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In 1880, George and Elsie Kerckhoff bought 6 acres on south Main Street from J. J. Warner and built a large home at the northeast corner of Sixth Street. It was one of the showplaces of Los Angeles where Elsie entertained the local wealthy with many lavish social events. Their neighbors included mayors Cameron E. Thom, and Thomas E. Rowan, John G. Downey,
I. W. Hellman, Rabbi Edelman, and Harvey and Daeida Wilcox.
      When George died in the home in 1896, Elsie moved out and turned her mansion into a furnished rental. But nobody stayed very long in the house. When new occupants moved into the home in 1900, former dwellers waited with interest to know what the experience of the new tenants would be. According to the tales told by many of those who had lived there, the old house was a place of mystery.
      The tales told of the home were of the supernatural, of
mysterious knockings, and the moving of furniture by unseen
hands; tales of weird visitations and of the violent death of
animals, apparently brought on by contact with beings unseen, of pistol shots distinctly heard, followed by the weeping and moaning of a woman. All these things were told, and what made them strangest, they were heard by no chosen few, but by many, even little children saw things there without previous knowledge of the rumor the place was haunted.
      The manifestations could not be ascribed to the hysteria of a single nervous temperament, nor to one vivid imagination.
These spooks played no favorites, but give their unearthly
manifestations whenever they chose, without regard to whether those present are scoffers or believers of things super natural.

The last family to occupy the house was that of S. S. Nelson, an official at the Southern Pacific Arcade depot. They moved in on July 6, 1900, and stayed as long as they could. Mrs. Nelson told a Times reporter, "When we moved into the house, we had heard nothing of its being haunted. Immediately however, we began to notice mysterious noises. The furniture would move in front of our eyes and other puzzling things happened. Our dogs, Bud and Jack, would act strange and bristle without the least cause."
"Doors would silently open and close, and footsteps could be heard climbing the stairs even though the stairs would be empty. One night, my husband was awakened by the rustle of skirts and saw a woman. She stood gazing at him. Then he noticed that it was a strange woman, and that she was dressed in a decollete ball gown with a long train. There was a radiance of soft light about her. When he sprang up, she moved to the door, opened it, and passed out., but when he tried it, the door was locked. "

"Strange voices were almost a nightly occurrence, and on other nights, the hall door would open, and as the footsteps came along the hall, the dogs would bristle and growl and bark at the unseen visitor. They would become almost frantic as the steps neared until terror seized them and they would lie cringing and crying. Bud died after two weeks of great suffering, and Jack died the same way two weeks later."
Minor E. Morrow, a newspaper man who rented a room in the house, said he also heard noises and voices. One night he awoke and heard deep breathing of a man sleeping next him. He could find no one in the bed. After a search of the room, no one could be found, but the breathing continued from the bed. Morrow would not stay in the house alone after that.

      In January of 1901, the house was rented by Dr. Colburn and Dr. James Martin Peebles, who both claimed that after living in the house for four months, they had not ever been annoyed by a ghostly visitors. Some people believed that Dr. Colburn had the power to conjure away ghosts. An article published by the Salt Lake City Herald at that time, said that Dr. Colburn claimed to being a wonderful miracle worker and magician. It also said that Colburn claimed that he discovered the secret of life; that he could cure any disease known to man, and that he could prolong life indefinitely, and could restore the dead back to life.
      He also claimed that he discovered perpetual light, and could run a train from San Francisco to New York with a motor that he could put under his hat, take a window pane and twist it like a dish rag, and then restore it to its original form, and that he could mold copper like putty.
      After Colburn and Peebles moved in, Minor Morrow moved into a tent in the back yard of the house, and for two months was a patient of the Colburn & Peebles Medical Institute. He reported that he had not seen any ghosts lately. The trees and shrubbery about the place had recently been trimmed up, new flower beds had been set out, and things generally brightened up, so that the old house no longer looked like a fit habitation for spooks.

Elsie sold her six-acre property in 1902. Her brother-in-law, William G. Kerckhoff, bought the northeast corner of sixth and Main where the mansion was located. In 1907, he built the William G. Kerckhoff 10-story building on the site. In 1933, the Santa Fe Railroad purchased the Kerckhoff Building and Annex, commonly known as the Santa Fe Building and Annex, and became the major tenant for over fifty years. In 2001, the old building was converted into lofts.
Henry Huntington bought the southeast corner property, and in 1903, he built the Huntington Building, (P.E. Building) on the site.

She was living at 825 South Westlake when she died in the late 1920s.

Peebles, a well known spirit of trance channeling, died in Los Angeles in his apartment at 1839 South Main Street, on February 15, 1922, at age 99. At a posthumous 100th birthday banquet celebration held in his honor, he reportedly communicated with his followers from the other side through a medium with his message from Heaven.

Morrow later became a writer on the Los Angeles Times.