Scary October: The Myrtles Plantation
In celebration of my favorite month, October, I'm featuring a different scary story every Friday. This week I'm telling you about a house that is often called one of the most haunted places in the country, The Myrtles Plantation.
The house is said to be haunted by at least 12 ghosts, with 10 people supposedly having been murdered in the house. As chilling as that is, though, there is only one murder on record--William Winter. This was his room:
William Winter, husband of one of the children in the household, was hired to manage the plantation in the 1860s. In the early 1870s, he was shot on the front porch when he went outside to greet an approaching man on horseback. Legend says after being shot, he stumbled back inside and died in his wife's arms on the 17th step. People have reported hearing the sound of clomping footsteps as an unseen entity enters the foyer and climbs the steps.
While there may have only one murder on record, there have been numerous deaths over the years. One of those deaths is linked to the most famous ghost on the property, who is thought to have been a young slave named Chloe. She is the apparition they say was captured in this famous photo taken on the property:
There are many legends surrounding Chloe, but the most interesting (and therefore, most often repeated) is that Chloe was having an affair with the owner of the property. He broke it off, legend says, and to get back at him, she put poison in his cake--unfortunately, his children ate the cake and died. The other slaves, outraged, supposedly hung her from a tree.
But the real draw is a mirror hanging in the entryway. This mirror is supposedly haunted, with numerous guests having produced pictures of images caught in the mirror.
Of course, the mirror is located in a room where light bounces off of numerous objects. Also, there's a permanent smudge in the center on the right side. That seems to be the cause of the majority of the "I caught a ghost" pictures of that mirror.
If you're ever in St. Francisville, Louisiana, though, it might be worth stopping by The Myrtles Plantation. Or, better yet, spend the night!
Come back next Friday for the next stop on my ghost tour:
The house is said to be haunted by at least 12 ghosts, with 10 people supposedly having been murdered in the house. As chilling as that is, though, there is only one murder on record--William Winter. This was his room:
William Winter, husband of one of the children in the household, was hired to manage the plantation in the 1860s. In the early 1870s, he was shot on the front porch when he went outside to greet an approaching man on horseback. Legend says after being shot, he stumbled back inside and died in his wife's arms on the 17th step. People have reported hearing the sound of clomping footsteps as an unseen entity enters the foyer and climbs the steps.
While there may have only one murder on record, there have been numerous deaths over the years. One of those deaths is linked to the most famous ghost on the property, who is thought to have been a young slave named Chloe. She is the apparition they say was captured in this famous photo taken on the property:
There are many legends surrounding Chloe, but the most interesting (and therefore, most often repeated) is that Chloe was having an affair with the owner of the property. He broke it off, legend says, and to get back at him, she put poison in his cake--unfortunately, his children ate the cake and died. The other slaves, outraged, supposedly hung her from a tree.
But the real draw is a mirror hanging in the entryway. This mirror is supposedly haunted, with numerous guests having produced pictures of images caught in the mirror.
Of course, the mirror is located in a room where light bounces off of numerous objects. Also, there's a permanent smudge in the center on the right side. That seems to be the cause of the majority of the "I caught a ghost" pictures of that mirror.
If you're ever in St. Francisville, Louisiana, though, it might be worth stopping by The Myrtles Plantation. Or, better yet, spend the night!
Come back next Friday for the next stop on my ghost tour:
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