Travel-oriented YouTube channel Through My Lens recently uploaded a video entitled “24 Hours at the Scariest Motel in America (The Clown Motel),” in which channel owner Josh and his father explore the infamous Clown Motel in Tonopah, Nevada.
The Clown Motel describes itself as “America’s scariest motel.” Featuring spooky clown-themed rooms and a clown museum that boasts over 3,000 sculptures of clowns, The Clown Motel is an essential destination both for those interested in the macabre and the kitsch.
What Is Shown in Through My Lens’s Video?
The video takes viewers on a tour inside the motel, showcasing its unsettling atmosphere, only heightened by the fact that it overlooks a cemetery featuring stereotypical leaning crosses and tin signs.
Josh and his father speak with the motel’s owner, who explains that people from all over the world send him clown figurines, which he puts on display within the museum. Later, the two check into their room—number 210. Priced at $130 per night, the room is modeled after the setting of John Carpenter’s 1978 classic Halloween.
The motel offers other movie-themed rooms as well, most notably rooms inspired by It, The Exorcist, and Friday the 13th.
Is The Clown Motel Really “America’s Scariest Motel”?
Here’s A Throwback When Ghost Adventures investigated the Stanley Hotel in Colorado (2010) #GhostAdventures pic.twitter.com/EOdA0aMBkc
— Ghost Adventures (@GAC_Fanatics) July 14, 2023
Despite its claims to be “America’s scariest motel,” The Clown Motel certainly has some competition for the title. Take, for example, The Stanley Hotel in Colorado, a hotel so scary that it served as inspiration for Stephen King’s horror classic The Shining.
The Stanley Hotel is said to be haunted by the ghosts of its founders, among others. It is a popular destination for ghost hunters because of its high incidences of paranormal encounters, especially in Room 217, dubbed “The Stephen King suite.”
The Cecil Hotel: Even Scarier Than the Clown Motel and the Stanley Hotel
Los Angeles, California’s Cecil Hotel is arguably even creepier than any of the aforementioned hotels. Aside from being the place of death of Elisa Lam—whose case is one of the most disturbing true crime mysteries of all time—it has a sordid reputation.
Serial killer Richard Ramirez was known to stay at the Cecil Hotel during his crime spree. Additionally, the hotel has historically been home to nefarious activities, including drug dealing/use, prostitution, and even suicides.
Unlike The Clown Motel or The Stanley Hotel, the Cecil Hotel does not “sell” its creep factor. It is truly a home for the macabre.
