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This building was constructed by August and Herman Luer, meat packers, who wanted to open an ice storage plant in 1909. During construction, they discovered a natural spring. After testing the water, it was said to have healing qualities, they decided to build a hotel and a health spa instead, which opened in 1914. The building was an Italian Villa style, which had a 4000 sq-ft ball room and 2 mineral pools. One of them was for the men only, as they wore no clothes. The brothers had a water bottling plant five levels below, in the lowest sub basement of the building, that sold over 100 bottles per day. In 1925, more rooms were added, and an orchestra was hired to play at the hotel. In 1926, August Luer sold the hotel. In the 1960's, it started to deteriorate, and in 1971, it closed its doors. In 1978, the building was turned into an antique mall. Some of the stores include, "In Zone Barber Shop," that has been there for 36 years, and "It's Raining Zen." Mineral Springs Mall is said to have many spirits that still call it home. If you want to know about the ghosts there, the staff at "It's Raining Zen" (Karly and Sabrina), and the owners of "It's Raining Zen" (Dave and Donna) can help you. They are the nicest and most helpful people, as are all the people in this awesome little town of Alton. Karly is a sensitive, who has been touched by the spirits, and she has smelled heavy perfume when no one was around. She has also sensed a child spirit's presence. You can also join the Alton Haunted Tours and investigations in the mall, to experience it yourself. It is said that there is a little girl, named Cassandra, that haunts the place. She likes the pool area, especially. You can find several toys, marbles being her favorite, on the bottom of the empty pool. There is another spirit that is said to be in the room next to the pool. They call him William. He is not a friendly spirit, as people have been scratched there. He is said to also hang out in the "slaughter room." This is an area where people feel sick and uncomfortable. There are also 2 female spirits in this mall. One is called " The Jasmine Lady." In 1925, a woman fell down the stairs located towards the end of the lobby, and broke her neck. People can sometimes smell a strong odor of jasmine in this area. The other female spirit is believed to be a woman named Pearl, who used to live in the upstairs apartment and overdosed on pills. She is not very fond of men. There are stories about other spirits that simply bear no truth to them, and have not been possible to verify. As is true with most places, there is residual energy of the days gone by. People have heard disembodied footsteps, seen bluish anomalies, shadows, apparitions, and even wet footprints in the pool area, the most haunted area of the mall. The women's bathroom door seems to close on its own. In the ballroom, someone has been seen standing in the doorway to the bathroom when no one was around. During our Alton Haunted Tours group investigation, which was part of the Haunted America Conference, we had some experiences. Some of the people in our group: Cassie, Sarah, and Garry did as well. In the ball room, we had K2 action, and inside the bathroom there, I saw what looked like a bluish mist on the top part of the right side bathroom door. We also caught one possible EVP from that same area. In Pearl's room, the other group was using "the Portal," that seemed to give some possible answers to some of the questions asked. We also had some possible K2 action by the staircase, where the woman had died. In the pool area, we had a lengthy flashlight session with the little girl, Cassandra. Mineral Springs Mall is definitely an active and haunted place.