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Please take the time to read about this truely great building. The history is amazing.
Iowa Haunts #2 This Geocache will take you to the great Malven Manor. Plan accordingly to possibly stop in and take a tour. This is on private property so please respect the surrounding area. Thank you Josh Heard for approving placement. (We are currently working on an Iowa Haunts series. If anyone wants to assist in this, please just contact us so we can keep them numbered and sorted. Thank you) The interesting history of what we came to call Malvern Manor From what we can tell, “The Manor” was constructed in the 1870’s. Oddly enough, it was the fourth structure that was constructed in the quaint little Iowa town. Primarily built as a refuge for weary passengers on the rail line, the Cottage Hotel was available to anyone who needed a rest. People from far and wide visited and the Cottage Hotel soon became one of the most sought after locations for travelers. It was a bustling place to visit. In the main lobby area, the gentlemen would sit around in sporadically placed tables and chairs and discuss business while sipping whiskey and enjoying a cigar. Over the years, there were even traveling doctors and mediums who would come and take up residence for a month or so, claiming to have the cure all for any type of ailment that may have befallen the good townspeople. Seances and psychic readings were held at the cottage as well for anyone wanting to contact the spirits of their dearly departed loved ones. The hotel bustled for many years however, after a while, everyone was able to afford to buy their own automobiles. This was devastating to the rail lines and hotel business. The Cottage Hotel switched from owner to owner and even changed names for a short amount of time to become the Piper Hotel. Up until the 1950’s, the hotel was keeping its head above water of an otherwise sinking ship. But business was slowing down even more so and competition was tough with larger and cheaper rooms only 30 miles away in the Omaha, Nebraska area. And so in 1956, the time had come to shut the doors. This gigantic structure was about to get an exciting new breath of life however. In the same year as it was to close, the hotel became what we would consider a nursing home or care facility for the elderly. The boasted larger rooms and, in most cases, would even have these rooms furnished for the residents. It was going to be a grand place where the elderly could get the care they needed and deserved. Everyone was excited. There was even a new wing that was being added to the structure. This wing had wider door frames and laminate flooring. The newer rooms were also quite a bit larger than the other rooms. Generally accommodating two occupants at a time. Sadly, the nursing home era of this building’s life was fairly short lived. We know that in the 1970’s, the state of Iowa came in and told them that their hallways weren't wide enough to properly support the transporting of beds, which at the time were only getting larger and more awkward to maneuver. So the nursing home closed its doors and ushered in a new era of care and treatment. This is the portion of history that nerds such as myself find the most interesting. This is where the history takes an odd turn. The former hotel and nursing home became a facility that would accommodate people suffering from all different kinds of mental ailments. Any kind of mental disorder was represented in the 10,000 square foot structure. Everything from people suffering from very common diseases such as alcoholism and Down's syndrome to other, more exotic ailments like multiple personalities, or DID as its referred to today, and schizophrenia. There were even a few people here that had murdered others in the past. Needless to say, this was a very odd population of people to be housed under one roof. As the main tour guide of this location, I am often asked why the population was the way it was. To be quite frank, I don’t have a definitive answer for them. However I do offer something that I witness everyday. The town of Malvern is a very small town with an incredibly big heart. Most likely they didn't want to turn anyone away. They wanted to help as many people as they possibly could. Whether this was a wise business move or not, doesn't take away from the fact that the original administration of this mental health group home did care a great deal about their residents. It was a family in every aspect of the term. Keeping with tradition, this positive story turned negative yet again. We know that the woman who ran this facility for many years, was eventually asked to retire from the state of Iowa. The woman who worked herself ragged every day. The woman, who loved this place and the residents so much so that she went as far as putting her home, a mobile trailer home, directly behind the facility, was asked to step down. She was 87 years of age when she finally did hang it up per the state’s request. Her leaving ushered in a new administrator and the ultimate demise of the facility. Leaving names entirely out of this, I simply refer to this gentleman as “The Dude.” The Dude came in and immediately began to piss certain people off. He was the kind of man who was on a power trip to put it lightly and damned be the ones who stepped in his way. Many claims of verbal and sometimes even physical abuse were reported to happen in the facility. The majority of the claims were that The Dude was the perpetrator in many of these cases. It wasn’t a very pleasant living or working environment for all parties involved. The Dude was notorious for skimping money from the residents. Asking if they needed anything from the store, “up-charging” them and then pocketing the difference. A few years passed with this type of activity going on when the statue of Iowa began finding things wrong with the building structure. Things that needed to be addressed if the facility were to remain open. Things that The Dude was ultimately ignoring. Finally in the year 2005, the state had had enough. The Dude’s facility was going to close its doors. Neglect of the building and abuse of the patients were the ultimate reasons behind the closing. It also turns out that The Dude didn’t even have the proper licensure to operate a facility such as this one. In fact, he didn't even have the licensure to pass someone an aspirin for a headache. He was piggy-backing off of his wife’s licensure to run a facility like this. Very strange that he was able to fly under the state’s radar for as long as he did. Ultimately The Dude went to jail and had to pay back a ton of money that he stole from the residents. All I can offer to him is, “Good riddance, Asshat.” The clientele here was dispersed depending on their personal situations. If their families had power of attorney over them, it was on the family to place them. If they were wards of the state, the state would decide what facility best suited them. At the end of the day though, it was over. The building would sit empty for now. In doing research and trying to put this puzzle back together again, we came across many different owners of this location. Quite frankly, it went through so many owners within its first 13 years of existence it was almost as if people were losing the hotel in a poker game. Interesting still is the odd number of owners and former owners who met tragic, and often times, tragically sudden deaths. Farming accidents, tragic health issues, and even suicides are some of the more common causes of these deaths. Often it leaves me wondering if there wasn’t/ isn't a curse on this property. Or possibly, with all the seances and weary travelers coming and going, the amount of paranormal baggage left behind from others. We now know this building as Malvern Manor. A haunted location with a crazy past. Activity at the Manor is very widespread. Everything from very audible voices and physical manipulation of objects to a shadow man that charges at you at all hours of the day. The building is an anomaly in and of itself, but the spirits within its hallways definitely want their story to be told.
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