Malvern, Iowa is the definition of a quiet small town. Its population is roughly 1,056, and the town is only about 1.59 miles long. Every home is vibrant and medium sized where people can raise a happy family, but it’s not always like that. Sometimes it’s hard for the town to remain quiet when it is the home of a place that craves violence and hosts paranormal activity. That place is the Malvern Manor.

Malvern Manor was built in 1869 as the 4th structure added to the town. Originally, the Manor was a hotel that primarily serviced the railroad. The owner thought that with the popularity of the railroad increasing, it would be a good idea to create a place where travelers could stay and relax.

The building continued to run as a hotel all the way up to the 1950s when it was changed into something else. At the time of the change, the Manor became what we consider to be a nursing home. The nursing home cared for patients with various conditions: including alcoholism, schizophrenia, and many other mental health issues.

The nursing home lasted a couple of decades. In the ‘70s it was shut down due to the hallways not being wide enough to properly transport patients. After the nursing home shut down they reopened the building as a group home. This group home was made to service any form of what they considered at the time to be a mental disorder. The group home continued to be in business until 2005 where the building was shut down and left abandoned with all its equipment left inside.

During the years of operation there were believed to be about 205 deaths that occurred in the Manor. Because of the sadness and anger that had happened in the manor some of the patients stayed even in the afterlife. Some of the famous spirits that currently haunt Malvern Manor are Gracie, Inez, and Susie.

Gracie was a patient during the nursing home and group home period and lived in the Manor a majority of her life even after death. Gracie suffered from dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, and schizophrenia and was reported to have about 13 personalities. There are no reports to how old Gracie is but many believe she is in the range from young to middle aged cause there have been many childlike apparitions by her room but also voices who sound older. Gracie started to become one of the most famous spirits because of paranormal activity and a story from when she still was alive. The story was that one night the nurses kept hearing a man’s deep voice screaming something in the distance, the nurses decided to check it out and heard the voice saying, “The devil’s coming to get me.” They later found out it was really Gracie that was saying it, but it was from one of her many personalities and from the voices in her head because of the schizophrenia. After the story was told many people would visit the Manor just to talk to Gracie.

Inez was a guest at a place across the Manor in 1901 and has stayed in the Manor after her death. Inez was a 12 year old girl who was staying at a place with her brother Otto. Both of them were playing outside when Inez wanted to go inside and play, her brother told her to go ahead and go inside and he would be right behind her. Minutes later Otto decided to head inside and go to their room, what he found was Inez in their closet hanging by her jump rope. Her death was ruled as an accidental death but many people looking at her story don’t believe that. Inez’s spirit now haunts the Manor and paranormal investigators go to the Manor and try to solve what happened to her. They report hearing giggles and a child-like shadow figure in the hallways.

Susie was a middle aged woman who resided in Malvern Manor. Susie had the mind of an 8 or 9 year old and stayed on the second floor of the Manor. Susie is known to be one of the spirits who are kind hearted and love talking to others. Because Susie had the mind of a child, many guests brought in dolls, toys, and coloring books for Susie to enjoy. Many guests report hearing giggles and a little girl’s voice when in her room and some were able to get Susie to color with them for a little while.

In 2013, paranormal investigator, Josh Heard, was investigating another paranormal place in Malvern when Josh had to step outside for a minute to clear his mind. Josh met a guy outside who wanted to know what he was doing, he then told the man that he and his friends were trying to capture paranormal activity. The man said he happened to have a place that had odd things occur and that he could not explain what was happening and that the place was just right across the street. So Josh and his team decided to head there, that place was Malvern Manor. Josh experienced a lot of paranormal activity and fell in love with the Manor and decided to buy it since the man was moving out of Malvern.

As of today, Josh Heard is still the owner of the Manor. He hosts paranormal tours for people to come and learn the history of the Manor and its patients. Josh encourages people to try and come in contact with the paranormal and experience activities maybe for the first time.