Imagine you’re driving in the small town of Scotch Grove, Iowa. There is farmland as far as the eye can see, no buildings, no people. Suddenly you see a large building slowly coming towards you, it gives off a sad and lonely feeling but oddly seems inviting, like it wants you there, like it needs you there. This place is one of the most haunted places in Iowa, the Edinburgh Manor.
In the 1840’s- 50’s the first plan for the town of Edinburgh (later switched to Scotch Grove) was to build a county courthouse which would serve as the county seat; but the town soon realized that farming was not doing good, every crop they planted tended to fail. They decided it was best to scrap the county courthouse and build a Jones County Poor Farm in its place instead. This facility allowed the poor, disabled, and incurably insane residents to stay in the house in exchange for their labor. The Jones County Poor Farm claimed they would take care of everyone in their establishment, and offer a comfortable retreat.
In the Jones County Poor Farm building, there were many deaths that had occurred over the years. When a resident passed away most of them were left undocumented. There is no true number of how many people died, the only reason people know deaths occurred during this time was that there was a small graveyard on the side of the building that listed multiple names from the year 1850.
60 years later in 1910, Jones County decided to close down the Poor Farm. They decided to demolish the Farm and replace it with the building that is currently standing, Edinburgh Manor. They stated that they wanted to replace it with something that helps multiple populations in one place. Similar to the Farm, the new building’s purpose was to house elderly, poor and mentally disabled patients. The only difference between the two being that this new building would not make patients do labor, it would only take care of the residents.
During the years of operation, some treatment of the residents was not the best. Residents and patients were separated by genders and some rooms were overcrowded. Over the years some patients did die, but most lived a good life in Edinburgh and enjoyed staying there. Out of every Poor farm, Edinburgh manor was by far not the worst one out there.
Edinburgh Manor continued to be in business until November 2010, when it was shut down for not being safe because of the age, and the dangerous habitat. The 36 patients that were staying at the manor at the time were transferred to a different center in Anamosa, IA. After the closing, documents stated that there were 150+ deaths during 1910 to 2010, whether or not this information is true, we will never know.
The Jones County decided to sell the manor to the Land Trust in 2011, which is the first private owners of the property. Because of the many deaths that had occurred it led to the building being haunted. Spirits of patients who died there ended up staying in the building and causing disturbances. Many spirits won’t cause problems to guests, but there are still some to look out for. Many visitors report doors being slammed, objects being thrown, footsteps, spirits talking, and even a shadow man who is known to hurt guests and force them to leave.
As of right now Edinburgh Manor is still around and is officially opened to the public as a haunted house. People can go to the Manor and learn the story of the building and patients, and guests can even spend the night as long as they’re okay with having a paranormal experience.
