Myrtles Plantation Bed and Breakfast

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Myrtles Plantation Bed and Breakfast Ghost Story

On the Smithsonian's list of the most haunted places in the world, the Myrtles Plantation is located in St. Francisville, Louisiana. A small town with a few stories and a number of ghosts to back them up. In fact, you could argue that it may have as many ghosts as any place in America. No less than ten murders have been committed here since 1794.

The Myrtles Plantation was built in 1794 by General David Bradford. It is said that he built it on an Indian burial ground, which is not usually a good start for a haunting depending on how you look at it.

Sara Matilda, the daughter of David Bradford, married Judge Clark Woodruffe and they moved into the Myrtles. Sara Matilda had given birth to two daughters and was carrying a third child, when the Myrtles major event took place.

Although Woodruffe had a reputation in the region for integrity with men and with the law, he was also known for being promiscuous. He started an intimate relationship with one of his slaves. This practice itself was not entirely uncommon with slaves at the time. This particular female slave was named Chloe. She was a household servant who could have been sent to work in the fields if she refused the sexual advances of the Judge.

Woodruffe eventually tired of Chloe and moved on to another mistress. Chloe then began eavesdropping on the Woodruffe family's  private conversations. One day, the Judge caught her at this and ordered that one of her ears be cut off to teach her a lesson and to put her in her place. After that time, she would always wear a green turban around her head.

What happened next is still unclear. Some claim that the next event was done so that the family would just get sick and then Chloe could nurse them back to health and earn the Judge's gratitude and some claim that it was done for nothing more than vengeance.

Chloe put a small amount of oleander leaves, similar to arsenic poison, into a birthday cake that was made for the birthday of Judge's oldest daughter. The two children, and Sara Matilda, each had slices of the tainted cake. The Judge did not. By the end of the day, all of them were very sick. Chloe patiently attended to their needs, never realizing (if it was an accident) that she had given them too much poison.... in just hours, they were all three dead.

The other slaves, afraid that the Judge would punish them as well, dragged Chloe outside and hanged her from a plantation tree. Her body was later cut down, weighted with rocks and thrown into the river. The Judge closed off the children's dining room, where the party was held, and never allowed it to be used again as long as he lived, which wasn't long, for he too was slain by a murderer a few years later. To this day, the room has never again been used for dining. It is called the game room today.

Since then, Chloe's ghost has been reported at the Myrtles and has even been accidentally photographed by the current owner. A photo that she took of the house showed a shadowy figure in a turban standing near the building. Her spirit has also been seen in the house, perhaps seeking the ghost of the Judge who escaped her revenge.

There are other ghosts as well at the Myrtle Plantation. Two of them are the Woodruffe children who died from the poisoned cake. These small spirits have been seen playing on the verandah of the house, in the hallways, in the old children's dining room and even on a hanging chandelier.

Another ghost only seems to appear when a thunderstorm approaches. A young girl, with long curly hair and wearing an ankle-length dress, has been seen drifting outside the game room's window, cupping her hands and trying to look inside.

Another spirit is that of a French woman who roams from room to room and searches for someone she never finds. Other reports have told of the sound of a ghostly crying baby who can be heard in different parts of the house.

A grand piano on the first floor plays by itself, practicing the same chord repeatedly. It may continue on through the night until someone enters the room. The music stops and will only start again when they leave.

In the "French" bedroom, a woman's ghost dances a foot off the floor. She dances in a long black skirt to music that only she can hear.

The employees have some of the most dramatic experiences here. One story has a maid mopping the hallway on the first floor and coming upon a strange spot near the front door. No matter how hard she pushed the mop, it would not enter this area on the floor, the size of a human body. Is is a mere coincidence that this was the same place where a man had been shot and killed around the Civil War? The mop finally worked on this area after about a month.

Other events include a woman carrying a candle up the stairs. Doors may slam in the house with no one around. Rooms may be found icy cold. A picture from the game room may come off the wall and fly across the room, possibly hurting anyone in it's path. That has happened so you may wish to stay clear of portraits, especially ones that change expressions like this one has been known to do. Infrared photos reveal a bloody handprint next to the painting. Four murders have taken place in this room over the years...the game room.


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Your Comments, Additions, Experiences?

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Name: Christina
E-mail: Private
Date posted: October 23, 2009 - 09:31 am
Message: Private

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Name: Rick Garner
E-mail: unexplainedfiles@gmail.com
Date posted: October 18, 2009 - 06:47 pm
Message: Before the Unexplained paranormal investigative team was officially formed, we visited the Most Haunted Place in America: http://www.unexplainedfiles.com/2009/10/field-reports-from-myrtles-plantation.html

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Name: Heather W
E-mail: Private
Date posted: September 14, 2009 - 12:28 pm
Message: My husband and I stayed at the Myrtles for our anniversary in July of 2000. We had researched all the ghostly activities before making our arrangements. We were the only ones in the house. We had asked for Woodruff's daughters' room which is upstairs, but it was too hot so staff placed us in the bedroom int he newer section of the house.We knew it would be a memorable experience the moment we arrived. Not knowing where to enter the house, I opened one of the 2-front doors. We heard a tour of the house going on in another room. My husband went out the back doors to look for someone. I stayed in the entry hall and waited. From walking around on the creaking, wooden floor boards, the tour guide excused herself and came into the entry hall. She looked around the walls before she noticed me standing in the middle of the room. It was obvious she did not expect to see someone in the flesh. She asked how I got into the house. I explained we came in through the front door. She stated that was not possible as the doors are always kept locked and she had checked them herself that morning. I told her that nevertheless, the door was unlocked. She muttered to herself outloud as she walked over and examined the unlocked door. Talking out loud, she was saying, "These doors are always locked, we don't unlock these doors...these doors stay locked." She relocked the door (3 locks including a dead-bolt) and told me I could not be in there alone and that check in was in another building behind the house. I chuckled and told her that obviously we were expected since someone opened the door for us.None of the staff wanted to talk about the ghost stories or happenings. I finally reminded one that we chose the Myrtles strictly because of the hauntings. She then quietly related the past history and some of her own personal experiences.That night, even the care taker was out for the evening. While locked out of the main house, I could feel the history walking around grounds. At one point, I raised my hands in the air. I had planned on asking outloud to, "Show me the magic!". WIth my hands in the air, all the birds, bats and other animals in the old trees went silent. There was no noise, no breeze, no sound at all. It was as if the house was waiting for me to ask. I was not sure what would happen if I did ask. The quiet was too spooky so I slowly lowered my hands and said nothing. All the animals started back up with their chatter.We heard foot steps outside our door on the back veranda. These would stop as soon as we opened the door. We went to bed late that night without seeing anything beyond a strat cat. As I drifted into sleep, I felt I was being tucked into bed. I thought it odd since I never liked being tucked into bed. I fell asleep. At 4:00am, a very loud noise woke both of us up at the same time. We think the sound came from behind the wall separating our from the main house stairway. Neither of us could (or can) identify the sound, only that it was loud. I could not get out of bed! My husband was also tucked in but was able to get the covers and sheet undone. I was trapped and tucked in clear up to my neck! My husband had to come to my side of the bed and pull the sheet out so I could be released. We know we didn't tuck ourselves into bed. I did not know till much later that Choloe was noted for tucking people in at night.I highly recommend this most haunted site to everyone!

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Name: Steve Welch
E-mail: Private
Date posted: September 10, 2009 - 02:31 pm
Message: When we lived in Angleton, TX, my wife would see a young girl dressed in 1800's style clothing in our back yard. When we had the house remodeled she no longer appeared.

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Name: Mandy K
E-mail: Private
Date posted: September 06, 2009 - 08:07 pm
Message: My daughter and I celebrated her recent birthday by staying in the Fannie Williams Room. I had my bare feet tickled by tiny fingers and heard children's giggles; she heard an authorative male voice but was unable to make out the words. I previous trips there, we have both experienced a choking sensation as we walked near two of the trees and I 've gotten feelings of terror- extreme need to escape- while standing in a certain area of what had been the kitchen. We are looking forward to more visits. I recommend an overnight visit to the Myrtles.

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Name: Jills
E-mail: Private
Date posted: September 06, 2009 - 07:51 pm
Message: My daughter and I stayed at the Myrtles Plantation this past July and had a thoroughly enjoyable time.Our first slightly paranormal experience occurred as we checked in.We received our key to the Fannie Williams suite and proceeded to the room.After several attempts to get the key to work with no success, I sent my daughter back down to the desk to retrieve another key or some assistance.When she left I was the only one upstairs; as we were the first arrivals, no one else had checked in.I was completely alone and it felt quite strange.I attempted the lock once more and they key turned without any effort!I admit at this point I was a bit too scared to enter the room alone and waited until my daughter returned to enter the room!It was a beautiful room and we settled in nicely.Taking a short nap for we knew we wanted to stay up most of the night, we had no interruptions in our rest.After having dinner and taking the Mystery tour, we returned to our room and found that my shoes had been turned differently than they were previously!Not taking that too seriously, we introduced ourselves to the rest of the quests for the evening and spent most of the night chatting with them!We took several digital photos of orbs, mist and a curious red light that was flashing in a few of the upstairs windows and as we looked through one of the other suites, we definitely experienced the famous scent of cigar smoke and cold spots associated with that suite.There were depressions in furniture where no one was sitting and it was quite thrilling.As we were gathered on the back porch we heard the distinct sound of someone trying to open the door to the General Bradford Suite -- but no one was there.Much later that night, when my daughter and I tried to settle down for rest, as I was drifting off, I felt someone tug at my toes!My feet were completely under the covers and there was no way my daughter could have done this!I sat straight up in bed and shrieked and then giggled at myself for doing so.Absolutely none of the experiences that we had -- although hard to explain -- never left me with the feeling that the spirits were out to hurt us in any way.They just wanted to let us know they were there!

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