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Myrtles Plantation

Myrtles Plantation was built around 1796 by General David Bradford. It has a very interesting, if a bit sordid, past, and that has contributed greatly to its very interesting present.

Trouble began for the household when General Bradford's daughter Sarah married Judge Clark Woodruffe. Woodruffe was a bit of a philanderer, and he used his slaves for trysts. While Sarah was pregnant with their third child, Woodruffe was intimately involved with a slave named Chloe, who was a household servant. Chloe's life as a house servant was much better than that of the slaves working in the fields, so she gave in to Woodruffe's sexual advances to avoid being sent from the house. When Woodruffe took up with another slave after tiring of Chloe, the frightened girl took to listening in on other people to see if she would be sent to the fields. She was unfortunate enough to be caught in the act of eavesdropping by Woodruffe. As punishment, he cut off one of her ears. Chloe started wearing a turban to hide the disfigurement.

Now Chloe was frantic. After being dumped by the master and then being caught and punished so severely, she was certain she would be sent from the house. She had to come up with a plan, and there are two theories as to why she came up with the plan she did. Chloe put a small amount of poison, made from oleander flowers, in a birthday cake she made for the Woodruffes' eldest daughter. The more popular theory was that she expected to gain favor by nursing the family back to health after they ate the cake, although some think it was just for revenge. Either way, the outcome was horrible. Chloe did nurse the two children and their pregnant mother (Woodruffe had not eaten any cake), but they all died. When the other slaves heard of what Chloe had done, they feared the master would take it out on them all, so they formed a lynch party and hanged Chloe from a tree. Her body was then cut down and thrown in the river after being weighted with rocks. The judge closed down the dining room in which the party was held. He was murdered a few years later.

The story of Chloe is the one that stands out the most, but there have been at least ten murders and at least one suicide at the Myrtles Plantation. This may account for the numerous other presences that have been reported. Let's get on, then, with telling about the hauntings themselves. The Myrtles was made into a bed and breakfast in 1981 by Frances Kermeer, so some of these incidents are reported by past owners and some by guests.

• To begin with, there's Chloe. Her spirit has been seen, and even photographed, both inside the house and out. One of the photos contains a shadowy figure in a turban near the house. Another is that of an outstretched hand with no body.
• The Woodruffe children's spirits have been seen playing in places such as the hallway, the veranda, the dining room, and even on a chandelier.
• The apparition of a constantly searching French woman has been reported.
• A woman dressed in a black skirt and floating about a foot off the floor has been seen dancing to unheard music in the French bedroom.
• A gateman quit when he saw a woman dressed in white walked up to the house and through the front door without opening it.
• A maid was once unable to mop over a spot by the front door about the approximate size of a human body. This was the same spot on which a man had died after being shot during the Civil War.
• The sound of someone staggering up seventeen steps is sometimes heard between the hours of eight and nine in the evening. This is believed to be the ghost of William Winter, who was shot by a stranger on his front porch in 1871. He made it into the house and up seventeen steps before he collapsed and died.
• Past owners have seen a candle, sometimes carried by a woman's ghost, other times floating by itself, going up the stairs. On one occasion a previous owner and some guests tried to follow it after viewing the phenomenon from the porch. They found the room to be icy cold.
• The sound of a baby crying has been heard.
• The grand piano on the first floor plays by itself. Sometimes it will play all night. It will stop if anyone walks into the room.
• Two other ghosts that are sometimes seen are a man stabbed over a gambling debt and a former overseer of the plantation who was killed in 1927 in a robbery attempt. He is seen wearing work clothes and has actually told guests to go away.

The Myrtles was once voted "The 13th Most Haunted House in America" by some publication, but I'm unsure of the details. If anybody could help me out with that, I'd appreciate it if you would E-MAIL me.

Myrtles Plantation
P.O. Box 1100
St. Francisville, LA 70775
Reservations: (504) 635-6277

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