The Ghosts of the Myrtles Plantation
The Myrtles Plantation, located in St. Francisville, Louisiana, is often referred to as one of the most haunted places in the United States. The Creole cottage-style house was built in 1794 by General David Bradford and sits on 10 acres. Its entry doors have stained glass patterned after the French cross, possibly to ward off evil. Allegedly, the plantation was built over a Tunica Indian burial ground, which is cited as a possible source for the many hauntings.
Ghosts and Legends
The story of the Myrtles is filled with myths and half-truths, yet one thing remains consistent. Without question, the plantation’s most famous resident ghost is that of a young enslaved woman known as Chloe.
According to legend, Chloe belonged to Clark and Sarah Woodruff, and may have been of mixed race. Clark would sneak away to have sex with Chloe, who did not care to be used by him, though she did enjoy the benefits of working in the big house instead of the field. At some point, Clark either turned his attention to another woman or Chloe feared he would. She began to anxiously eavesdrop on Clark’s conversations, until he eventually caught her and cut off her ear as punishment. From then on, she wore the infamous green turban to disguise her gruesome injury.
Some time after this, Chloe baked a birthday cake for the oldest Woodruff girl’s 9th birthday, which contained extract from deadly oleander leaves. Clark had none of the cake, but the poison killed Sarah and two of her children. Chloe’s motive depends on who you ask. Some say she did it out of revenge. Others say it was so that she could nurse the family back to health and get back into Clark’s good graces.
Both versions say that she was allegedly hung by her fellow slaves, either as punishment or to escape punishment for harboring her. Afterwards, her body was weighed down by rocks and thrown in the Mississippi River. Supposedly, the antique mirror in the grand hallway was not covered after the Woodruff poisonings, and it now holds their spirits. They reportedly appear to visitors often, and there have also been claims that handprints appear and cannot be wiped away.
The truth, however, is that there is no record of the Woodruffs ever having a slave named Chloe. In addition, Sarah, James, and Cornelia died from yellow fever, not poisoning, and Octavia lived into adulthood. Despite this, some claim that a woman in a green turban does indeed haunt the plantation. The origin may lie in a story told by locals about an old woman in a green bonnet who haunted the Myrtles, which grew and changed over the years into the tale of Chloe.
Even the famous 1992 photo taken at the Myrtles appears to show an older woman, rather than the young Chloe. This may be the real ghost who haunts the Myrtles Plantation. She has been seen roaming the grounds, sometimes accompanied by the cries of children, and some guests have even reported waking up to find her looking down at them. Other reported apparitions include a Native American woman, and various ghostly children. On the first floor, a grand piano allegedly plays by itself, the same chord over and over. Whenever somebody steps into the room to investigate, the music abruptly stops.
The main staircase is another alleged paranormal hotspot. According to legend, the heavy footsteps of the ghost of William Drew Winter can be heard on the stairs, always stopping at the 17th. The story goes that he was shot and killed by an unknown assailant, and struggled up the stairs, where he died in his wife’s arms. While Winter really was shot in January of 1871 by a stranger who came calling, he died on the house’s wraparound porch, not the staircase. The local newspaper reported that an E.S. Webber would stand trial for the murder, but the outcome was never recorded.
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Today, the Myrtles Plantation is a popular tourist attraction and sits on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also (because humans are perpetually tone deaf) a functioning bed and breakfast. Even if the plantation is not haunted by actual ghosts, it definitely is haunted by the specters of tragedy, and–more than anything–by the extreme human degradation and suffering brought on by the “peculiar” institution of chattel slavery.
