Myrtles Plantation

Way out in St. Francisville, the Myrtles is a sprawling antebellum plantation filled with oak trees dripping with Spanish moss. It has a romantic beauty by day, and a quiet mystery at night.

Or not so quiet, if you believe the stories- it has been investigated by every paranormal researcher under the sun and declared to be one of the most haunted places in the country.

The house has a long, tragic history. Built in 1794 on an old Indian burial ground, the carpenters were seeing ghosts well before any of the 10 murders took place.

The most famous of these were the ones a slave named Chloe were involved with. She was a house slave, serving plantation owner Judge Woodward’s family…and the Judge in a more personal way. Chloe was afraid she was losing her master’s favor and began eavesdropping to try to figure out if she was going to be sold or sent out to the fields.

After being caught several times with her ear to his door, Woodward cut her left ear off as punishment and threatened her with expulsion from the house.

Chloe decided drastic action was called for. She boiled some oleander leaves and mixed the resulting poison into a chocolate birthday cake. Chloe knew an antidote for the poison and figured that after she miraculously made the Judge’s children well, her position in the house would be forever secure.

Well, not so much. She miscalculated the poison’s strength and the two young daughters died. The other slaves dragged Chloe out to the pond and hung her to convince their master that they didn’t have anything to do with the children’s deaths.

Their mother and surviving brother died in a yellow fever epidemic a few years later and everyone still hangs about the place, one big happy family.

Below is one of the most famous photos taken at the Plantation. Supposedly it’s Chloe, wearing the green kerchief she used to hide her disfigurement, going between the kitchens and the main house, perhaps to deliver the fateful cake.

Closeup:

We visited there years ago around Christmas, photos in the gallery. There are more photos but I’ve sent the negatives off (yes, actual film! Before digital, can you imagine?!) to be professionally scanned. I’ll add them when they return.

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