Haunted hotel guide · Jerome, Arizona
Ghost City Inn, Jerome: A Haunted Bed and Breakfast in an 1890s Boarding House
A wooden boarding house on Main Street, long verandas over the Verde Valley and, if guests are right, a former resident who still tucks people in at night.
The Ghost City Inn sits on Main Street (Highway 89A) in Jerome, the old copper town on Cleopatra Hill, in a two-story house built around 1890 to lodge the mine’s middle managers. Its long front verandas look out across the Verde Valley to the red rocks of Sedona, and inside the floors still slope and the beadboard ceilings are original. It is one of several haunted hotels in Arizona within walking distance of each other in Jerome.
The name comes from Jerome’s nickname. After the mines closed in 1953 the town nearly emptied, and it has called itself a ghost city ever since. The inn’s own website talks about rooms, breakfast and views rather than spirits, but published accounts and guest stories give the house two ghosts of its own: a woman in the Cleopatra Hill room and a man in the upstairs hall.
Ghost City Inn at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 541 N Main St (Hwy 89A), Jerome, AZ 86331
- Built Around 1890 as a boarding house; restored as a B&B in 1994, with more work in 2003 and 2014
- Most haunted spots The Cleopatra Hill room and the hallway outside the Verde View Room
- Best-known ghosts A gentle woman said to have lived in the house for decades, and a man seen in the hall
- Booking the haunted room Rooms have names, so ask for the Cleopatra Hill room when you book with the inn.
- Good to know A small B&B with private bathrooms, an upstairs reading room and a hot breakfast. Ask about midweek discounts.
The ghosts of Ghost City Inn
The lady of the Cleopatra Hill room
The inn’s best-known spirit is a woman linked to the Cleopatra Hill room, named for the hill Jerome is built on. Legends of America describes her as a female spirit still at home in the house, and one magazine account says she was a woman who lived there for more than six decades.
What guests describe is gentle: a sense of someone in the room, and reports that she covers sleeping guests with blankets and strokes their hair. Other write-ups call her playful and say she rarely lets her presence go unnoticed. There is no record naming her, so treat her identity as house legend.
The man in the hall
A male figure has been reported in the hallway outside the Verde View Room upstairs. Nobody has put a name to him. Given the house’s first use, guests tend to take him for one of the mine officials who boarded here in the 1890s.
He is described as a passing presence rather than anything threatening: a shape at the end of the hall, footsteps when the corridor is empty.
Slamming doors and voices
Beyond the two named spirits, guests report doors slamming shut by themselves and voices heard when nobody else is in the building. A house that has been a boarding house, a family home, a restaurant, a spiritual retreat, a funeral home and an art gallery has had plenty of people pass through it.
As with most small B&Bs, the stories come from guests and published ghost guides rather than from the inn itself, which keeps its focus on hospitality.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- Cleopatra Hill room: The room linked to the inn’s female spirit. Request it by name when you book.
- Verde View Room: A Victorian-style room with valley views; the man in the hall is reported just outside its door.
- Northern Exposure Room: A rustic, cabin-style room if you would rather keep your distance from the stories.
- The verandas: Not a room, but the best seat in the house after dark, with the lights of the Verde Valley spread out below.
History of Ghost City Inn
Jerome grew from copper claims filed on Cleopatra Hill in 1876 into a company town for the United Verde Copper Company, which was formed in 1883. As the mine grew, it needed housing for the men who ran it, and the building that is now the Ghost City Inn went up around 1890 as a boarding house for middle management.
The house outlived the mining boom. Accounts of its history say it was home to the Garcia family for more than 50 years, and at various times it has also served as a restaurant, a spiritual retreat (the inn’s site calls it an ashram), a funeral home and an art gallery.
When the mines closed in 1953, Jerome’s population fell to fewer than a hundred people. The town became a National Historic Landmark in 1967, and tourism slowly took over from copper. In 1994 a major restoration turned the house into a bed and breakfast, followed by further restorations in 2003 and 2014.
Today the inn keeps the quirks of an old Jerome house, including uneven floors and original ceilings, alongside private bathrooms, air conditioning and satellite TV. Breakfast is cooked each morning, and the inn offers packages with local outings such as the Verde Canyon Railroad.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Ask for the Cleopatra Hill room when you book, and mention you are interested in the house’s stories.
- Spend the evening on the veranda; the view over the Verde Valley at dusk is the main reason people come back.
- Walk up the hill to the Jerome Grand Hotel, the former mining hospital, for dinner at the Asylum.
- Jerome’s Main Street is steep and narrow. Park once and explore on foot.
- Ask about midweek and extended-stay discounts, which the inn advertises.
More haunted hotels nearby
- Jerome Grand Hotel: the old copper company hospital at the top of town
- Connor Hotel, Jerome: an 1898 hotel a short walk along Main Street
- Hassayampa Inn, Prescott: Faith the bride, about an hour over Mingus Mountain
- Haunted hotels in Arizona
Stayed in one of these hotels? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from guests and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your stay. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Ghost City Inn haunted?
Guests and published ghost guides say so. A female spirit is linked to the Cleopatra Hill room and a man has been seen in the hall outside the Verde View Room. The inn itself does not market its ghosts.
Why is it called the Ghost City Inn?
The name comes from Jerome’s nickname. The town nearly emptied after the mines closed in 1953 and has been known as a ghost city ever since.
What is the most haunted room at the Ghost City Inn?
The Cleopatra Hill room, where guests describe a gentle woman who covers them with blankets and strokes their hair.
How old is the Ghost City Inn?
The house was built around 1890 as a boarding house for the mine’s middle managers. It became a bed and breakfast in 1994.
Is breakfast included at the Ghost City Inn?
Yes. It is a bed and breakfast, and breakfast is cooked fresh each morning.
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.
- Ghost City Inn (official site)
- Ghosts of Jerome, Arizona (Legends of America)
- Boo! Arizona's most haunted hotels (AZ Big Media)
- Haunted bed and breakfasts in Arizona (Only In Your State)
- Jerome, Arizona (Wikipedia)
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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