Southern California /
In 1887, the little town of Lake Elsinore rejoiced at the opening of a most luxurious public building: a bathhouse.
The Crescent Bathhouse opened up to a large crowd of people.
The building used sulfur water that bubbled up to the surface for filling up the tubs.
gypsylaurel.com
Once the Most Luxurious Buildings in Lake Elsinore
Updated 2/10/2020 – The public baths became a popular place for citizens with various physical ailments.
They believed the natural spring waters would help rid them of what plagued them.
Overtime, it became less popular as people could afford more luxurious bath fixtures in their own homes.
By the 1950s, the Crescent closed down, and underwent extensive renovations.
It reopened as a shop called Chime's Antiques and Collectibles.
After construction was finished, the shop owners, along with several of their clients, began to notice the building was haunted.
There are a number of resident ghosts from the days the building served as a bathhouse.
One is the ghost of a young boy who drowned in the pool in 1939.
Another is a little girl named Gloria, who visited the baths after she lost her legs in an auto accident.
Today, many mediums have visited the now closed building.
They have encountered spirits in many of the rooms.
And in a few rooms, they felt they weren't allowed to enter at all.
When Tracy heard her grandmother once mention a haunted store in Lake Elsinore, she was immediately curious.
She had always been interested in the paranormal.
She begged her grandmother to tell her about what happened.
The New Store and the Haunting
halloweenforum.com
"She could tell I was really interested, so she told me her story," Tracy informed us.
"She said that the year was 1951, and she had stopped into Chime's Antiques to look for a writing desk.
It was over packed with furniture, so my grandma just started exploring.
"The next time she looked up she realized she was in one of the back rooms of the building.
She had paused, looking at a sale tag when she felt hands grab her left ankle.
She darted around, looking everywhere for the prankster, but nobody was there but her.
"My grandma didn't want to make a scene, so she just made her way back toward the front of the store, trying to seem casual," Tracy smiled.
"When a salesman approached her, she inquired about the table for sale she had seen, and he went to look at the tag himself.
She found herself alone in the showroom.
"She made herself comfortable in a chair that faced the sun setting outside.
After a few moments, she felt the salesman tap her on the shoulder.
Only when my grandma went to turn around, nobody was there.
"At that point she just couldn't take it anymore," Tracy murmured.
"She began to cry, and she ran out of the store and back to her car.
She called the store the next morning to apologize and tell them that the building was haunted by a spirit.
"After that my grandma hired people to purchase for her within Lake Elsinore.
The incident made her believe that ghosts are real, and all around us," Tracy said.