Michelle, the Bells, and the Live Oak Tree
21700 Temescal Canyon Rd, Corona, CA 92883
Age
21+ for bar; check venue for events
Cost
$$
Bar admission varies by event; check Rockefellas at the Live Oak directly for current pricing and show schedules.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved parking lot and interior; large outside patio
Equipment
Photos OK
The property on Temescal Canyon Road in Corona has operated as a hospitality venue under several names since the mid-twentieth century. The live oak tree around which the original inn was built was planted as a sapling in the late 1930s; later accounts that characterized it as a historical hanging tree are not supported by evidence.
In 1988, a young woman was found strangled in the parking area behind the back patio of the inn. The crime was attributed to a dishwasher employed at the location, who was convicted and incarcerated. Later investigation by a paranormal research group found that the details as reported in the Shadowlands Haunted Places Index were partially inaccurate: the victim was not a waitress named Michelle, was not employed at the Live Oak, and had gone to the property to socialize with kitchen staff. The convicted individual remains identified in available records by the research team.
The location operated as El Cerrito, then as J.J. Live Oak Steakhouse under an owner who acknowledged the ghost activity publicly. By 2004, a separate bartender and waitress had documented her own experiences with the presence. The business became Rockefellas Bar in a subsequent transition and continues to operate as a live music venue at the same address.
Sources
The accounts attached to the Live Oak evolved over time, as documented by two separate individuals writing in different years.
The owner at the time of the original documentation described the ghost as a really nice girl, even shy — someone customers encountered and reported positively. Her behavior was specific and low-intensity: she flushed toilets near closing time, consistently and repeatedly. It was the kind of behavior that registers only because of its regularity.
By 2004, a bartender who had worked the location for nearly a year reported a change: Michelle had stopped flushing and started ringing the food bell in the kitchen constantly, at all hours of the day and night. The behavioral shift — from a single repetitive action to a different repetitive action — is unusual in reported haunting accounts, which tend to describe fixed phenomena.
The same bartender described seeing Michelle's shadow in peripheral vision when alone in the building, and noted that one of the cook's sons appeared to converse with the ghost regularly, though the cook's son was unwilling to confirm the identity of who he was speaking to.
A second figure — a man in black who walks through the space — is mentioned in the 2004 account separately from Michelle, without backstory or identification.
A paranormal investigation group published a corrective examination of the legend, establishing that key biographical details in the original account were inaccurate. Their research did not address the reported phenomena, only the historical record surrounding the murder.
Notable Entities
The former J.J. Live Oak Steakhouse now operates as Rockefellas Bar, a rock music venue with live entertainment. The location is the same where a 1988 murder occurred in the back patio area, and where the ghost of a young woman is said to ring the food bell near closing time.
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