Clown Motel: The World’s Creepiest Motel
Between the Stephen King novel It, serial killer John Wayne Gacy’s affinity for clowns, and countless haunted houses which employ sinister cackling clowns with sharp teeth—it’s pretty clear that clowns are straight up terrifying. If images of blood-thirsty clowns keep you awake at night, it’s probably best for you to skip the Clown Motel in Tonopah, Nevada.
The Clown Motel was started in the mid-1980s by a brother and sister with wholesome intentions. Siblings Leona and Leroy David founded the Clown Motel to showcase their deceased father’s extensive collection of clown memorabilia. David and Leona filled the lobby with clown figurines, and adorned each room with clown paintings and other clown accessories.
Over the years, the Clown Motel became so wildly popular that the motel’s clown collection exploded from 150 clowns to over 2,000 clowns. There are cutesy clowns, sad clowns, and sinister clowns that look as though they will haunt your nightmares for the rest of time. One of the most popular clown figurines is a truly evil looking clown with rotten teeth who resides in a circus cage.
If creepy clowns galore just aren’t scary enough for you, the Clown Motel is located next to a desolate mining graveyard called the Old Tonopah Cemetery. The Old Tonopah Cemetery is the final resting place of hundreds of miners who were killed in accidents, fires, and a mysterious plague that was never formally identified.
An evening at the Clown Motel in rural Tonopah is the best possible way to scare yourself silly if you’re traveling between Reno and Las Vegas. There are few things more viscerally terrifying than staying in a motel lined with clown paintings that overlooks a mining cemetery full of rusty, decaying grave markers. Tonopah’s remote desert location will truly make you feel like you’re in a horror movie.
Address:
521 N Main Street
Tonopah, Nevada, 89049
United States
UnusualPlaces Field Notes
- Location
- The Clown Motel main lobby building, 521 N Main Street, Tonopah, Nevada, USA
- Coordinates
- 38.0722851861, -117.2376724381
- Access
- Travel Nevada invites visitors who are not staying overnight to drop by the lobby and gift shop, where the clown collection is displayed. The motel operator does not publish separate museum admission terms; call ahead to confirm walk-in access and current conditions. The front desk is listed daily 08:30–23:00 Pacific.
- Admission
- No separate public museum ticket or walk-in admission terms were found. Room rates vary by date; check with the motel before making a visit solely to see the collection.
- Time needed
- No fixed viewing duration is published for the clown collection. Travel Nevada invites non-guests to drop by the lobby; contact the motel to confirm current walk-in arrangements. For an overnight booking, the operator lists check-in at 3 p.m. and checkout at 11 a.m.
- Best season
- The operator and Travel Nevada do not name a preferred season. The motel lists daily front-desk hours; check room availability and current local travel conditions for your dates.
- Opening hours
- Office/front desk: daily 08:30–23:00 Pacific. These are desk hours, not published museum visiting hours. Check-in 15:00; check-out 11:00.
- Location checked
- 2026-10-13
- Facts checked
- 2026-10-13
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