable. I opened the door to the balcony and after a few minutes the smell went away. It hadn't been there when we first got to the room, indicating it hadn't been left over from a cleaning crew. We soon forgot about it and went about our business contributing to the local shops and buying several pieces of art for our walls at home.

We got back to the room in time to watch the spectacular sunset. Being that the room balconies face East, you're able to see the effect of the setting sun on the distant rocks near Sedona. 

Then, that night my wife kept tossing and turning and woke early the next morning complaining that she'd been dreaming all night that people kept rushing by her and making a lot of noise. I'd been unable to sleep well myself but it was because the room and hotel were actually pretty quiet -- which I found to be too quiet for me to drift off very well. Nothing scary, just too much city in me I guess. I need ambient noise.

So.

No real spooky stuff. Certainly no orbs or visions or other manifestations of things that go bump in the night, right? 

Four weeks later, as I was reading a book I'd picked up on Arizona hauntings, I discovered the floor we were occupying was, in fact, the surgical center for the hospital. 

Over the years a number of people had reported the strong smell of ether and alcohol on the floor, and that many people couldn't sleep because they had a sense of being in a chaotic environment...something like an Emergency Room or surgical center. *Ahem* 

None of which we'd read prior to the book, and none of which we noted or reported to anyone else. No chance anyone could have dropped a suggestion or otherwise influenced our experience. I was shocked, and both my wife and I got goose bumps. The descriptions in the book were so close to our own night that it was more than just uncanny, it was freaky.

So ghosts? Maybe, maybe not -- but there's no way I can dismiss this sort of thing as having a degree of credence. Been there, done it.

Can't explain it away.

Happy Halloween.

http://www.jeromegrandhotel.com/