The Clown Motel

Regular readers may know that I love both roadside oddities and clowns, so what better location than a day-trip than to The Clown Motel, in Tonopah, Nevada, about three hours from Las Vegas, on the road to Reno. I had seen the motel about three years ago during a visit, but couldn't get anybody to visit it with me until I found out a former classmate of mine at UNLV was into the macabre as much as I was, so she was my companion for the day.

The Clown Motel, as you might expect, is about clowns. When you walk into the lobby you are greeted with two walls covered with clown dolls and figurines. A life-size doll (the clerk on duty says she calls him Creepy) sits in a chair, with dozens of smaller clowns sitting in his lap. Each room has a clown on the door, and inside each room are paintings of clowns and more clown figures, in the bathroom, in the closet, everywhere.

You would think this would drive away business, and indeed it might, but it attracts a certain kind of person. The clerk wanted me and my friend to organize a Halloween party there, with everyone dressed as clowns, of course. My friend is actually thinking about doing it.

People want to think that the motel is haunted, but there have been no sightings or experiences. However, there is an old graveyard right next to it. It hasn't accepted anyone new since 1911, but it is kept up as some of the gravestones are new and flowers are placed on the graves. Many of the occupants died in a mine fire in 1911, and some others in a "plague" in 1908.

We also stopped in nearby Goldfield to take a look at the Goldfield Hotel, which is abandoned and said to be very haunted. My friend said she saw it featured on one of those ghost hunter shows. Her comment to me was, "If I had to commit a crime, it would be to break into that hotel." She's a keeper.

One of these days I have to stay in the Clown Motel to see if I get a peaceful night's rest. I may have to hurry--the motel is for sale, and who's to say the new owner will keep the clown theme. It's going for nine million dollars, but I'm afraid I'm a little short. If anyone wants to get together an investment group, please comment.