Haunted houses: explore and welcome the paranormal

Caedmon Waterman

More stories from Caedmon Waterman

We all know what’s coming around, the holiday that scares us as much as it stuffs us with our favorite treats. This can only mean October is upon us and everyone is in the mood for a good scare, but sometimes movies just can’t fill our thirst for a good spook. Instead of heading to the theatres, check out some of these haunted locations in Arizona that will make your legs tremble and send chills down your spine. So pull up your big boy/girl pants and go on an adventure to these four horrifying haunted houses near you.

  • Bird Cage Theatre, Tombstone

The Bird Cage Theatre is an old movie theatre that was fairly popular back in its day. This theatre was a prime source of entertainment for many as its old timey theatric appearance made it memorable for most. It earned its fame and popularity for the insane amount of reports of sightings and strange noises that were heard by locals. Some say you can still hear the disembodied voices of ghosts and ethereal music. Still today you can visit this old theatre and share a few scares with your family or friends.

  • Jerome Grand Hotel, Jerome

The Jerome Grand Hotel was built after a large hospital went out of business due to the crazy amounts of patient deaths and suicides. So instead of knocking it down the city decided to turn the old abandoned hospital into a giant hotel. After they got their brand new hotel up, a lot of paranormal activity was reported, whether it be screams at night in the halls or weird sightings of people thought to be corpses. Now, this old hotel is a great tourist sight and has even been on “Ghost Adventures” on the Travel channel.

  • Crook Tunnel, Bensen

The Crook Tunnel has some very morbid history. This tunnel was built in June 1902. In 1905 there was a passenger train that got trapped in the tunnel during a huge rockslide. It took days for men to dig out the train. When they finally got the train out, a lot of passengers were injured and some were missing. It is not clear if anyone died from the incident, however, there is one confirmed death that did happen in the tunnel.

Back in 1912, there was a man who was found near the train tracks battered and bruised, he was even missing one of his arms. He was believed to be drunk and passed out near or on top of the train tracks. Still today, you can visit this old spooky tunnel.

  • Vulture Mine, Wickenburg

Old abandoned mines have always been a hotbed for paranormal activities. The mine has been inactive for decades after a couple of indescribable incidents. People can still go inside and poke around the joint. Some say that the whole mine is active with suspicious activity such as echos with no source and random changes in temperature. However the most reported ghost encounters are in the mess hall where people can still hear faint talking, pots and pans clashing and even smell food being prepared.