The Myrtles Plantation: Ghosts, Trauma and Truth

The Myrtles Plantation, located in St. Francisville, Louisiana, is one of the most notorious plantation homes left in the United States. With its rich history dating back to the early 19th century and its reputation as one of the most haunted locations in America, the Myrtles Plantation is a site steeped in sorrow, tragedy, and mystery.

Located just a few miles from the Mississippi River, the Myrtles Plantation home sits on a hill, facing eastward. It sits at the end of a winding, tree-lined road, framed by towering oak trees draped in Spanish moss.  

Historian Tiya Miles describes seeing buzzards circling the grounds on her first visit to the plantation. In southern folklore, buzzards represent fear, death, and futility but can also mean rebirth and revival. They represent the duality of death and life.

If you were to read any tourism guides about the Myrtles, you would see allusions to stories about countless deaths, ten murders, twelve restless spirits, and on-site paranormal investigations. The plantation has been featured on both Unsolved Mysteries and Ghost Hunters. 

Chloe—the Myrtles Plantation most famous ghost

One of Myrtle’s most famous ghost stories is that of slave girl Chloe. 

Chloe was somewhere between 11-15 years old. The legend goes that Chloe’s owner had an affinity for her and allowed her to work in the house instead of the fields. Some stories say he had a romantic interest in the little girl. For some reason or another, he eventually lost interest in Chloe, and she was afraid she’d have to go back to the fields. 

Fearful of her fate, she would listen in on the family’s conversations, listening for her name to be brought up. One day she was caught eavesdropping by the father of the house. He was so angry he had one or both of the girl’s ears cut off. Stories vary. Chloe was allowed to wear a green turban on her head to hide the mutilation.

After her cruel treatment, Chloe was set on revenge. So on the 9th birthday of one of the family’s daughters, she baked a birthday cake. She added a special ingredient—poisonous oleander leaves. Her plan was apparently not to kill the family but just make them ill. Healers were revered in southern society, and Chloe hoped to nurse the sick family back to health and, while doing so, cement her chances of being able to stay in the house. Unfortunately, the dose was lethal, and the woman of the house and her children all died. 

Hoping for protection, Chloe told the other slaves what she’d done. They were afraid of being implicated in what she’d done, so they killed her. Her body was thrown into the Mississippi River.

The violent death of Chloe is said to have left her restless spirit wandering the plantation, seeking either revenge or redemption. Her presence is frequently reported by visitors. Some have described seeing her apparition; others claim to hear the sounds of her mournful cries while walking the plantation grounds.

Priestess Cleo

Another popular story about the Myrtles Plantation is about a voodoo priestess named Cleo. According to the legend, Cleo was summoned to heal one of the owner’s children. The 3-year-old had contracted yellow fever and was close to death. Cleo spent days trying to heal the little girl, but she ultimately died on January 29, 1861. The little girl’s father, furious over Cleo’s failure, had her publicly executed. 

Today, the spirits of both Cleo and the little girl are said to haunt the plantation. The girl’s deathbed remains in the home. Visitors have claimed to see the bed rise and shake violently. 

While the legends of Chloe and Cleo have driven paranormal enthusiasts to the plantation, they’re both most likely just made-up folklore tales. Stories meant to increase interest and drive traffic to the home, which is now a bed and breakfast.

History of the Myrtles Plantation: Laurel Grove

So what’s the truth? The Myrtles Plantation is a real place in Louisiana. It has existed for well over two hundred years. It has stood through many owners, the rise and fall of slavery, wars, and turmoil. If those walls could remember, they’d bear the weight of countless stories. 

The Myrtles Plantation, originally called Laurel Grove, was established in 1796 by a man named General David Bradford. Bradford was a former resident of Pennsylvania who became a fugitive, wanted for treason after his involvement in the Whiskey Rebellion, an uprising against a tax on whiskey. After fleeing to Louisiana, he settled in St. Francisville, where he purchased 650 acres through a Spanish land grant. 

He built a simple 8-room house on what may or may not have been a former Native American burial ground. Members of the Tunica tribe were said to bury their dead there and therefore considered the area sacred ground. Bradford moved his wife Elizabeth and their five children down from Pennsylvania to live in the newly constructed home. The plantation’s hundreds of acres were used originally for the cultivation of cotton and sugarcane. 

The Woodruff Family

After Bradford’s death in 1808, the land and home were passed to Elizabeth. She ran Laurel Grove plantation for several years, eventually hiring her son-in-law. Clark Woodruff was a Connecticut native, a Civil War veteran, and a lawyer. He married Bradford’s daughter Sarah Mathilda on November 19, 1817. They would go on to have three children, Cornelia Gale, James, and Mary Octavia. Woodruff and Sarah not only took over the operations of the plantation; they expanded its holdings, purchasing more land and planting over 600 acres of indigo and cotton. By 1830, the plantation owned around 4,000 acres.

Disease Comes to the Myrtles

Elizabeth and the Woodruffs continued to manage the plantation for several years before tragedy struck. Sarah Mathilda contracted yellow fever and died on July 21, 1823. Less than a year later, on July 15, 1824, Woodruff lost his only son, James, also to yellow fever. Two months later, in September, Cornelia Gale also died from the disease.

Yellow fever was caused by mosquito bites. Louisiana, with its warm, humid, swampy conditions, was devastated by the disease. The name “yellow fever” refers to the yellowing of the skin caused by jaundice, which is one of the many symptoms of the disease. Other symptoms were loss of appetite, muscle aches, and vomiting. It wasn’t always fatal, but it was more so in rural areas, where residents had little or no access to proper medical care. Major outbreaks occurred every few years, with the worst outbreaks in the 19th century. A vaccine was developed in 1937.

Life after Death

Clark was devastated by the loss of almost his entire family in such a short time. He continued to run the plantation’s day-to-day operations, along with Elizabeth, until her death in 1830. After her death, Woodruff moved to Covington, Louisiana, with his daughter Octavia. He left the plantation in the hands of a caretaker until it was sold to Ruffin Grey Stirling on January 1, 1834.

Woodruff, his wife Sara, and their children are the family associated with the Chloe legend. Chloe allegedly poisoned the Woodruff children and Sara after Clark mutilated. Publicly available records prove that this can’t have happened the way the legend tells it. 

History of the Myrtles Plantation: Stirling Family

Ruffin G. Stirling and his wife Mary Catherine Cobb Stirling already owned several plantations nearby. They were high up in antebellum society and wanted a mansion befitting their status. They decided to renovate the relatively simple Bradford house. 

The house was expanded by adding a broad central hallway and removing the original walls. The layout was reconfigured to create four large rooms, including separate parlors for ladies and gentlemen, a formal dining room, and a game room. On the exterior of the house, the Stirlings added a 107-foot-long front porch supported by cast iron posts and railings, featuring an elaborate grape cluster design. Sparing no expense, the Stirlings brought in fine French furnishings, chandeliers, and marble. The house was almost doubled in size. After it was completed, the Stirlings renamed the home The Myrtles, an homage to the many Myrtle and Crepe Myrtle trees on the property.

Ruffin died of tuberculosis on July 17, 1854. Mary Stirling took over the day-to-day running of their plantations. She is credited with keeping the plantations afloat for many years after her husband’s death. Ruffin and Mary had nine children together; only four made it to adulthood. The surviving children were Sarah, Mary, Stephen, and William.

Slavery

As did other southern plantation owners, all three families owned slaves. According to census records, Elizabeth Bradford owned 24 slaves in 1820, while Clark Woodruff owned 5. Ten years later, in 1830, Elizabeth owned 10, and Clark had 33. By the time the plantation was sold in 1834, Woodruff owned 480 slaves, men, women, and children. As was customary at the time, the slaves were included in the sale of the plantation. The Stirlings themselves owned 173 slaves before they purchased Laurel Grove.¹Miles, Tales from the Haunted South

In 1787, during the United States Constitutional Convention, it was decided that slaves could be included in a state’s population but only counted as 3/5ths of a person. 60% of a human being. Slavery was abolished by the 13th amendment on December 6, 1865.

The Civil War 

On January 26, 1861, the State of Louisiana declared its independence and adopted an Ordinance of Secession. By June of that year, eleven states seceded from the United States to form the Confederacy. The American Civil War started on April 12, 1861. The Union and Confederate Armies both made controlling the Mississippi River a major part of their war efforts. They aimed to control the flow of supplies to the opposing side. Many of Louisiana’s plantations were located along the river. The Myrtles, like much of the South, would be devastated by the war. Union soldiers looted the home and destroyed most of the family’s belongings. The surviving cash assets they did have were ultimately useless because they were in Confederate currency. Reports say Mary was only able to hold on to The Myrtles and lost all her other plantation land.

On June 3, 1852, the Stirlings daughter, Sarah Mulford, married a man named William Drew Winter. In December of 1865, Mary Cobb hired William as her attorney and to help her manage her vast holdings. As part of the deal, she gave The Myrtles to Sarah and William to use as their primary home. 

War’s Aftermath

The Winters struggled to hold on to their holdings and businesses after the war. The collapse of the Confederacy, the destruction of infrastructure, the loss of free slave labor, and the devaluation of currency devastated many businesses in the South. By the end of 1867, William was bankrupt, and The Myrtles was sold by the U.S. Marshall to the New York Warehouse & Security Company on April 15, 1868. However, less than two years later, Sarah Winter was able to buy the property back as her late father’s heir. 

Murder at the Myrtles

Tragedy would again visit The Myrtles on January 26, 1871. William Winter was teaching a Sunday school lesson at home when he heard someone approach the house on horseback. He heard the stranger call out to him. After stepping outside onto the side porch, Winter was shot once. He collapsed and died right there. The New Orleans Republican reported on May 30, 1871, that four men had been arrested for the murder. However, the case remains unsolved to this day. It is unlikely it will ever be solved. 

Sarah died at the home in April 1878; her mother, two years later, in August 1880. The home and land were passed down to Stephen Stirling. He eventually either sold it or lost it in bankruptcy; reports vary. The home went through several owners over the following decades. 

The Winter family are the ones included in the Cleo legend. Their daughter Kate supposedly died after Cleo was unable to heal her. Little Kate did die at three years old, but from typhoid, which was common both with the rich and poor at the time. 

20th Century Owners 

In the 1950s, The Myrtles was sold to wealthy widow Marjorie Munson. She is attributed with creating the Chloe legend. Apparently the story’s roots lie in a story about a “green turban woman” told to Munson by people in the town. James and Frances Kermeen Myers bought the plantation in 1970. The Myers restored the home back to its 1850 grandeur and converted it to a bed and breakfast. Frances would go on to write “The Myrtles Plantation: The True Story of America’s Most Haunted House.” Released in 2005, the book is part memoir, part collection of ghost stories. Myers tells of the many ghosts she claimed to see while living on the plantation. 

“Ghosts and sightings at the Myrtles were an almost daily occurrence. Voices, footsteps, and the scent of perfume were common throughout the  house.” – Frances Kermeen

Ghosts at the Myrtles Plantation

While Chloe and Cleo are the most infamous of the Myrtles’ restless spirits, there are several other ghosts that are said to haunt the grounds.

The spirits of Sarah, Cornelia, and James Woodruff are said to be some of these spirits. Visitors often report hearing disembodied voices, especially those of children, laughing and playing in the upstairs rooms where the family once lived. These voices are, of course, typically heard at night. 

William Winter’s spirit is also said to be seen and heard on the main staircase. Visitors claim they have seen his apparition on the staircase, and others have reported hearing loud footsteps through the hall. 

There is also a mirror in the home that is said to constantly be covered in film, fog, or sometimes hand prints, even after cleaning. Some visitors claim that when they look into this mirror, they see the reflections of people who are not there—ghostly figures, faces, or even the outlines of figures that seem to be standing just behind them.

A New Generation

Across the south, former plantation sites still standing have been turned into museums, event venues, hotels, and private homes. Visitors were directed to admire the elegant homes, expensive furnishings, grand antiques, and intricately designed gardens. Within the past 5 or so years, the view of society-at-large regarding these homes and their histories has begun to shift. A public reckoning with southern history is beginning. Free slave labor was used to build the grand plantation homes. The work of slaves in the fields and in the homes is what kept the plantations going. They often toiled in the hot sun, under the threat of violence. The brutality of slavery simply cannot be overstated. The pastoral views of rolling fields and stately plantation homes can easily hide the horror that enslaved people faced on a daily basis.

Several former plantations have begun to educate visitors on the daily lives and realities of slaves. The Whitney Plantation in Edgard, Louisiana, shows visitors not only the logistics of growing and cultivating sugarcane in the 19th century but also the history and legacy of slavery in the United States. The McLeod Plantation, near Charleston, South Carolina, teaches about cultivating and the importance of sea island cotton while showing visitors how slaves lived and what types of conditions they faced. 

“One of the grandest creations of the New South was a mythical concept of an Old South.” What people take to be an epoch was a matter of mere decades of pretension and an exercise in irrational nostalgia.”
― Paul Theroux

The Myrtles Plantation Today

As for the Myrtles Plantation, it now exists as a bed and breakfast. They also offer day and evening tours, both of the historical and ghost variety. Overnight guests can choose from the Judge Clark Woodruff Suite, the General David Bradford Suite, and the The Ruffin Stirling Room, among others. There is also a fine dining restaurant and coffee shop on site.