The Annotated Antoinette...

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

The Myrtles, Francisville, Louisiana, - one of the most haunted houses in America, - [Part 2] ...

Can ghosts have sex with people? Hmmm... The old nursery upstairs is the favorite trysting place for the Judge,---that is, Judge Clarke Woodruff, the rotten old lech who would lead a young slave girl up the backstairs during the time of their affair. Single women who sleep in that room often report that the ghost of the Judge slips into bed with them and skillfully seduces them!

Other hauntings: The room known as the Bridal Suite was once the bedroom of Sarah and William Stirling. It is active most of the time, as are most of the rooms downstairs. Footsteps, laughter, music that comes out of no where and the scent of perfume are common throughout the house. In the Spring and Fall parties are heard and seem to go on all night. Every Thanksgiving there is the sound of a string quartet.

Ghosts are seen on the grounds in broad daylight. Some of them are dressed in period clothes of the Civil War South some are in present day clothes. The ghosts look like regular people until they suddenly disappear! Like: A woman in a green turban who carries a lighted brass candle holder; a long earring dangles from her ear; she bends over beds... An investigator from the Star newspaper said, while she was in it, staying in the "Bridal Suite", her bed floated off the floor! A soldier dressed in Civil War Confederate gray silently guards the Myrtles...

Why are there so many ghosts at the Myrtles? Some think it's because the house was built over a Native American burial ground. Another theory is that so many emotional and passionate events happened there.

The Myrtles, Francisville, Louisiana, - one of the most haunted houses in America, [Part 1]...

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.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Re-told Tales: Finbheara, The Faerie King & Ethna, The Bride...

     Finbheara [pronounced "Finvarra"] was the Tuatha de Dannan king of western Eire, who had a palace under Knock-ma hill in Connaugh. Although he had one of the most beautiful faerie women, Ooona, as his wife he still desired human females. And, so, he saw the bride Ethna, with her long, wavy blond hair and her skin like pink roses and knew he had to have her. So, he stole her and took her to his faerie rath.

     Ethna's young human husband was not going to stand for this outrageous behavior and he mustered a troop of strong men to dig down into the hill of Knock-ma. They dug and dug and dug until darkness fell. Then, they put up their shovels and stopped for the night, intending to resume the next day. You can imagine their surprise and frustration, when the next morning they saw no evidence at all of their digging! Even the grass had grown over the spot at night! It was all as before...

     So, the men began digging again, - and once again! The next days, there was no sign of the deep trench they had made to go down into the faerie mound, to Finbheara's palace. This all happened one more time. Ethna's human husband was very angry, when, suddenly, he heard above him a voice that said, - "Sprinkle salt over your digging and Finbheara will not be able to cover over it." Ethna's husband did this and saw that the dirt was not replaced the following morning. His men began to dig once more. This time deeper and deeper and deeper.

     Then, they heard the voice say, - "Finbheara is sad because you have almost reached his palace. A few more shovelsful of dirt and it's walls will crumble. So, stop now and he will give you Ethna tomorrow morning."

     The husband was overjoyed and ordered his men to stop digging. The next day, at dawn, the husband was very happy to see his wife Ethna approaching him, completely covered by a silver veil. The husband kissed her and took her home. But, she laid down on a couch, appearing like a dead person, a wax effigy of Ethna. The husband went back to the digging and asked for the "real Ethna". He was told that Finbheara had Ethna's spirit still with him in his palace, but that she would return to him entirely if the husband loosened and burnt her girdle, then scattered the ashes to the wind and buried the faerie pin holding it fast under a thorn bush. This he did, with great difficulty.

     At the end of these tasks, Ethna became lively, her old self, and told her husband that she felt as if her time with Finbheara was like a dream of one night. Finbheara never bothered the couple again.