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Detours with locals. Travel tips you can trust.

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By The Way


A NIGHT WITH THOUSANDS OF CLOWNS IN AMERICA’S SCARIEST MOTEL


THE CLOWN MOTEL, IN THE REMOTE NEVADA DESERT, IS LITTERED WITH CLOWNS AND
GHASTLY RUMORS. WE WENT TO INVESTIGATE.

9 min
75
We stayed in the scariest motel in America
3:02

Travel reporter Natalie Compton traveled deep into the Nevada wilds and stayed
overnight at a clown-themed motel in Tonopah. (Video: Monica Rodman/The
Washington Post)
By Natalie B. Compton
October 31, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. EDT

TONOPAH, Nev. — The parking lot of the Clown Motel was not empty, even though
it’s a motel filled with clowns. Even though it’s next to a cemetery. Even
though it’s allegedly haunted.

Plenty of people come here, despite the red flags.

“Nothing scares me, especially not clowns,” a guest with a Colonel Sanders
goatee told me near his room on the first floor. Behind him, a black door was
painted with fake blood.




WHERE TO GO

Our favorite destinations: Take our destination quiz to choose your own
adventure. Then read about 12 dream destinations at the top of our wish list —
without the crowds.

Travel like a local: Residents share their favorite places in our top city
guides: New Orleans, Rome, Tokyo and Mexico City.

National parks: Explore tips from locals for visiting Yosemite, Glacier and
Everglades.

Tales from the road: Trace a route along the southern coast of Puerto Rico. See
how jamón gets made in the heartland of Spanish pork.



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