Clown motel next to a cemetery is a traveler's nightmare

July 26, 2024

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This motel is no laughing matter.

A lodge in Nevada was named the “scariest motel in America” for good reason: It’s clown-themed and eerily located next to a cemetery.

Aptly named the Clown Motel, this desert destination is straight out of a horror film: Over 600 clowns can be found on the premises, according to the tourism website for Tonopah, Nev., which refers to the motel as a “landmark.”

Former owner Bob Perchetti, who sold the motel last year, said the collection only features “happy clowns” on site. Since selling the horrifying destination, the new owners have honored his theme by adding even more creepy clowns.

Pictures of the motel show wood paneling, walls of clown statues and outdated bedding. Perchetti’s collection reportedly contained clowns of all shapes and sizes, from life-sized to miniature.

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For some lighthearted reading, issues of Clowning Around magazine are distributed throughout the motel, a visitor once noted.

Directly next door is the Old Tonopah Cemetery, where 300 souls rest in peace. “Residents have died from plague, injury, the Belmont Mine Fire, suicides, and even murder!” the cemetery’s website reads.

In 1902, the town of Tonopah experienced a plague, the cause of which is still unknown to this day, reports Atlas Obscura.

Although ghost tours of the cemetery are a common pastime, Obscura reports that the town’s Mizpah Motel and Silver Rim Elementary School are more “actively haunted.”

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