The Myrtles, an antibellum plantation of St. Francesville, Louisiana, is one of the most haunted houses in the United States. It's a magnificent southern mansion that is the site of a least 10 murders...
The apparitions : A servant goes from room to room, looking for children to tuck into their beds,--- a naked Native American girl sits by a pool, 2 little girls poisoned in 1824 romp in the gardens and stop occasionally to talk with a guest, an ancient overseer, murdered in the 1920s, warns and shoes people away from the grounds.
In a book published in 1882 it was suggested that a light should always remain burning in the Myrtles at night. And, to this day, that advice is followed !...
The Greek Revival plantation house sits gracefully among 91 century-old oaks. The ceilings are festooned with orate plaster work reminding people of a icing on a wedding cake. Cut glass drops as big as pigeon eggs hang from the immense chandeliers. There is hand-painted and hand-etched glass is the windows and french doors. Lacy ironwork bounds the 100-foot long galleries.
The history of the Myrtles is full of romance, mystery, violence and intrigue. General David Bradford, who led the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania, built the house in 1796. With a Spanish land grant he bought 500 prime acres for $1.40 an acre. His daughter Sarah Matilda inherited the mansion and married Judge Clarke Woodruff.
Sarah suspected that her husband was having an affair with a beautiful mulatto slave. Such affairs were common in the South at this time. The Judge would sneak the girl up the backstairs to one of the mansion's bedrooms.
The slave was afraid that she would one day be cast aside so she thought of a way to cement herself into the family's affections. She figured that she would nurse them back to health after a mild sickness. She cooked a bit of oleander blossoms in some food and served the dish to the family, thinking that they would have mild flu-like symptoms. Sarah and her 2 daughters died that night and the pathetic slave was hung the next morning.
The new owner of the Myrtles was Ruffin Gray Stirling, a Scot, who bought the plantation in 1834. He was a jovial, kind and bold man who fell off a steamboat one night and almost drowned, but he increased the acres to almost 5,000 and bought hundreds more slaves. Indigo and cotton were the main crops. Ruffin and his wife had 9 children, 8 boys and 1 girl, Sarah.
During the Civil War, which started in 1864, all but one of the Stirling boys were killed. The surviving son, Lewis, was shot in the dining room.
Their daughter Sarah led a sheltered and privileged life. She eventually met and married an attorney, William Winter. William and Sarah had 3 children and lived happily until William was unexpected gunned down in 1871 in the parlor of the house. He managed to stagger up the main stairs, 17 steps, to die in his wife's arms.
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