Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainA downtown soap shop on the site of a 1922 murder that put Hot Springs ghost tours on the map.
366 Central Ave, Hot Springs, AR 71901
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to enter the shop. Ghost tour pricing through local operators.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Flat downtown storefront on Central Avenue
Equipment
Photos OK
1920s True Crime · Hot Springs History · Central Avenue Commercial District
The building at 366 Central Avenue in Hot Springs has housed the Bathhouse Soapery & Caldarium for years, but the address entered the city's documented dark history long before any soap was sold here. On December 2, 1922, Violet Alma Boles — a 20-year-old woman born November 16, 1902 — was murdered at the Japanese Tea Room that then occupied the space. Elmer Jones, a school acquaintance who had developed what contemporary accounts characterize as an obsessive fixation, shot her at the establishment.
Greenwood Cemetery records in Garland County document Violet's burial and confirm her dates precisely: November 16, 1902 to December 2, 1922. She had just turned 20, two weeks before her death. The murder was investigated and prosecuted, though the site itself passed through multiple business hands over the following century.
The current occupant, Bathhouse Soapery & Caldarium, operates a retail soap shop in the space. Hot Springs ghost tour operators began incorporating the address into their walking itineraries as the city's paranormal tourism circuit developed. The official Hot Springs tourism office has documented the site in its published ghost tour materials. The back left corner of the current shop — identified by guides as the location within the room where the murder occurred — is the spot most often flagged for visitor reports.
Sources
The Bathhouse Soapery at 366 Central Avenue sits on Hot Springs' main tourist corridor, and the city's ghost tour circuit has incorporated it as a documented stop. The official Hot Springs tourism blog — produced by the Hot Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau — includes this location among the city's notable haunted sites, specifically referencing the back left corner of the current shop as the area where Violet Boles was murdered in December 1922.
Visitor and guide accounts describe a cold spot in that corner that does not correspond to any HVAC vent or architectural explanation. The phenomenon is consistent enough that tour operators cite it as one of the more reliably reportable experiences on the Hot Springs walking circuit. A YouTube documentary on the location's haunting history corroborates the guide accounts and documents visitor responses to the space.
The identity of Violet Boles is not disputed — cemetery records confirm her burial and dates, and the murder appears in Hot Springs historical documentation. The haunting narrative is grounded in a specific, documented event rather than general atmosphere, which distinguishes this stop from the more folkloric sites on the city's ghost tour circuit.
Notable Entities
Browse the working soap shop at 366 Central Ave — the building where Violet Boles, age 20, was shot and killed in December 1922 at the Japanese Tea Room that formerly occupied this address. The back left corner of the store is the location guides mark as the site of the killing.
Several walking ghost tours operating out of Hot Springs include this location as a documented stop, with guides recounting the 1922 murder of Violet Boles and reports of a cold presence in the back corner of the current shop.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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