The Myrtles Plantation Investigation

Location: St. Francisville, Louisiana 

Date: Saturday, November 9,  2002

Moon Phase: Half

Solar Weather: unknown

Investigators present: Hillary M., Robert H., Paul M.

Equipment: Olympus C-3000 digital camera, RCA digital voice recorder, Sony digital video camera with Nightshot, Pentax PC-550 35mm camera, Extech EMF meter, Olympus 2000 Digital Voice Recorder, Sony Hi-8 Cam, Olympus C-4000 Digital Camera, Trifield EMF meter

History: 

The following information is based on published reports on the web.   The Myrtles Plantation was built in 1796  in Spanish territory by General David Bradford, affectionately known as "Whiskey Dave" for his part in the Whiskey Rebellion.  Sara Matilda, the daughter of David Bradford, married Judge Clark Woodruffe and they moved into the Myrtles.  Sara Matilda and her daughters were allegedly poisoned  by a house servant Chloe (see additional information below for differing viewpoints).  Many stories exist about the house, but few have been corroborated.   Examples include: Chloe the house servant had her ear cut off for eavesdropping and was later hanged for poisoning the general's wife and children; and that  the site is an ancient Indian burial ground.     Throughout its history, the house passed through many families and was eventually restored in the 1970s.   The current owners are  John and Teeta Moss, who run an 11 room bed and breakfast on the property.

Investigation:  

Paul and Hillary arrived at the Myrtles around 5pm and I arrived around 7 pm.   I was greeted by a packed parking lot and the courtyard was jammed  with over 100 people.   We had the misfortune to book a night when an evening ghost tour was taking place.   We decided to have dinner in the hope that things would quiet down once the ghost tours were finished for the night.    We had a leisurely dinner and afterwards, the crowd began to thin out around 11 pm.   I stayed in the General Bradford room which is divided into two living areas: a parlor and a separate bedroom;  Hillary and Paul stayed in the Magnolia room, one of the outlying rooms (???) that was detached from the main house and did not have a shower!   We began our investigation in the General Bradford room, but attempts to obtain EVPs were all but futile given the chatting and screams of the guests throughout the night.   No unusual EMF readings were recorded.   We conducted our first EVP and picture taking session in the parlor, but did not obtain any significant results.    Next, we moved to the bedroom and obtained one orb on the ceiling.   No other anomalies were noted.    We decided to try our luck outdoors and walked around the perimeter of the house.   Hillary obtained several nighttime orbs.   

We decided to end the investigation around 1 am and went to bed.   I recorded all night long in the parlor and was awakened several times by human voices passing by my bedroom window; I was also awakened at 3 am by screams coming from the main house, followed by the chatter of human voices.   I woke up almost every hour with the bed shaking, but I do not believe this was a paranormal event.   The bed was very rickety and I was concerned that it might fall apart!   Apparently, when I would turn over, the bed would sway because of my movement.  I kept my camera on the nightstand, just in case something unusual happened.   Nothing did and I slept fairly well given the noises and shaky bed.  Hillary and Paul had no unusual experiences in their room.

We took the haunted history tour the next morning and this was our only contact with the interior of the house.   We were told that the interior of the house was off limits because in years past, other guests had damaged the premises.   We took some pictures on the outside of the property and Hillary obtained a daytime orb.

Conclusion: 

It is very difficult to reach a conclusion about the Myrtles being haunted, let alone regarding the plantation being the most haunted place in the United States.  There is a heavy feel to the place and we did document some interesting orbs, including a daytime orb.  However, the establishment is very commercial in nature and some of the guests were a bit skittish about what they perceived to be unusual occurrences.   The noise of the ghost tour and the talking, whispering and screams of the other guests made the capturing of EVP all but impossible during our stay.   The site is interesting, but the plantation is in the middle of nowhere and very crowded due to the popularity of the ghost tours.   The rooms had a musty smell and the furniture was in sad shape.   All in all, were were unable to document significant paranormal activity and the staff are definitely not investigation friendly.  

Additional Information:

Here is a site that questions the hauntings at the Myrtles:

    http://www.virginiaghosts.com/myrtles_hoax.php

Here is the Myrtles site:

    http://www.myrtlesplantation.com/

Report submitted by Robert Hall