Elsie Bell's Antique Mall

Our resident ghost is Edgar Johnson, former funeral director of Johnson Funeral Home, which was in this building. He has been seen by dealers and clerks alike, generally as a shadowy figure standing quietly in the wings or near the cash register at closing time. Dressed in his outdated black mourning suit with white pocket handkerchief, he causes no grief but plenty of mischief.

When we come in to open the store, doors that were closed the night before will now be ajar. The vacuum cleaner may be running. Tools will turn up in odd places. Merchandise will have been moved. In fact, a book of ghost stories was found on the floor every morning until it was sold. Yet all those circumstances can be explained away.

The most compelling story is of a dealer who came in the front door first thing in the morning, retrieved a key to the back door to unload, then came rushing up front saying, "There's a man in your back room!"

"Can't be," said the clerk. "I just opened the shop, gave you the key and you opened the back door. We would have seen anyone who came in."

"Nonetheless!" The dealer was white with fright, so the clerk went back to check. No man was found but all the boxes and heavy furniture in front of the closet doors had been moved. One closet door was open, but nothing was found inside.

The clerk had some old photographs lying around and casually asked, "Do any of these people look like the man you saw?" The dealer pointed and said, "That's the man!" The photo was not of Edgar but of Edgar's twin brother, still living…but not around.

While alive, Edgar was known to be a neatnik with an eye for the ladies. He seems most agitated when the store is messy and most mischievous when pretty girls are present.

Several groups of paranormal researchers have spent the night in Elsie Bell's former embalming room. In 2011, the TV show "Local Haunts" filmed and recorded one of their segments here. First Coast News out of Jacksonville featured Elsie Bell's and the embalming room in April 2016. View the segment on "Lewis and Clark Expeditions".

The researchers said they heard footsteps, felt hair-pulls and recorded a female voice moaning, "Come SAAAVE him!"

Upon leaving, the producer exclaimed, "This place has as many ghosts as it does antiques!"

Yeah. We know.

We do hope you will visit. Our 40+ dealers have a wide selection of antiques and collectibles in every price range.