Edinburgh Manor

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Built in 1908, this building is rumored to be hopping with haunts. It has been a mental institution among other things, and at least 80 people are said to have died here. For ghost enthusiasts, the place is available for private lockdowns.

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Geographic Information

Address:
13241 E23 County Home Road
Scotch Grove, Iowa 52205
United States

Get Directions »
GPS:
42.13382473978221, -91.1354416613176
County:
Jones County, Iowa
Nearest Towns:
Center Junction, IA (2.8 mi.)
Onslow, IA (6.4 mi.)
Monticello, IA (7.7 mi.)
Anamosa, IA (7.9 mi.)
Wyoming, IA (8.3 mi.)
Olin, IA (9.4 mi.)
Morley, IA (10.5 mi.)
Stone City, IA (11.0 mi.)
Cascade, IA (13.0 mi.)
Monmouth, IA (13.7 mi.)

Contact Information

emanor@inbox.com
Web:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Edinburgh-Manor/338082976253324
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Comments (27)

  1. I worked all shifts here, including the night shift and the only noises you’ll hear is this old buildings bones. Its not haunted, been there all over basement attic and all…alone… Really there isn’t anything special about this place. It was where several people where improperly taken care of by staff and overlooked by the ” big wig” which would often have break downs in their office or sexual encounters with the residents inside this building. One of of a night staff by the name of Zeke would have sexual acts performed on him for the men and women to gain a cig or or two. Its a sad place and should be torn down. Nothing good ever has happened there..but haunting is not on the list of truth.

    • I have a small team of 3, me and my daughters. I have been to Edinburgh 3 x’s. I’m VERY skeptic. The firat time we were there we heard the loudest noises. Sounded like furniture being moved in the warm room. I got up and ran towards it and it stopped. I went and sat back down and it started again. Just before the noise, we picked up on our recorder a very loud Hum like a swarm of bees and then the furniture moved not just a little it was so loud it sounded like someone running towards us down the hall with boots on. But it was in fact coming from the warm room. We were in the basement and got an EVP that said clear as can be “I’m gonna cut you” I put the Devils Toy box (digital dowsing) in a room with a recorder and something played with that box most of the night. This was just one of our visits. So do I think Edinburgh is haunted by those poor souls, YES.

    • I’m wondering why these horrible acts were not reported? I worked my way through school by working in a nursing home and I turned a few people in. They deserved everything they got for the awful care of the patients. And what you have said is just HORRIBLE to say the least.. There are places to go to report behavior like this..

    • To res if all this was happening to these people living there while you were working g there why may I ask that you did not advocate for these poor souls and report this behavior. As far as I’m concerned you were just as guilty as the ones abusing these poor souls by turning your head and allowing it to continue.

    • So, you worked at this place? Why don’t you send me an email? tuskgee22@gmail.com I would love to here about some of the history. I just did an overnight investigation, and I am 110% positive it is haunted. I HAVE A PRETTY GOOD PATHWAY WITH THE SPIRIT WORLD. I have had several encounters in various places. I talked to the joker, and Abby. It is all on video. The others in my group could hear things she was saying that I couldnt. It got really quiet, so I asked her if she wanted me to stay. She clearly said yes. So, please contact me. We are planning a more in depth overnight there again. My name is joe.

  2. Also, one point to add in here is when community care was in charge of the quality in staff to these often dropped and forgotten souls.. the only thing they were interested in is the profit to come in. They do NOT care for the quality of services provided or the welfare of the ppl being forced to live under horrible circumstances. One example is the conditions of the toilets and showers. Which would be one room, two toilets one or two showers. You would line up three ppl…two on the pot while one showers and rotate. Unprofessional to the extreme. They would see eachother nude, ALL the time. Their dignity was non existent.

    They would leave a 90 year old women in bed for days soaked n her own urine. She would have sores from the bed and urine. Would just take a wash cloth to her and send her off to wherever. Lay towels over a womans legs and would allow her bf to have intercourse with her while she was on a breakout of warts. No educate ladies on appropriate use of tampons or pads and allow their menstrual cycle to flow all over the building.

    Cooks would bring drugs in and have one semi with it res wheel and deal dop inside the building..so that the state “spend down” was bet and the benefits could keep flowing in, plus they make their nice profit on high priced dope and pills. I could go on and on about the care that was given to these ppl and last I knew they just moved locations and that was it… these people are already mentally ill and with the Community Care “over looking” these people they are in prison living a lift sentence.

  3. my mom used to work there and i would go to work with her once in a while and every time i got a feeling there was something there other than the residents and my mom also had strange experiences while working there as well.

  4. My team and I have been here three times, twice on our own, since they’ve opened the building up to investigations.

    Back in August, my co-founder and I were walking into the old laundry room when heard something out of my left side and had the feeling of a major cold spot and every hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Out of all the places that my team and I have investigated, I’ve never had this feeling. Even after 7 months, it’s still one of the strongest personal experiences.

  5. I’m researching this article for a school project. I need to know if it’s haunted or not? Any clues, or people I could ask, about the Edinburgh Manor?

  6. My group and I have been here a few times. While our investigations have sometimes been quiet, except for the disembodied voices we’ve heard on more than one occasion, we have pulled some great EVPs out of here. That combined with the other evidence our group has been able to obtain, I would have to say there is definitely paranormal activity taking place in the building.
    As for the comments made by “Res”, I think your points are very valid. It is a sad place and there probably have been some very sad experiences here, without a doubt. I have to believe that there were some people who were happy in this building, perhaps at least in the years prior to being shut down, though. But, I do appreciate you’re bringing the reality of the conditions to light. Thank your the information.

  7. My team has been there probably 8 or 9 times. We have photographs of shadow people, more EVP’s than we can count, been grabbed, touched, heard the loudest disembodied laugh any of us have ever heard, and even followed home by a spirit. We have investigated Waverly Hills, Bobby Mackey’s, Missouri State Penn, and so many other places, and we always come back to Edinburgh because we have never NOT gotten anything there. Always active and always an amazing experience. We will continue to go for many years to come. It’s also where we like to do our public investigations!!! We have turned stubborn skeptics into believers that ran to the car and never came back, and yes, it was hilarious!!!

    • I realize its been like 4 years since u submitted your comments but i had a similar experience. A few of us decided to drive out there late one nite…we got there about 3a.m. we never went inside but just being outside was enough to make me a believer. You mentioned that you were followed home by a spirit. I feel that something followed us home too. Whatever it was was not a happy spirit. If this msg finds you id really like to tlk to you about it. Please contact me at bratanawanaluski@gmail.com

  8. I worked in this building on all shifts and heard many things . I have also investigated in the building and have seen and heard many things . I have even encountered something that was tall and dark that was going to try and attack me one night while working . This place is something . Yes sometimes when I’ve investigated it’s been quiet and nothing happened, but other times I’ve got tons of things to happen .

  9. I went to Edinburgh in September this year with a few other’s. We had a great time! The best evidence we captured was from my boyfriend’s go pro camera he had on his head. When we were leaving one of the room’s, two members in the group heard a ball drop in the room upstairs from us and continue bouncing for about 8 second’s. When we reviewed the evidence, I was thrilled we caught it! We went upstiar’s right after and there was absolutly nothing that could have made that sound. They speak of a little girl spirit, so we figure it was her playing with a, “ghost ball.” We are going back next year for sure! Besides that, we were touched, great K2 communication’s all night and just a great experience!

  10. My husband’s grandparents used to run and live the manor in the early 60’s, while raising 5 children there. Stories have been told when they took the manor over, the conditions were very primitive and inhumane. The family transformed the manor physically and mentally during the time of their employment. They remodeled to update building. They also took the residents and made them active in life, examples are having residents jobs :growing the manors food by a massive garden , helping others around the area farm land, daily chores were helped with. Bless their souls. My husband’s father said it has always been erie living there.

  13. My mother was a patient out there from 2007 up until it closed (2010, I think?). Anyways, I would often visit her there, at least once per month, and I had a few different paranormal encounters. Before these experiences, I was very much a skeptic of the paranormal, but this place changed me forever.

    There was a recreation room near an old fire door, and I have vivid memories of poltergeist-like activity in this area of the manor. Especially the old pool table. I am no pool shark, but I have played a lot of pool in my day, and the pool balls would behave irrationally. For instance, there would be times, they would fly into the air, off of the edge of the table, and rolling onto the floor, with nobody even playing pool! They would sometimes spin, like you would spin a basketball on your finger, and sometimes they would sink into the holes on the pool table on their own.

    Also, the old, OLD “dinner bell” located outside in the rear of the manor, would often times ring on its own, late at night, with nobody ringing it. And while the skeptic in me at the time would attribute this to the wind, this bell is very heavy cast iron, and would swing violently even on calm nights.

    Yet another experience, would be the time I visited and witnessed an out of place woman rocking gently in a rocking chair in the “TV room” just inside the main entrance. This woman wore early 20th century style clothing, an old-timey night gown in particular. When I went upstairs to visit my mother, this decrepit old woman somehow managed to climb up another set of stairs, and beat me to the second story, all in less than 30 seconds, because I saw her, in the SAME rocking chair, rocking in a common area on the second floor. On a similar note, some of the other patients and staff members felt out of place as well, and there would be times where it was hard to tell which ones may have been spirits and which ones were flesh and blood.

    And finally, I have recollections of my father’s vehicle acting very strange when we would try to leave the manor. More often than not, the battery would be drained, sometimes the electric windows would roll up and down on their own, and the headlights would sometimes flash on and off. I recall one such instance, but I also witnessed a woman, all in white, staring at me through the rear-view mirror. When I turned my head to see her, she was gone.

  14. The Edinburgh Manor was actually built in 1850 and not 1908, Edinburgh Manor has history dating to the 1850’s, so, yeah, sorry to break it to you

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