Asylum Owner Eyes Turning Haunted House Into Data Center
Also today: A Colorado ski haven seeks to borrow more to build housing, and why Halloween can be so dangerous.
Once a state institute for the disabled and now a seasonal haunted house site, Pennhurst Asylum may soon become a data center.
Photographer: Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg
Every fall since 2010, the Pennhurst Asylum in Pennsylvania has offered thrill-seekers the ultimate fright experience. Repurposed from the ruins of a state-run medical institution that shut down in the 80s over its mistreatment of disabled patients, the haunted house draws tens of thousand of visitors each year to the 130-acre land it sits on.
But co-owner Derek Strine has a new idea for the property: He wants to turn it into a world-class data center that may require as much electricity as needed to power some 400,000 homes. For some locals nearby, Strine’s plan sounds like a true American horror story, one that’s being played out in communities across the US as developers chase the AI gold rush. Strine, however, thinks he can win over the town, which has long been split about tearing down the defunct hospital for good, Dawn Lim reports. Today on Bloomberg: The AI Buildout Is So Big Even a Haunted House Owner Wants In