The Myrtles Plantation — The Haunted Plantation — Paranormal History

What Haunts the Myrtles?

The Myrtles Plantation — in St. Francisville, Louisiana — is widely considered one of the most haunted houses in America, with a documented history of 10 murders and a reputation for paranormal activity so intense that it has been featured on national television, investigated by dozens of paranormal research teams, and feared by locals for generations. Ghosts of slaves and children haunt the halls, and visitors report seeing apparitions, hearing unexplained sounds, and experiencing physical contact with unseen forces.

The plantation sits on six acres of land along Highway 61, just north of Baton Rouge. Its Spanish moss-draped oaks and antebellum architecture create an atmosphere that seems frozen in the nineteenth century — and the ghosts that inhabit it appear to be frozen as well, trapped in the moments of their violent deaths. The Myrtles is not a subtle haunting. It is loud, visible, and relentless. Guests report seeing full-body apparitions, hearing children playing in empty rooms, and finding wet footprints on the floor that lead nowhere. The plantation’s reputation has been built over decades of consistent, independent reports from visitors who had no prior knowledge of its haunted history.

What sets the Myrtles apart from many other allegedly haunted locations is the sheer volume of reported activity and the specificity of the ghost stories. The ghosts here are not vague presences — they are named, described, and located. Each spirit is associated with a particular room, a particular story, and a particular set of behaviors. This level of detail, accumulated over more than a century, makes the Myrtles one of the most thoroughly documented hauntings in the American South.

History

The Plantation’s Origins (1796–1830s)

The Myrtles Plantation was built in 1796 by General David Bradford, a wealthy planter and lawyer who had been involved in the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. Bradford fled to Louisiana to escape prosecution and purchased a large tract of land along the Mississippi River. He constructed the main house — a combination of French Colonial and Creole architectural styles — and established a cotton plantation worked by enslaved people.

Bradford lived at the Myrtles until his death in 1808. The plantation then passed to his daughter Sarah Bradford and her husband Clark Woodruff, who expanded the property and increased its holdings of enslaved people. Under Woodruff’s management, the Myrtles became one of the most profitable plantations in West Feliciana Parish. The Woodruff family lived in the main house with their children and a large staff of enslaved workers, including a young woman named Chloe.

The plantation’s architecture is distinctive. The main house features a wide veranda supported by ornate columns, French doors that open onto galleries, and interiors finished with hand-painted murals and elaborate plasterwork. The building’s design reflects the wealth and status of its owners — and the labor of the enslaved people who built and maintained it.

The Legend of Chloe

The most famous ghost associated with the Myrtles is Chloe, an enslaved woman who lived and worked on the plantation during the early nineteenth century. According to the most widely told version of the story, Chloe was a house slave who was forced into a sexual relationship with Clark Woodruff. She bore him children, and when Sarah Woodruff discovered the affair, she demanded that Chloe be removed from the house.

Terrified of being sent to work in the fields — a punishment that could amount to a death sentence given the brutal conditions — Chloe allegedly baked a cake laced with oleander leaves, a highly toxic plant native to Louisiana. She intended the cake to make the Woodruff children mildly ill, hoping that she would be needed to nurse them back to health and thus secure her position in the house. Instead, the poison killed two of the children — Cornelia and Florence Woodruff — and possibly a third.

According to legend, the other enslaved people on the plantation, fearing collective punishment for Chloe’s crime, hanged her from a tree and disposed of her body in an unmarked grave. Her ghost, wearing a green turban — the head covering she reportedly wore in life — has been seen at the Myrtles for generations.

The Ten Murders

The Myrtles Plantation is said to be the site of 10 murders, though the historical documentation of all ten is incomplete. The murders most commonly cited include:

The Woodruff children — poisoned by Chloe (circa 1820s)
William Winter — a later owner of the plantation who was shot on the front porch in 1871 by a stranger who rode up on horseback. Winter staggered inside and died on the staircase, reportedly collapsing on the seventeenth step.
Several unnamed victims — other murders attributed to the plantation include shootings, stabbings, and deaths of enslaved people whose stories were never officially recorded.

The total of 10 murders has become part of the Myrtles’ legend, though historians note that not all of the deaths can be independently verified through contemporary records. What is documented is that the plantation experienced significant violence, and that multiple people — including children — died within its walls.

The Myrtles in the Modern Era

After the Civil War, the Myrtles passed through several owners. The plantation was eventually purchased by Lewis and Mary Marks in 1970, who restored the building and opened it as a bed-and-breakfast. The Marks family quickly discovered that the Myrtles was not a typical historic property. They experienced unexplained phenomena from the moment they moved in — including sounds of children playing, the appearance of wet footprints, and the sighting of a woman in a green turban.

The Marks family operated the Myrtles for decades, welcoming guests who came specifically to experience the haunting. The plantation has been featured on television programs including Unsolved Mysteries, Ghost Hunters, and Ghost Adventures. It continues to operate as a bed-and-breakfast, offering overnight stays in a building where history and the paranormal seem inextricably intertwined.

The Mystery / Paranormal Activity

Chloe — The Woman in the Green Turban

Chloe is the most frequently reported ghost at the Myrtles Plantation. She has been seen by hundreds of visitors and staff members over the past fifty years, and her appearance is remarkably consistent: a young Black woman wearing a long dress and a green turban on her head. She has been spotted standing in doorways, walking through hallways, and peering around corners.

The most common location for Chloe sightings is the main hallway of the plantation house, particularly near the stairs. Some witnesses describe her as looking directly at them before turning away and disappearing. Others report smelling a faint floral scent — possibly jasmine or magnolia — when Chloe is near. In several accounts, witnesses have reported hearing whispered words, though the specific content of the whispers varies.

“I saw Chloe — standing in the hallway. She was wearing a green turban. She looked at me and vanished. I didn’t know the story before I went there. I had to ask the guide who she was.” — Guest, Myrtles Plantation

The Woodruff Children

The ghosts of the poisoned Woodruff children are reported throughout the plantation, particularly in the children’s bedrooms on the second floor. Visitors have reported hearing children laughing, playing, and running through the rooms. Some witnesses describe seeing two small figures — sometimes holding hands — standing in doorways or sitting on beds.

The children’s activity is often described as playful rather than frightening. Visitors report hearing giggling and the sound of small footsteps, even when the rooms are empty. In one frequently cited account, a guest staying in one of the children’s bedrooms was awakened in the night by the sound of a child crying. When she turned on the light, no one was there — but a small handprint was visible on the wall beside her bed.

William Winter — The Man on the Stairs

The ghost of William Winter is associated with the front porch and the main staircase of the Myrtles. Winter was shot on the porch in 1871 and staggered inside, dying on the seventeenth step of the staircase. His ghost has been seen climbing the stairs — sometimes stopping at the seventeenth step before vanishing.

Winter’s apparition is described as a man in nineteenth-century clothing, walking with a deliberate, purposeful gait. He has been seen by multiple visitors standing on the porch, looking out toward the road — as if waiting for someone. Some witnesses report hearing the sound of boots on wooden floorboards when no one is visible.

The Mirror and Other Phenomena

The Myrtles is also famous for its mirror, which reportedly reflects the image of a crying girl. The mirror is located in the main hallway and is one of the most photographed objects in the plantation. Visitors and staff have reported seeing a woman’s face in the mirror — sometimes smiling, sometimes weeping — that does not correspond to anyone standing in front of it.

Other phenomena at the Myrtles include:

Wet footprints — appearing on the floor in the main hallway, as if someone had walked through with wet feet. The footprints appear and vanish, and they have been photographed multiple times.
Piano music — the sound of a piano playing by itself, typically in the evening hours.
Cold spots — particularly in the rooms where the Woodruff children died.
Doors opening and closing — on their own, despite being latched or locked.
Displacement of objects — items moving from where they were placed, sometimes without anyone touching them.

Evidence and Investigations

The Myrtles Plantation has been investigated by numerous paranormal research organizations, and the results have consistently indicated activity that resists conventional explanation.

A 2005 investigation by the Louisiana Paranormal Research Society captured multiple EVP recordings in the main hallway and the children’s bedrooms. The recordings included what sounded like children’s voices — including laughter and crying — even though no children were present in the building at the time. Thermal imaging revealed significant cold spots in the room where the Woodruff children reportedly died.

A 2010 investigation produced photographic anomalies, including images that appeared to show a figure in a green turban standing in the hallway. The figure was not visible to the naked eye at the time the photograph was taken, and analysis of the image did not reveal any obvious explanations for the anomaly.

“The Myrtles is not a place where you go to find ghosts — it is a place where ghosts find you. The activity is consistent, documented, and spans generations. In thirty years of paranormal research, I have found few locations that rival the Myrtles for the volume and consistency of its reported phenomena.” — Paranormal investigator, Louisiana Paranormal Research Society

The plantation’s location in Louisiana — a state with a rich tradition of spiritualism, voodoo, and ghost stories — adds a cultural dimension to the haunting. The Myrtles exists within a landscape where the boundary between the living and the dead has always been considered thin, and where the history of slavery, violence, and injustice has left scars that many believe persist beyond death.

What Do You Think?

The Myrtles Plantation is a place where history and the supernatural seem to merge. The documented history of violence — including the deaths of children — provides a foundation for the haunting, and the consistency of the eyewitness accounts across decades lends credibility to the claims. The ghosts of the Myrtles are not vague, ambiguous presences. They are specific, named, and located, and they appear to follow patterns that are consistent from one generation of witnesses to the next.

Skeptics point out that the Myrtles is a tourist attraction — and that the financial incentive to maintain a haunted reputation could influence both the testimony of visitors and the interpretation of ambiguous phenomena. The power of suggestion is a powerful force, and visitors who come to the Myrtles expecting to see ghosts may be predisposed to interpret ordinary experiences as paranormal.

Yet the physical evidence — the EVPs, the photographs, the wet footprints that appear and vanish — cannot be entirely explained by suggestion or commercial motivation. The Myrtles has been investigated by serious researchers who have approached the location with skepticism and have come away convinced that something genuinely unusual is occurring within its walls. Whether that something is the restless spirits of people who suffered and died on this land, or something else entirely, the Myrtles continues to haunt — and to be haunted.

Summary

The Myrtles Plantation was built in 1796 in St. Francisville, Louisiana, and has a documented history of 10 murders
Ghosts include Chloe (a woman in a green turban), the Woodruff children, and William Winter (shot on the porch in 1871)
The mirror in the main hallway reportedly reflects the image of a crying girl
Visitors report wet footprints, piano music, cold spots, and physical contact with unseen forces
Bottom line: The Myrtles Plantation is one of America’s most thoroughly documented and intensely haunted historic homes