Myrtles Plantation

Posted: 01.08.2025 | Updated: 01.17.2025

The Myrtles Plantation is often described as one of the most haunted places in Louisiana, if not the entire nation. The antebellum plantation housed slaves and had its foundation soaked in blood. 

A heavy cloud lingers overhead for many historical locations throughout the United States, just like Myrtles Plantation. But can a location be salvaged from its dark history, or will that shadow be forever bound? 

It’s been the source of local legends and the site of grizzly acts that have eroded the very fabric that divides the living and the dead. With the flowing waters of the nearby Mississippi acting as a conduit for the tragically departed, Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville has become an assemblage of the undead. 

Louisiana’s rich but often abhorrent past has made it a go-to for travelers seeking an encounter with the afterlife. Embark on a New Orleans ghost tour for an extensive history lesson marked by ghostly lore and true horror stories.

What Happened at Myrtles Plantation?

What unraveled within the walls of The Myrtles Plantation varies from one source to the next. A family poisoned, a slave hanged, deadly bouts of yellow fever — these are the basis of the most active haunts on the plantation. 

Is any of it true? Some say no. Others have the spectral encounters to suggest otherwise. What everyone can largely agree on is the murder of William Winter. 

Where he died, either on the 17th step or the porch, changes, but his slaying at the hands of an unnamed assailant is a well-recorded tragedy. 

The Rebel Who Built Laurel Grove

Though the nation had united against a common enemy in 1776, a division quickly formed nearly 20 years later. Incited by a tax on whiskey, a band of rebels opposed the U.S. government. 

The Whiskey Rebellion started small and localized, as farmers and supporters targeted tax collectors. Many small producers, who were taxed at a higher rate, became increasingly violent. 

At David Bradford’s suggestion, the growing rebellion focused on Pittsburgh, forcing the government to march a militia on the city.

Having attacked a mail carrier who produced letters showing disapproval of the rebellion from Pittsburgh, Bradford was tied to their cause. 

That’s why, when the Whiskey Rebellion disbanded, he fled to middle-of-nowhere Louisiana and purchased land for a sizable estate to hide in. Thus began the problematic history of The Myrtles Plantation. Except, when Bradford first built it, the property was known as Laurel Grove.

Though he first lived there alone, he sent for his wife and children when pardoned by President John Adams. Together, they lived relatively trouble-free until Bradford’s passing in 1808.

Poisoning of the Woodruff Family

When Bradford died, ownership passed to his widow, Elizabeth. She retained it for several years before bequeathing it to their daughter, Sarah, and her husband, Clarke Woodruff. 

As was common in the South before the Civil War, the Woodruffs owned slaves who tended to the land and crops. One slave in particular stands out in Laurel Grove’s history: a young girl named Chloe.

Said to have caught Mr. Woodruff’s eye, Chloe became Clarke’s mistress, setting into motion a series of deadly events. 

When he caught the slave girl eavesdropping on family affairs (possibly looking for something to use against her abuser), Clarke severed her ear. 

To hide her malformity, Chloe started to wear a green turban. In a desperate act of revenge or a foolish attempt to get back into Clarke’s good graces, the girl whipped up a cuisine laced with fatal doses of oleander. 

Some believe Chloe hoped to have the chance to nurse Sarah and her three daughters back to health to prove her worth. Instead, the poisoned did as poisons do and killed them.

The biggest twist to this horrid tale is that it wasn’t Clarke who suddenly ended Chloe’s life. It was her fellow slaves, fearing their master’s wrath after learning of his family’s fate. 

Other slaves turned on Chloe, hanging her before weighing her body down and sinking it into the depths of the Mississippi. 

As for the Woodruff girls, their souls are believed to be trapped within a mirror. Tradition dictates that after a death, all mirrors are covered. 

This prevents the soul from becoming trapped within. When Sarah and her daughters died, one mirror was left free to absorb their essence.

The Truth Behind Chloe and the Woodruffs

Guests of Myrtles Plantation have claimed to see a spirit wearing the very same turban Chloe wore after her punishment. However, there’s one issue: Chloe may have never actually existed.

In fact, historical records show that Sarah and her daughters succumbed to yellow fever, a slower death than oleander poisoning likely would have been.

Was it all a work of fiction merely meant to sell the haunted fantasy of The Myrtles Plantation? On the contrary, it likely exemplifies the real savagery enacted upon slaves who worked under the Woodruffs.

 It may not have been “Chloe” that Clarke used as an object of desire but a number of different slaves. The historical records may also be incomplete, and Chloe did exist as an object of Clarke’s forced affection.

Regardless of the truth, it’s impossible to ignore the myriad stories and sightings from plantation guests—especially those who are unprompted by a keen understanding of the property’s long history.

The Haunts of Myrtles Plantation

While David Bradford may have built the structure that manifested a dark history, there may be a reason The Myrtles was central to so much trauma and tragedy.

Legend has it that the antebellum dwelling was built atop a Tunica Indian Burial ground. Like something out of a Hollywood horror movie, the restless spirits of former tribe members have returned from their sacred grounds. Guests have reportedly spotted a Native American girl wandering the property.

It can be difficult to discern fantasy from reality when ghostly lore is as commonplace as it is in the Myrtles’s timeline—from the mysterious death of a young girl in 1868 to a haunted mirror said to have trapped the souls of the Woodruff family. 

For example, did Union soldiers raid the house and partake in the triple killing that left an uncleanable spot of blood in a doorway? Though alleged to be part of the plantation’s past, it’s an unverified account.

There is, however, at least one murder on the property supported by official records, and it may be behind one of the plantation’s most unsettling ghosts. 

The Death of William Winters

Shortly after his family’s death, Clarke sold the plantation to Ruffin Gray Stirling and his wife, Mary Catherine Cobb. Stirling and Cobb bestowed it its most infamous name, and also why lawyer William Drew Winter ever came to the estate. 

If not for his murder in 1871, Winter would be a simple footnote in The Myrtles’ history. Instead, he’s become an integral part of the spectral presence felt within. 

The details of Winter’s death are straightforward. He was on the plantation’s porch when an unknown assailant shot him.

 What some contest is that, rather than dying on the spot, he stumbled through the home, climbing up to the 17th step before succumbing to his wound. More official accounts state he died instantly on the porch. 

Wherever his body lay when the life drained from him, it left an imprint on the home. Now, that manifests itself as disembodied footsteps and the rare appearance of an apparition.

Make the Time to Explore Haunted Louisiana

When it comes to ghost stories, Louisiana is not short in supply. New Orleans alone can fill a sizable book with its ethereal entities. Yet still, it’s The Myrtles Plantation that earns the title of the state’s most haunted.

 Get lost in the collection of stories tied to the land and even more haunts about two hours away in New Orleans with a New Orleans ghost tour. 

New Orleans Ghosts has plenty of terrifying tales to share, but before your tour, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Take some time to read our blog for a quick rundown of the locations and specters you may come across.

Sources:

• https://www.countryliving.com/life/a45181/myrtles-plantation-louisiana-haunted
• https://www.history.com/topics/early-us/whiskey-rebellion
• https://www.americanhauntingsink.com/myrtles
• https://www.visitstfrancisvillela.com/explore/the-myrtles-plantation/
• https://www.iheart.com/podcast/966-haunting-history-podcast-52149560/episode/myrtles-plantation-128264548/
• https://www.laspirits.com/PDFs/PublicHauntings/TheMyrtles.pdf