Hauntings of the Myrtles Plantation

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Before the American Civil War, The Myrtles was a functioning plantation. The building was originally constructed in 1796 and expanded to around twice its size in 1834 by its new owners, the Stirlings, who gave it the name it is now known by.

Generations of the same family owned it until the late 1890s, when the house and sections of the plantation were sold off to different owners. Marjorie Munson owned the house in the 1950s and was the first to publicise its haunted status by asking her neighbours questions about its history, when she noticed strange goings-on in some of the rooms. So many have corroborated her stories that The Myrtles is now debatably regarded as the most haunted house in the whole of the USA.

Several violent incidents in the house's history are believed to explain the phenomena experienced there. One of its previous owners, William Winter, was shot by an unknown man as he sat on the porch, three people are said to have been murdered there by Union soldiers during the war, and a young girl died of a mysterious illness there, after being treated by a local voodoo doctor.

The best known story, however, is that of Chloe, a slave in the household of Clark and Sara Woodruff, who lived in the house and managed the plantation on behalf of its owners before the Civil War. Clark is said to have forced Chloe into an affair with him and when they were discovered, she became terrified as to what would become of her, so she attempted to listen to the Woodruffs' conversations through keyholes. The tale goes on to say that when Chloe was caught, her ear was cut off as a punishment. She then baked a poisoned cake which killed Mrs Woodruff and both her daughters. It was thought that her plan was to nurse the family back to health and by being seen to cure the family of the poisoning, she aimed to regain her position - but her plan was found out, and she was hanged.

The wronged Mrs Woodruff and her daughters are believed to show themselves in a mirror in the house, and leave hand prints on it, and the shade of William Winter is still said to drag itself up the stairs to be with his ghostly wife in his final moments.

A bloodstain the size of a human body is supposedly still present in one of the house's doorways, and can not be removed, and more general poltergeist activity such as strange sounds and objects being moved has also been recorded.

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