That red-brick building on a quiet gravel road in Iowa has been many things over the years: a poor farm, a home for the forgotten, an asylum, and now one of the most haunted locations in the entire Midwest.
I first heard about it and thought it sounded like the kind of place that only exists in movies. It does not.
More than 150 people are believed to have passed within its walls, and if the stories are true, some of them never actually left.
I stood outside on a gray afternoon, watching the windows stare back at me like empty eyes, and felt that particular weight that only old buildings carry. The air was still, the kind of stillness that makes you lower your voice without thinking.
The building does not just have history. It has a pulse.
The Dark History That Built Edinburgh Manor
Long before Iowa’s Edinburgh Manor became a destination for ghost hunters, it was a place of last resort for people society had largely given up on. The original poor farm on this land started operating around 1850, offering shelter and food to the elderly, disabled, and destitute in exchange for labor.
It was not a kind arrangement. It was survival, barely.
By 1910, a new brick building replaced the aging structure. The manor continued housing the poor, the mentally ill, and the elderly, eventually functioning more like an insane asylum than a care facility.
Conditions were reportedly grim, and the mistreatment of residents is frequently cited as a reason so much paranormal energy seems to linger here.
When the building finally closed in November 2010, it was deemed unsafe for habitation. Personal belongings and medical documents were left behind, scattered through rooms like the place just stopped mid-sentence.
Over 150 passings are estimated to have occurred here across its long history. That weight is something you feel the moment you step through the front door.
The building does not let you forget what it witnessed.
Susie: The Little Girl Who Never Left Room 106
Of all the spirits reported at Edinburgh Manor, Susie is somehow the one that gets under your skin the most. She is described as a young girl, playful and full of energy, often heard giggling, singing, or running along the first floor.
Room 106 is said to be her favorite spot, where toys have been left out for her and where investigators have reportedly heard her laughing in response to questions.
What makes Susie especially unsettling is not her behavior. It is something she allegedly communicated to investigators: that she was just dropped off there.
That detail feels heavy in a way that a full-body apparition never could. The idea of a child being left at a place like this, and then staying long after the building closed, is genuinely heartbreaking.
Visitors who have spent time in room 106 often describe a lighter energy compared to other parts of the building, almost playful. Some have reported hearing small footsteps in the hallway when no one else was nearby.
Whether you believe in ghosts or not, Susie’s story is the kind that stays with you long after you have driven away from Scotch Grove.
The Joker: The Basement’s Most Terrifying Resident
Nobody who has visited Edinburgh Manor’s basement comes back with a casual story. The Joker is described as a tall, slender man with a disturbing smile, and he is not the kind of presence that just floats around in the background.
He is active. He touches people.
He throws objects. Dishes have reportedly been sent flying across rooms when investigators get too comfortable down there.
He is most often encountered near the boiler room and a former padded room in the basement. The belief among paranormal investigators is that he took his own life in that area of the building.
Whatever his story was in life, his energy in afterlife is described as genuinely malevolent, not mischievous like Susie, but aggressive and unsettling in a way that leaves marks, sometimes literally.
One review from a visitor described a door being held open by a cinder block suddenly closing between two people near the boiler room. Another group captured audio of screaming after one of their members said something that apparently did not sit well with whatever was listening.
The Joker does not seem to care whether you believe in him. He will find a way to make you reconsider.
The Shadow Man and the Woman in White
Not every spirit at Edinburgh Manor announces itself loudly. The Shadow Man and the Woman in White operate differently, and somehow that makes them more unsettling than anything in the basement.
The Shadow Man is reported to make guests feel genuinely unwanted, sometimes pushing that feeling hard enough that people actually leave. It is not aggression exactly.
It is more like a pressure that builds until you cannot ignore it.
The Woman in White tends to appear on the second-floor landing. She shows up at a distance, clearly visible for a moment, and then simply vanishes.
No dramatic exit, no noise. Just gone.
Visitors have described catching her out of the corner of their eye and turning to find nothing there, which is arguably worse than seeing her straight on.
What strikes me about these two is how different their energy feels from the rest of the building. The Joker wants a reaction.
Susie wants company. But the Shadow Man and the Woman in White feel more like remnants, echoes of people who had nowhere else to go.
Edinburgh Manor collected the forgotten in life. It seems to have kept them in afterlife, too.
That thought alone is enough to make the second-floor landing feel very, very long.
What a Paranormal Investigation Night Actually Looks Like
Spending a night at Edinburgh Manor is not your average ghost tour experience. The building has no heating and no running water, so overnight guests need to come fully prepared with their own bedding, warm layers, and a plan.
One reviewer mentioned temperatures dropping to a feels-like of negative 41 degrees during their visit. That is not a typo.
Cold is part of the experience here, though not always in the way you expect.
Guests are given access to a safe room inside the manor with a heater, chairs, and a table for equipment setup. After the investigation wraps, there is also a heated caretaker’s house available for sleeping.
The setup is surprisingly thoughtful for a place that looks this intimidating from the outside. Tour guide Kat has been mentioned repeatedly in reviews as knowledgeable, warm, and genuinely entertaining.
The activity people report during overnight stays ranges from cold spots and footsteps to full audio recordings capturing voices, responses, and even screams that were not audible in real time. Several groups have returned multiple times, noting that the energy shifts between visits.
One group described their second stay as far heavier and more draining than the first. Edinburgh Manor does not seem to offer the same experience twice.
Day Tours and How to Actually Visit
Not everyone wants to spend the night in a building with no heat and a basement full of aggressive spirits, and that is completely fair. Edinburgh Manor offers daytime tours that give you a solid look at the building, its history, and its most active areas without committing to a full overnight investigation.
The building itself is large and varied, with rooms that feel sad, eerie, nostalgic, and occasionally almost cozy depending on where you wander.
Reservations are required regardless of whether you are coming for a day tour or an overnight stay. Payment is accepted in cash.
The building is listed as open around the clock, but planning ahead is the smart move, especially if you want a guided experience with someone who actually knows the stories tied to each room and hallway.
The tour guide, Kat, comes up in almost every positive review as a highlight of the visit. Her knowledge of the building’s history and the individual spirits is detailed and delivered in a way that keeps you genuinely engaged rather than just spooked for the sake of it.
For anyone curious about Edinburgh Manor but not quite ready to sleep there, a daytime visit is a genuinely worthwhile afternoon. The history alone earns the trip out to Scotch Grove.
Why Edinburgh Manor Stays With You Long After You Leave
There is a specific kind of place that does not let go of you after you visit. Edinburgh Manor is that kind of place.
It is not just the reported hauntings or the creepy basement or the toys left out for a ghost named Susie. It is the cumulative weight of what this building was used for and who was left inside it, both in life and apparently afterward.
People who have visited multiple times consistently note that the experience changes. The first visit might feel heavy but manageable.
The second might leave you drained in a way that takes days to shake. Several visitors have described feeling emotionally flattened after their stays, not just tired but genuinely affected, like the building took something from them they did not offer willingly.
That said, Edinburgh Manor has a 4.9-star rating with dozens of glowing reviews, and people keep coming back. There is something magnetic about a place that holds this much history and this much unresolved energy in one building.
Whether you are there for the paranormal investigation, the photography, or just the deeply strange and fascinating history of Jones County, Edinburgh Manor delivers. It is one of those rare places where the past is not behind you.
It is right there in the room.
Address: 13859 Edinburgh Rd, Scotch Grove, Iowa 52310
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