The Domes



Local legends are always fun. This one is very scary.

In Casa Grande (just northwest of I-10 meeting I-8, south on Thornton Rd which is a washboard dirt road) there's a place called "The Domes." This conglomeration of weird shaped buildings was originally built as a factory that never opened. What's left is a bunch of very long and Kiva-shaped buildings that are open to the elements.

And to transients.


People have reported black magic rituals, a rape and murder, black figures darting between the buildings, tapping on cars, weird sensations, and weird vibrations.

Well, you just know that I had to find out about it. I went with the leader of MVD Ghostchasers, Debe Branning, on a little road trip to document Adamsville Cemetery on the 33rd parallel. We were not far from The Domes, so we thought we'd investigate. The road down there is very very bumpy washboard dirt road. When you get to it, there's some barbed wire to contend with.

We were brave (or should I say stupid) enough to investigate further. We wondered if this might be a good place to bring the group to investigate at nighttime.

Oh boy, were were naive.


Admittedly, this was a good case of debunking. We walked onto the property, taking pictures of the crazy buildings--just look at it, it's very other worldly... I was anxious to get inside and do some EVP work in the daytime. Thankfully we went in the daytime.

I walked up to a long building and went to the open end of it (sort of like a plane hanger). I'm cruising along, taking shots and looking around. My eyes adjust to the darkness and I hear a voice very clearly talking. I stop and my eyes widen. Debe is in the distance taking shots and didn't hear it. I wonder if I imagined it, but it sounded so clear. Then, I hear footsteps inside, echoing off the walls.

Hey, maybe this place is haunted.

I step into the opening and look down the length of the crescent-shaped building to find a lot of stuff. A refrigerator, a dresser, a mattress, a lot of clothing...

Oh crap! Someone's living here.

I see a movement and realize there's someone at the far end and I have no idea if this guy is going to fight for his right to squat, so I take off, waving Debe to get the hell out of there. I can hear someone yelling and I know I've pissed this guy off.

Sorry, dude. Didn't know it was you haunting the place!

We picked up the pace, crossed the fencing, and climbed into the car, praying we don't have a flat tire. From the sounds of footsteps and voices, there were at least two or three of them in that building alone. I don't even want to know about the other buildings.

It's a regular commune.

Well, this is the problem with fascinating abandoned buildings, residence might be taken by ghosts, but almost surely by man. I wouldn't advise a trip to The Domes unless you want to stand back and take pictures.

It's definitely one of Arizona's weird and freaky spots.

Comments

  1. Wonderful post as always-I am so thankful to be linked to blogs that have Arizona Information in them-I definitely hope connection will stay so I can come back for a revisit this eve-I think I missed a post on my self imposed day off the net yesterday-best to you as always!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Devin;
    I'm hoping to cover some of the more obscure creepy and weird places in AZ, so keep reading.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the story. Mike and I are always looking for other places in Arizona to check out. I'm not sure about this place giving what happened to you, lol. Did the man scare you more than a ghost would have? We are going to add a list of some of Arizona's haunted places to our blog. You have given us some places we were not aware of.....thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Julie;
    There'll be a lot more coming up. I've been keeping records for MVD for years for potential spots to investigate and ones we have investigated and just plain old weird ones for the cemetery crawl event every spring. I was scared and disoriented at first when I head a voice but saw no one and then heard footsteps. By then, I sized up the furnishings inside and realized someone was living there. I knew to get the heck out of there. Most squatters are not happy with our presence and really want to remain anonymous. Ghostly things never scare me, they excite me. This definitely scared me. Women hunting alone should always bring protection and cell phones and go in groups. I'm just glad we checked it out in the daytime... I hope to write up some good daytrips or weekend getaways for ghosting in AZ soon.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have been there at night and it is very scary. Next time you guys come through AZ you should come back through Casa Grande, you need to check out our museum. I went through their with my cousin one day and just walking through there creeped us out. One of the ladys said she had seen somethings there. When you go out the back doors, you can visit one of the first integrated school houses for children. It was moved from its original location to the museum. Their is also a saloon their also. You feel as if someone is staring at you in the saloon. Good Luck!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have been to the domes at night and there was no one out there except myself and some friends. We were intent on showing how not haunted they were however there is most definitely something out there.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think even without the squatters, it would have totally creeped me out. It's been for sale for some time. I'm curious what it goes for. It just begs to be made into something, but I just don't know what.

    ReplyDelete
  8. $590,000.00 i believe it's listed for.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I do not think there is a permanent squatter there. This is a popular party spot on the weekends for underage drinkers. Also the walls echo extremely easy because of the shape and lack of noise pollution in the area. Either way still scary at night!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Miley;
    I went back there several months ago a few times and it was empty of squatters, very well tagged. Beautiful place. What it does to sound is really startling. That's why when the squatters yelled and chased me that time, it sounded like a huge gang of them and it might have just been the two that I saw. I did a psychic read there and it revolved around teen partiers.

    ReplyDelete
  12. lol, I would know, I was one of those teen partiers back in the 90's. But we have went out there several times and got creeped out and left running because we would all get chills at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What I read psychically there was a party going on with a fire being burned inside one of the buildings and a teen got drunk, got run into when someone threw a bottle with some liquor on the fire and he fell face first and broke his front teeth out.

    ReplyDelete
  14. haha sounds like something that would happen there.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Yeah. It came across very clearly even though a lot of residual images in that place were drug/alcohol and hormonally potent, this one guy's story pushed forward for me. I just published a book yesterday on Amazon and that's in one chapter of it. I did psychic read at abandoned sites around the desert. It's called Abandoned Places: Abandoned Memories (Desert Edition)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Ok, so I think I talked to a ghost on the phone today. They responded even. I really need to talk to someone (alive) about this. I have never heard of it before. But I called my sister and an older man who sounded drunk answered. I was shocked and said hello, he said hello back. Then he asked me how I was doing and I said fine. Then I asked for my sister (by her nickname) and he asked who. I repeated myself and then he was silent (still on the phone) then the call was ended. I called back again (her number is programed in my phone so this was not a misdial) and it rang then went to voicemail. I told my mother I think some old guy stole her phone and I have no idea why. It really boggled me. My mother then called her phone and left a message to call her back. She called back shortly afterwards and said she will call back in a sec, she was waking up. Then she called back and my mom asked about the old man. She had no idea what we were talking about. She said she had 2 missed calls from me. (I only called twice, once talking to the man and the other went to voicemail) I showed my mother my history on my phone, 2 outgoing calls to her 1 was for 1min 38secs and the other 32secs. When I explained to her the man's voice, she got chills and told us it sounds like her grandfather n law who passed away when he was driving home while drunk. And that the other day a strange man came by and said Larry (grandfather in law) asked him to check on them. My brother n law asked if he saw Larry and he said no and told him that Larry has been dead for 5 years. The man turned pale and drove off. And that the house they live in use to be his. Also that he did not know her nickname because her hubby calls her by her real name. They live in North Dakota. I really do not know what to think about with all of this.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Miley;
    I'm extremely skeptical about the concept of spirits conversing through electronics because I know what electronics are capable of. One time, while sitting at home alone, a woman drove down the street speaking on her cell and because it was the right frequency, her voice came through clearly on my answering machine. It made no recording, the phone didn't ring, but because it was a receiver and tuned to the right frequency, it picked her up. Cell phones have a lot of issues with this. The problem with a situation like this is that like getting psychic reads, you can make things fit if you want to. If they say "you lost a loved one recently" but you didn't, yet you thought about it and you did lose one a few years ago and had been thinking about them lately...you could make it work. If a spirit wanted to communicate, they would get the message across and they would do so more than likely in your sleep when your brain is receptive to getting messages. I don't think you talked to the dead, dear, but I'm really glad you asked. As a ghost hunter, I don't even trust EMF meters or voice recorders because of their ability to pick up everything in lots of ranges and frequencies. I hope that helped. If you have more questions, psychic62@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  18. I do have some info on the Domes through the local paper in CG. Does anyone remember around 1992 there was a cult leader/minister/ex-special service/ karate expert? I would like to know more and I do not reveal my sources. Please feel free to contact me at azspiritchaser@hotmail.com I would like to know what really happend there because there is more to the story than just a bunch of tanked kids.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I heard that a group of people burned a homless man alive in front of the domes and he is who haunts it '

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment