An 1890s Jerome boarding house turned restaurant where renovators kept losing their hammers
410 N Clark St, Jerome, AZ 86331
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Sit-down restaurant; burgers and entrees at standard casual-dining prices. No cover or ticket required.
Access
Limited Access
Restaurant set into Jerome's steep hillside above Clark Street; reached by stairs from the street, with multiple levels inside
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1898 · United Verde Copper Company boarding house · Jerome mining-town commercial history · Listed among historic properties of Jerome
Jerome sits on the steep face of Cleopatra Hill in Yavapai County, a town built in the late 19th century on copper. At its peak it held thousands of miners and the lodging, saloons, and boarding houses that a mining payroll supports. The building at 410 Clark Street belongs to that period; the upper structure dates to the 1890s and once housed workers tied to the United Verde Copper Company.
By the 1940s the building had become a private residence. In the 1970s it opened as a restaurant under the name the Jerome Palace. When copper mining ended and Jerome's population collapsed, the town drifted toward ghost-town status before reviving in the later 20th century as an arts and tourism community.
Michelle and Eric Jurisin acquired the building when it was, by their own account, old and abandoned and in need of substantial repair. They reopened it on May 3, 1994, as The Haunted Hamburger, and the restaurant has operated continuously since, marking thirty years in 2024. The building is listed among the historic properties of Jerome and is one of the more visible restaurants on the hill, set above Clark Street with a deck overlooking the Verde Valley.
The restaurant's name comes from events the owners say occurred during the renovation, which they recount in the establishment's published history rather than as marketing invented after the fact.
Sources
The Haunted Hamburger's reputation rests on accounts its owners published themselves rather than on a single dramatic story. During the renovation, Eric Jurisin reported that hammers went missing and then turned up in conspicuous places, the pattern repeating with one tool after another. A door near him slammed hard despite sealed windows and no air movement in the room.
The accounts that follow are smaller and cumulative: cans coming off shelves, hot water turning on by itself in the middle of the night, and distinct smells reported in the stairwell. Some guests have said photographs taken inside show the vague image of a woman where no one stood. The owners frame the activity as the work of frustrated tradesmen from the building's earlier life, a reading that fits a structure that spent decades as worker housing.
The restaurant leans into the reputation but does not stage it; there is no investigation program or after-hours tour. Visitors come for the food and the view and inherit the lore as part of the room. Independent regional coverage of haunted Jerome lists the Haunted Hamburger among the town's reputed sites, which is consistent with, rather than proof of, the owners' own reports.
Eat in the dining room or on the deck of the former Jerome Palace, an 1890s building set into the hillside with views down the Verde Valley. The restaurant takes its name from the renovation-era reports its owners describe in their own published history. No reservation or ticket is required; the building is open to the public daily.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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