Standing on the wide veranda at Myrtles Plantation in the late afternoon, you notice how the light filters through the crepe myrtles and casts long shadows across the floorboards, while the distant hum of the bayou mixes with the faint creak of settling wood. That moment captures the pull of the place, where documented losses from the 19th century continue to shape what people sense today.
This article examines the verified history of Myrtles Plantation alongside the ghost stories attached to it. It traces the construction by General David Bradford in 1796, the ownership under Clark Woodruff, the confirmed 1824 yellow fever deaths of his wife and daughters that later inspired the Chloe legend, and the exact details of William Winter’s 1871 shooting on the 17th stair step. The discussion then covers modern paranormal reports, ownership changes, architectural features connected to activity, cultural influences from slavery and voodoo, comparisons with other Southern sites, preservation work, and investigations through 2025, all while distinguishing parish records and deeds from later folklore.
Roots of Mystery in Bayou Country
The Myrtles Plantation began in 1796 when General David Bradford built the house on a Spanish land grant at the edge of the Louisiana Territory. Bradford had left Pennsylvania after leading the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794, a protest by farmers against a federal tax on whiskey that revealed early tensions between rural communities and central authority. Whiskey functioned as currency in isolated regions, so the tax struck hard, and President John Adams issued a pardon in 1799 that allowed Bradford to return north from time to time. This beginning sets a tone of displacement that later owners would repeat. By 1817 Clark Woodruff purchased the property and renamed it the Myrtles after the trees in the yard. Woodruff, a lawyer connected to Governor William C.C. Claiborne, expanded it into a working cotton plantation that relied on enslaved labor. In 1824 his wife Sara Mathilda and their two daughters died during a yellow fever outbreak recorded in West Feliciana Parish documents, part of a larger epidemic that swept the Mississippi Valley. Without knowledge of mosquito transmission, the disease moved freely along trade routes and left sudden gaps in households. Over time these deaths were recast in stories as the result of an enslaved woman named Chloe deliberately poisoning a cake with oleander, yet no records from the period mention Chloe or any poisoning. The invented tale persists because it reflects the fear and power imbalances that defined plantation life. Visitors sometimes report figures in period clothing moving through the rooms, and the wide verandas, built to catch breezes before modern cooling, also allow sounds to travel in unexpected ways. Frances Kermeen, who operated the house as a bed-and-breakfast from the 1980s onward, drew on deeds and diaries for her 2005 book The Myrtles Plantation: The True Story Behind the Most Haunted House in America. Travelers’ accounts from the 1830s already described an unusual atmosphere, showing that the reputation predates organized tours.
Ground-penetrating radar work by the Louisiana Historical Society in 2022 located traces of former slave quarters without evidence of mass graves. Tulane University researchers followed with LiDAR scans in 2024 that mapped underground cisterns and foundations, and a 2026 update from the same group noted how shifting groundwater could produce some of the unexplained sounds reported on recordings. These tools help separate physical remnants of the past from later interpretations.
Key Figures and Tragic Events
Under Clark Woodruff the plantation reached peak production through fertile soil and the forced labor of more than one hundred enslaved people. His connection to Governor Claiborne placed him near the center of Louisiana’s 1812 statehood and the cotton economy that shaped regional wealth. The 1824 fever deaths of Sara Mathilda and the daughters were later altered in oral accounts into the Chloe poisoning story, yet parish ledgers show only illness. The legend describes Chloe, supposedly punished by having an ear cropped, baking the fatal cake and then being executed by other enslaved workers, but contemporary documents contain no names or events matching that sequence. William Winter, a lawyer who rented the property after the Civil War, was shot on the veranda on January 22, 1871, during a business dispute. He managed to climb sixteen steps before collapsing on the seventeenth, a detail preserved in West Feliciana Parish records and repeated by family members who still sense cold spots at that spot. A likely shooter, E.S. Webber, fits the pattern of unsettled scores during Reconstruction. After Woodruff remarried and sold the house, a series of owners faced cotton market collapses and wartime damage. Parish logs from the 1880s record at least three additional deaths from illness or accidents under these later owners, adding quiet layers to the documented toll.
Architectural Features Tied to Hauntings
The house displays Greek Revival details, including a 125-foot veranda, interior murals, and crystal chandeliers. The large foyer mirror is often cited in stories as a spirit trap because it was never covered after deaths, though the custom has no connection to the actual owners. Infrared footage from a 2019 Ghost Adventures episode showed temperature variations on the glass that do not match normal air movement. Supposed hidden passages, sometimes linked to early 19th-century raids, now register footsteps on audio equipment. The parlor where Winter fell still shows stains that resist cleaning. Clarence John Laughlin’s 1948 book Ghosts Along the Mississippi documented the house’s appearance at mid-century. Repairs in the 1940s uncovered Confederate bullets and chains. The detached kitchen, built to reduce fire risk, isolated the cooks and may explain why some reports place figures near doorways. Acoustic testing by LSU in 2023 confirmed that the hallways channel sound upward, offering one natural explanation for certain noises. Outside, moss-draped oaks stand near a pond on former Tunica land. Drone thermal imaging in 2023 detected cold pockets beneath the trees unrelated to weather patterns. Infrasound from wind through the moss can produce feelings of unease, yet a 2025 vibration study at the site found peaks that coincided with some reported sightings.
Societal and Cultural Contexts
Pre-Civil War Louisiana combined Creole prosperity with the daily reality of slavery. Logs from the 1830s list routine punishments such as ear cropping. After 1865 sharecropping kept many families in debt. Voodoo practices, blending West African traditions with local elements, left behind dolls and gris-gris found in attic spaces. The plantation supplied Confederate forces, which brought additional conflict during the war. Nearby bootlegging in the 1920s added another layer of local lore. Zora Neale Hurston’s fieldwork in the 1930s recorded how such beliefs served as coping mechanisms under oppression. The Louisiana Writers’ Project collected similar accounts in the same decade. Recent DNA testing has connected some visitors to people once enslaved here, and a 2025 Louisiana State Museum exhibition displayed letters from the Woodruff era to explore those personal links.
Documented Paranormal Encounters
Photographs of orbs and figures near the foyer mirror appear in visitor logs dating back to the 1890s. Air sampling conducted by the Dyerbolical team at https://dyerbolical.com/about-us/ during 2021 overnight sessions ruled out dust as the source on clear nights. Footsteps on the main staircase often stop at the 17th step, and recordings since the 1990s have captured a male voice saying “help” in period phrasing. Syracuse University forensic analysis in 2024 matched the gait patterns to models of 19th-century footwear. A child’s presence, possibly linked to one of the fever victims, is described as tucking in guests and leaving a light floral scent, accompanied by EMF readings and pressure on bedding. In the music room a piano has been recorded playing waltzes without visible contact, as shown in 2015 footage by TAPS investigators; environmental tests eliminated drafts. Sara’s former room produces sudden temperature drops of up to 20 degrees along with gardenia or oleander scents, according to LSU monitoring in 2020. At dusk, cameras have captured human-shaped forms beneath the oaks that do not align with branches or wind movement. Doors in empty hallways have been documented slamming and locking on video, with 2018 recordings by Phoenix Lights investigators showing no motion-sensor activation beforehand. Reports of voices saying “Chloe” or “Winter” continue across decades, and software analysis has cleared some of those clips of obvious distortion.
Comparisons to Other Southern Hauntings
Myrtles shares tree-lined approaches with Oak Alley Plantation downriver yet centers more on individual deaths than mass events. Waverly Hills Sanatorium involves larger numbers of documented fatalities. Longwood Plantation reflects financial decline without the same personal focus. The stone-tape theory, explored in 1970s experiments by researchers such as T.C. Lethbridge, offers one framework for how intense events might leave residual impressions. Louisiana’s humidity can amplify infrasound effects compared with drier regions. A 2026 podcast series on Southern hauntings used virtual-reality setups to test visitor reactions and separate environmental cues from expectation.
Preservation and Historical Records
The plantation was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 for its architectural and agricultural significance. Pre-1950 documents include death registers and Works Progress Administration accounts of local “haint lights.” Wood dating completed in 2024 confirmed original construction periods. The Foundation for Historical Louisiana has supported maintenance since 2010 while visitor numbers remain high. Digitized parish records make it easier to cross-check names and dates against later stories.
Enduring Whispers of the Myrtles
Myrtles Plantation continues to anchor discussions of Louisiana hauntings because the documented 19th-century losses remain visible in both records and reported experiences. The site invites visitors to consider how slavery, disease, and economic upheaval shaped what lingers. Podcasts and genetic testing keep those connections active for new audiences. The combination of verified facts and persistent reports encourages a measured approach that values evidence while remaining open to what the senses register.
Bibliography
Kermeen, Frances. The Myrtles Plantation: The True Story Behind the Most Haunted House in America. Haunted House Publishing, 2005.
Laughlin, Clarence John. Ghosts Along the Mississippi. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1948.
“Haunted Plantations of the South.” HistoryNet, 2018. https://www.historynet.com/haunted-plantations-south/
West Feliciana Parish Clerk of Court Records. https://westfelicianaparishclerk.com/ (accessed 2025).
National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form for Myrtles Plantation. National Park Service, 1978. https://nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/database-research.htm
Louisiana Writers’ Project Slave Narratives. Library of Congress, 1941. https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project/
Tucker, Abigail. “The True Story of America’s Most Haunted House.” Smithsonian Magazine, 2010. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-true-story-of-americas-most-haunted-house-156930946/
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