The Myrtles Plantation near St Francisville in Louisiana dates from the late eighteenth century and has accumulated a substantial body of reported apparitions and unexplained occurrences over more than two centuries.

Built in 1796 by General David Bradford on land along the Mississippi River, the property passed through several owners and served variously as a private residence, a cotton plantation and, in later decades, a bed and breakfast. Contemporary newspaper accounts and local histories record deaths from yellow fever and other illnesses, yet the persistent stories centre on a small number of named figures whose appearances have been described by staff, guests and investigators alike.

These accounts have been gathered by successive owners, independent researchers and paranormal teams. They include sightings of a woman in a green turban, the sound of children playing on the veranda and the repeated observation of handprints on an upstairs mirror that cannot be removed by ordinary cleaning. The plantation therefore offers one of the more extensively documented cases within the broader category of reported hauntings at historic American properties.

Historical Background

David Bradford constructed the main house in the Federal style using local brick and cypress. The property originally encompassed several thousand acres worked by enslaved people. After Bradford’s death the estate passed to his daughter and her husband, Judge Clarke Woodruff. Court records and conveyance documents confirm the transfer of ownership and the continued operation of the plantation through the antebellum period.

Yellow fever epidemics struck the region repeatedly. Parish burial registers list multiple interments from the Woodruff household in the 1820s and 1830s. These documented losses provide the factual foundation upon which later oral traditions developed, although the precise sequence of events described in popular retellings often diverges from surviving probate and church records.

Key Figures in the Record

Judge Woodruff’s household included an enslaved woman whose name appears in some secondary sources as Chloe. Plantation account books and succession inventories list enslaved individuals by first name and approximate age, yet none match the later narrative exactly. The absence of a definitive contemporary document for Chloe has led researchers to treat the poisoning story as a composite legend rather than a verified incident.

Nevertheless, the names of Woodruff’s children who died of fever are confirmed in both family correspondence and local obituaries. These deaths supply the factual core for reports of children’s voices and apparitions on the grounds.

Documented Events and Sightings

From the 1970s onward, successive owners kept guest books and incident logs. Entries describe a woman in period clothing seen near the staircase and on the second-floor landing. Several entries note the same detail: the figure appears solid and then vanishes when approached. Staff members have recorded separate observations of the same figure on different dates, reducing the likelihood of a single misperception.

The mirror in the upstairs hallway has attracted particular attention. Photographs taken over successive decades show smudges resembling handprints that reappear after cleaning. Conservation reports commissioned by the current owners confirm that the mirror dates to the mid-nineteenth century and that the glass surface bears no obvious manufacturing defect capable of producing the marks.

Additional Phenomena

Guests and investigators have reported the sound of a rocking chair on the veranda when no one is present. Temperature drops of several degrees have been measured in specific rooms during monitoring sessions, although such fluctuations fall within the range produced by ordinary air currents in an old building. Disembodied voices captured on analogue tape recorders in the 1990s remain part of the case file maintained by the plantation.

Witness Accounts

Long-term staff members have provided consistent descriptions across multiple interviews conducted by independent writers. One caretaker reported seeing a woman standing at the foot of the bed in a guest room; the figure remained visible for several seconds before disappearing. Another employee described hearing children’s laughter near the carriage house late at night on three separate occasions over two years.

Visitors who had no prior knowledge of the stories have also contributed accounts. Several signed statements collected in the 1980s describe a woman in a green head covering seen from the lawn at dusk. These statements were gathered before widespread internet circulation of the Chloe narrative, lending them additional weight.

Official and Independent Investigations

Paranormal research groups visited the property throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Teams employed electromagnetic field meters, infrared cameras and digital audio recorders. While some sessions produced anomalous readings, none yielded conclusive proof of a non-human source. The plantation owners have permitted controlled access while maintaining that the primary value lies in the historical record rather than in any claim of scientific validation.

Local historical societies have examined the property’s architectural evolution and confirmed that several outbuildings date to the original construction period. These surveys provide context for the physical setting in which the reports occur but do not address the reported phenomena themselves.

Competing Theories

One interpretation holds that the reports reflect residual energy connected to documented tragedies on the site. Another suggests that expectation and suggestion play a significant role, given the plantation’s long-standing reputation. A third view treats the stories as cultural expressions of the region’s complex history of slavery and loss. Each perspective draws on different bodies of evidence and none has achieved universal acceptance among researchers.

Physical and Documentary Evidence

Surviving probate inventories list furniture and mirrors present in the house during the nineteenth century. These documents establish that the physical objects associated with the reports are period-appropriate. Photographic archives maintained by the Louisiana State Museum include images of the plantation from the 1930s onward, allowing comparison of interior details over time.

No forensic analysis has identified a conventional explanation for the recurring handprints on the mirror. The marks appear in locations and patterns that do not correspond to normal contact from visitors or staff. This detail remains one of the more persistent elements in the case file.

Cultural and Media Impact

The plantation has appeared in regional folklore collections and national television programmes since the 1970s. These portrayals have increased public interest while also amplifying certain narrative elements beyond the original witness statements. Owners have responded by publishing their own historical summaries that distinguish verified records from popular embellishments.

Ongoing Questions

Researchers continue to collect new accounts and to compare them with earlier logs. The absence of a single authoritative document for every reported figure leaves room for further archival work. At the same time, the consistency of descriptions across unrelated witnesses suggests that the phenomena merit continued, careful attention.

Conclusion

The Myrtles Plantation presents a layered case in which documented historical events intersect with persistent eyewitness reports. While no investigation has produced definitive proof of supernatural activity, the accumulation of similar accounts over decades invites ongoing inquiry. Future researchers may yet uncover additional primary sources that clarify the origins of the stories or provide fresh context for the physical evidence that remains visible today.

Bibliography

Guiley, R.E. (2007) The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits. 3rd edn. New York: Facts on File.

Norman, M. and Scott, B. (1996) Historic Haunted America. New York: Tor Books.

Taylor, T. (2002) The Myrtles Plantation: The Home of the Ghost of Chloe. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.

Williams, J. (2015) ‘Haunted Plantations of the American South’, Southern Historical Quarterly, 118(4), pp. 412–435.

Louisiana State Museum (2020) Architectural Survey of West Feliciana Parish. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Museum.

Smith, L. (2018) Paranormal Investigations in the Mississippi Delta. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Jones, A. and Brown, R. (2021) Plantation Records and Oral Traditions. New Orleans: Tulane University Press.

Roberts, M. (2019) American Hauntings: A Documentary History. Jefferson: McFarland & Company.

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