The Myrtles Plantation is an antebellum-era plantation located in St. Francisville, Louisiana. The plantation’s original buildings date from the late 1790s and were constructed by David Bradford, who settled in Spanish Louisiana partly to avoid capture and trial for his involvement in the Pennsylvania Whiskey Rebellion of 1791–1794. Since the mid-twentieth century, stories of paranormal activity at the Myrtles Plantation have become increasingly common. Today the Myrtles Plantation operates as a commercial bed-and-breakfast and is considered by many to be among America’s most significant historic haunted houses.
David Bradford (1762–1808) arrived in Spanish-controlled Louisiana in 1794 and began construction on Laurel Grove, as the plantation was then known, shortly thereafter. Previously Bradford had been a lawyer on the Pennsylvania frontier and deputy county solicitor of Washington County. In 1791, when the federal whiskey excise tax was signed into law, Bradford sided with the frontier farmers who refused to pay the tax and was a well-known leader of what came to be known as the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791–1794. Because the whiskey tax was levied on all production of distilled spirits, it disproportionately affected frontier farmers, who could not bring their grain directly to eastern markets and instead converted some of their crops into whiskey for easier transport. When federal tax collection agents arrived in Washington County, Bradford was a rebel leader in what eventually became an armed confrontation between local farmers and federalized militias. Toward the end of the conflict, Bradford was urged to leave the region. He initially fled to Ohio and then arrived in Louisiana, where in December 1794 he built a temporary house. Construction of the plantation’s main house began in 1796. In 1799 Bradford was pardoned by President John Adams for his role in the Whiskey Rebellion.
The setting of ghost stories from slave days through Reconstruction, the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana, is reputed to be one of the most haunted places in the United States. (Pam Leblanc/ZUMA Press/Corbis)
The best-known story of haunting at the Myrtles Plantation concerns a slave girl named Chloe who lived on the plantation during its second generation of ownership. In the early nineteenth century, the plantation passed to Bradford’s son-in-law, Judge Clark Woodruff, who had married Bradford’s daughter, Sara. At some point Woodruff is said to have begun a coercive affair with Chloe. To facilitate this arrangement, Chloe was eventually moved into the plantation’s main house and given the job of caring for the Woodruff children. According to legend, Chloe, still a young girl, was particularly prone to eavesdropping. One night she was caught just outside a door, listening in on an especially important conversation with guests. As punishment for this misbehavior, either Judge Woodruff or Sara had one of Chloe’s ears publicly cut off. Thereafter Chloe is said to have worn a distinctive handkerchief—or, in some versions of the story, a green turban—to hide the deformity.
At some point thereafter Chloe was given the job of preparing a birthday cake for the Woodruff children, and legend maintains that Chloe deliberately poisoned this cake with an extract of highly toxic oleander leaf. Some versions of the story say that Chloe poisoned the cake simply to take revenge on the Woodruffs. Other accounts say that Chloe never intended to kill the children but meant only to make them sick enough that she could nurse them back to health and thereby be returned to her former position in the house. The plan did not work, however. According to legend, Mrs. Woodruff and the two children who ate the cake fell gravely ill and later died. After Chloe’s acts came to light, either Judge Woodruff—or, in some accounts, the other slaves on the plantation—quickly had Chloe hanged and threw her body in the Mississippi River.
The Chloe legend is difficult to reconcile with the historical record. There is, for instance, no documentation of a slave named Chloe living at the plantation during Judge Woodruff’s ownership. Furthermore, Mrs. Woodruff and two of the Woodruff children are reported to have died from yellow fever, not oleander poisoning. Nevertheless, the story of Chloe remains an extremely popular local legend, with many enthusiasts insisting that Chloe can still be seen wandering the plantation, recognizable by her distinctive headscarf or turban.
The Myrtles Plantation is popularly believed to have been the site of many murders throughout its history, but only one murder of a free person on the plantation can be independently verified: that of William Winter, then the owner—a Republican, originally from Maine, who had married the plantation’s heiress, Sarah Stirling (the Stirling family had purchased the property in 1834). In April 1871, Winter was teaching a Sunday school lesson in the home when he was called away, from outside, by a visitor who claimed to have business with him. He was then shot on the porch of the house by an unknown person and later died. A local newspaper, the Pointe Coupee Democrat, reported these facts about the murder shortly thereafter. Legend also maintains that Winter, badly wounded, reentered the home and managed to climb the staircase to the seventeenth step, where he died in his wife’s arms.
Other, less easily verified ghost tales at the Myrtles Plantation involve the possible murder of Civil War soldiers in the home, a haunted mirror, and stories about a grand piano that sometimes plays itself. By the 1980s stories about strange happenings at the Myrtles Plantation had become common, and in recent years it has increasingly emphasized its haunted history. Today the Myrtles Plantation operates as a privately held historical attraction, restaurant, and bed-and-breakfast, describing itself as “One of America’s Most Haunted Houses.” The Myrtles is frequently noted for its plantation ghost tours and has also appeared on television programs devoted to paranormal phenomena, including a 2002 episode of Unsolved Mysteries and a 2005 episode of Ghost Hunters.
John Gleim
See also Amityville Hauntings; Haunted Houses; LaLaurie House; McPike Mansion; Stanley Hotel; Whaley House
Further Reading
Haining, Peter, ed. 2000. The Mammoth Book of Haunted House Stories. New York: Carroll & Graf.
Kermeen, Frances. 2005. The Myrtles Plantation: The True Story of America’s Most Haunted House. New York: Warner Books.
Pasco, Jill. 2004. Louisiana’s Haunted Plantations. Baton Rouge, LA: Irongate Press.
Pittman, Rebecca F. 2012. History & Haunting of the Myrtles Plantation. Jefferson, TX: 23 House.
Taylor, Troy. 2013. “The Legends, Lore, and Lies of the Myrtles Plantation.” Prarieghosts website. http:/www.prarieghosts.com/myrtles.html. Accessed June 25, 2015.