The owner of a haunted house in Pennsylvania has come up with a new way to spook his patrons: the eerie whirring of fans, the humming of electricity, and the looming specter of an overhyped speculative bubble doomed to pop. That’s right—he wants to build an AI data center.
According to a report from Bloomberg, Derek Strine, who runs Pennhurst Asylum—a haunted house located inside the abandoned remains of a state-run medical institute—has plans to transform his property. While the site has already been thoroughly monetized, hosting everything from historical tours and photography sessions to overnight “paranormal investigations,” the owner is now eyeing a very different type of haunt: a massive data center.
Strine’s asylum attraction often features spooky actors and classic haunted house experiences. However, he appears to have been possessed by the spirit of late-stage capitalism. Per Bloomberg, he aims to turn his 130-acre property into the future home of a hyperscale data center.
It’s not hard to see why Strine wants to make this shift. Converting a former state hospital turned haunted asylum into a data center isn’t the most straightforward project, but the real estate developer likely understands that land is at a premium. Plus, managing a data center—once it’s up and running—probably requires less day-to-day involvement than staffing and running live haunted events.
That said, the startup costs are anything but cheap. Bloomberg reports that Strine and his partners have already invested more than $16 million in the conversion project. The first phase alone is estimated to cost $60 million, covering engineering and permitting expenses. For context, Strine initially bought the haunted house project for just $3 million.
Community pushback has been significant. Many locals already had reservations about the haunted house and prefer it over the prospect of a data center looming nearby. Concerns have been raised about noise pollution and potential water shortages, as the data center would need significant water supplies for cooling. These worries are well-founded; numerous communities across the country that host data centers have reported unpleasant and even unhealthy living conditions due to these factors.
What makes this haunted-house-to-data-center transformation especially notable is how it highlights the depths of the current AI boom—and how possibly unsustainable it may be. While there’s no criticism implied toward Strine personally, Bloomberg points out that he has no prior experience building data centers. He simply sees a lucrative opportunity. And he’s far from alone in this.
According to a recent survey by real estate service firm CBRE, an overwhelming 95% of real estate investors say they plan to increase their investments in data centers.
The shift from haunted asylum to AI data center may seem spooky in more ways than one—signaling not just a change in business, but a reflection of today’s relentless push toward AI infrastructure expansion.
https://gizmodo.com/whats-scarier-than-a-haunted-house-an-ai-data-center-2000680114
