Jerome Arizona

Connor Building

Spirits love to help and tease the living on both floors of the building.

connor-paranormal

DESCRIPTION

After his hotel had burned down twice, David Connor, who had fire insurance, was determined to have an upscale “lodging establishment” and other related businesses and built the building once again, in 1898, with a stone foundation and brick walls. The second floor had 20 upscale rooms with electricity, individual wood stoves, and a call button to rent for the very upscale price of a dollar a day. The first floor offered activities to pass one’s free time in an entertaining fashion, in the barroom, card rooms, and billiard tables. The hotel even had a bus to take its guests to the train depot.

Though the Hotel was too expensive for the “Ladies of the Night” to use for their customers, there was a false store front located at the west end of the building, which opened up to the infamous “Husband’s Alley,” where the Ladies had their own cribs, (little shacks with beds) to entertain customers, on the street just below Main Street.

As long as the mines flourished, so did The Connor Hotel and its first floor related businesses. However, as the mines waned, so did the profits of the Hotel. The Hotel closed in 1931, and the rooms were not used again for 30 years.

The first floor was rented out to various merchants who eked out a living, through the 1950s. To survive economically, in the ’60s, they started offering items that would appeal to the beginning slow trickle of tourists becoming interested in visiting Jerome because of Jerome’s notoriety as a ghost town. The shops continued to stay open throughout the ’90s to the present, though perhaps with different renters.

In the 1960s through the 1970s, Jerome was discovered by “counter-culture”, hardy people (some call them hippies) who saw new possibilities there. They opened natural arts/artisan shops, selling everything from candles to pottery to stained glass, which began to draw in more people, which started to stimulate Jerome’s economy, saving it from becoming a real ghost town.

The bar room was made bigger by incorporating the lobby of the Hotel into the bar itself. Through the years, the bar room transformed into a smoke shop, a restaurant, a freight office, and then was turned back into a bar. It is currently called The Spirit Room. Live musical entertainment is offered to the public on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, from 2:00 – 6:00 PM.

In the early 1960s, The Connor Hotel opened up once more, but with 10 rooms, not 20, as the rooms were made bigger. It was no longer a luxury hotel, but “a low budget flophouse of sorts.” Alas, it was closed once again in 1980, because of safety concerns.

In the year 2000, the current owners started to renovate the hotel, bringing it up to current safety standards with such things as a sprinkler system, fire escape, and adequate wiring, as well as renovating the rooms to their original splendor, plus some other modern perks the people of today expect. The rooms now offer “a wonderful blend of antiques and overstuffed furnishings, with great local artwork, and photographs depicting the history of Jerome.”

John Conner would be very pleased with the current Hotel of Jerome, The Spirit Room and the artesian shops which are on the first floor, catering to tourists and people who come to enjoy the recreation opportunities in the area.

MANIFESTATIONS

At least two spirits haunt the building, a Lady in Red and a Male Spirit, who make their home base on the second floor – The Connor Hotel of Jerome.

Room 1

Haunted by the Lady in Red and her friends?

Room 1 is located directly above the Spirit Room.

It was reported that one can hear women whispering, as well as out-of-the-ordinary noises not associated with anything else in the building, and scratching sounds.

A cold unseen presence tried to join one frightened gentleman in bed, by lying on top of him, which inspired a hasty retreat by him to his van, where he spent the rest of the night! He wasn’t that kind of man!

An artist who stayed in Room 1 kept seeing a Lady in Red in his dreams. He painted the large mural found above the bar in the Spirit Room, including a picture of the Lady in Red.

Room 5

People staying in Room 5 have experienced both hot and cold spots, had the hair on their arms and neck stand straight up, and heard strange noises as well.

The electrical appliances such as the TV and lights, and guests’ Palm Pilots have been known to malfunction.

Entities in general are fascinated with electrical gadgets and can’t help but play with them!

When Room 5 is empty, the alarm clock has been known to go off by itself, without being set by the living but by a ghost getting some chuckles.

Second Floor Bathroom

A relative of the current owner was using the bathroom facilities in the second floor bathroom, when she heard a very soft but clear man’s voice calling her, not once but twice, encouraging a hasty retreat downstairs.

She thought she was alone on the second floor; she was, except for a friendly Male Spirit!

Stairs and Hallway

Spirit Photographers, as they photographed the stairs, hallway and rooms, felt they were being followed by an unseen entity.

When they developed their pictures, they captured “the vortex of an Invisible Entity on the stairs.”

First Floor: The Spirit Room

In the past, the Lady in Red has appeared to unsuspecting people who were alone in the bar or in other parts of the building.

She is reported to just stand there, looking at the person, before slowly fades away.

In the past, people have reported that they were touched by an unseen entity in the bar and other places in the building.

People have reported having “odd, strange feelings,” in the bar and other parts of the building.

First Floor: Shops

Two ghosts, a man and a woman, like to wander through the artisan shops, to keep on eye on the living, “help out” and get some chuckles and attention at the expense of the living.

Perhaps these two ghosts are the ones who make their home base on the second floor in The Connor Hotel of Jerome.

My Own Observation:

I was looking in one of the first floor artisan gift shops, standing behind an older woman, who was looking at the small candles sitting in a box on a lower shelf.

Suddenly, the box was on the floor with a big bang, like someone had pushed it off the shelf, which flustered the older woman.

The shop attendant who was working in the store room behind a curtain, came out and explained to us calmly that not to worry, it was just one of the ghosts “helping” the woman to get a better look at the candles and getting attention and personal chuckles at the same time. Tourists are fun to startle!