St. Francisville, Louisiana
Undoubtedly one of the most haunted places, the Myrtles Plantation often lays claim as the most haunted house in America. Currently a bed and breakfast inn available to tourists and ghost hunters alike, several witnesses have claimed to see a variety of its other worldly residents.
Touted as the Myrtles most famous ghost is Chloe, a slave who worked for Clark Woodruff and his wife, Sarah Mathilda, the daughter of the original owner and architecht.
According to legend, Woodruff became rather ancy during his wife's third pregnancy and had relations with Chloe. Upon tiring of her, she feared being sent into the fields and eavesdropped on the family. Once, when she was discovered, Woodruff ordered she be taught a lesson and have her ear cut off.
Afterwards, Chloe wore a green turban to cover up the amputation. At some point after this incident, she found a chance for revenge and while baking a cake for Woodruff's oldest daughter's birthday, added oleander flowers to the ingredients, thereby poisoning those who ate it -- Woodruff's wife and two daughters.
Herein lies a discrepancy. Historical records show the two oldest children to have been one boy and one girl, with the second daughter being the third child. One source says the whole legend has to be false due to the fact that the mother was still pregnant when she was poisoned, yet records show the birth of little Octavia, and that she survived childhood. It should be noted that the legend doesn't state that. It states that Woodruff cavorted with Chloe during the pregnancy, not that the mother was still carrying when she died. Considering this, perhaps Octavia was born sometime between events. As an infant, she wouldn't be able to partake of the poisoned birthday cake.
It's said that upon hearing of what Chloe did, the other slaves hanged her and later weighted her body with rocks and then cast her into the river, and that Clark Woodruff never again used the dining room for dining, which is still true to this day. A few years later, Woodruff's life was also cut short by a murderer.
Not all of this is factual, though precisely which parts are twisted to what extent isn't entirely clear. One can understand how truth can be distorted to two daughters, rather than a son and a daughter. What is perplexing is that all three death certificates list yellow fever as cause of death, which is obviously quite different than the story.
So, here's something to consider. Would wealthy Clark Woodruff have any reason to have the causes of death falsified? Perhaps to cover his infidelities and the revenge Chloe sought? Maybe, maybe not. Considering his career as a judge, it wouldn't have been difficult for death records to be falsified to protect his prestigious family's reputation.
True or false, another interesting aspect of the Myrtles to consider is the tragedies that have befallen it's owners. Possible murders or yellow fever for the three Woodruffs, and in later years, the family dealt with death by consumption, typhoid, and at least one verifiable murder. The Civil War took it's toll, also. The plantation was looted and destroyed by Federal soldiers, the sugar plantations ravaged, and their wealth of Confederate money was deemed worthless after the war, which led to bankruptcy and the loss of the property. There's no rumor of it, but so many tragedies have the feel of a curse upon the family while they live in the house. Miraculously, within two years away from the Myrtles, things turned around so much to the family's advantage, Sarah Winter, a descendent, was able to buy it back. Three years later, her husband was shot and killed.
Some reports state that he expired on the porch outside where he was shot. Other versions claim Winter was able to stagger inside and up the stairs and died in the arms of his wife on precisely the 17th step.
This is one of the many ghostly tales recounted by visitors to the Myrtles -- invisible, yet audible footsteps leading from the porch to exactly the 17th step where they cease. The infamous ghost believed to be Chloe has manifested herself to many an unsuspecting guest. Strange stains in the flooring approximately the size and shape of a grown man's body have appeared and refuse to be scrubbed away. Spectral Civil War soldiers have paraded across the porch, property, and stood guard at the gates. A portrait changes expressions, a young girl appears only just before a thunderstorm, children are heard laughing and crying, and a mysterious grand piano plays by itself, usually repeating the same chord over and over again, until someone enters the room, and then it stops, only to begin again when the person exits. But, perhaps most eerie of all is the guilded mirror in the entry hall which reportedly houses three spirits that make themselves visible from time to time.
