Real Crime Stories/Paranormal Hauntings/Conspiracy Theories Book II

Haunted Places: Myrtles Plantation

The Myrtles Plantation is ahistoric home and former antebellum plantation in St. Francisville,Louisiana, United States. Built in 1796 by General David Bradford, itis touted as "one of America's most haunted homes."There are a variety of legends surrounding the Myrtles. The house isreputedly built over an Indian burial ground, and the ghost of ayoung Native American woman has been reported.

House and grounds

Architecture

Sited on a hill, the eastward-facingframe house, which features a clapboard exterior, is built in theCreole cottage style that characterized many Louisiana plantationhouses in the 19th century. The original house was built in 1796 andfeatured six bays and three dormers on the roof. In the mid-1850s,the one-and-a-half-story house was extended south, almost doublingits size, and increased to nine bays including a new double doorentrance. The entry doors are surrounded with a transom andsidelights, showcasing original hand-painted stained glass, etchedand patterned after the French cross to allegedly ward off evil. Themain feature of the Myrtles is the 125-foot-long veranda that extendsthe entire length of the façade, and wraps around the southern endof the house. The ornamental cast-iron railing, with an elaborategrape-cluster design, supports a broad Doric entablature, and on thegabled roof, with six brick chimneys, are two large double-paned,pedimented dormers with Doric style pilasters, interspersed withthree single-paned dormers. When the original roof of the house wasextended to encompass the new addition, the existing dormers werecopied to maintain a smooth line. The west facing rear façadefeatures a central, open loggia that is enclosed on three sides bythe house, and on the roof are five pedimented dormers identical tothe front.

Interior

The Myrtles has 22 rooms spread overtwo floors. The spacious entry hall runs the length of the house andfeatures faux-bois, open pierced friezework molding, a FrenchBaccarat crystal chandelier weighing more than 300 pounds and acantilevered staircase. The flooring and most of the windows in thehouse are original. To the left of the hall is the music room that isadjacent to the only bedroom found on the first floor. The principalrooms of the house are found to the right of the hall. The walls ofthe original house were removed and repositioned to create four largerooms that were used as identical ladies and gentlemen's parlors, aformal dining room and a game room. The two parlors feature Carraramarble mantles in the Rococo Revival-style on the north and southwalls, and are crowned with elaborate plaster cornices and ceilingmedallions, made from a mixture of clay, Spanish moss and cattlehair, with no two being the same.

The second floor features five bedroomswith en-suite bathrooms. The largest bedroom, known as the JudgeClarke Woodruff Suite, is the only room that is accessed by the mainstaircase in the entry hall. The remaining four bedrooms, that areseparated by a common sitting room, are accessed by a staircase thatascends from the rear loggia. The floor of these bedrooms were raisedone foot when the house was renovated, as the addition had higherceilings than the original house. house has 5 guest suites.

Grounds

The current plantation landscape iscentered on a large pond that features a small island centered with agazebo accessed by a bridge. To the rear of the main house is theoldest structure on the grounds. Now known as the General's Store,this was where General Bradford lived while the main house was beingbuilt. Currently it is used as the gift shop, laundry facilities,plantation offices and guest breakfast spot. To the south is anotherstructure that houses a restaurant. The two ancillary buildings areconnected to the main house by a 5,000 square feet (460 m2) old brickcourtyard. Scattered elsewhere on the grounds are modern woodencottages available to guests.