Myrtles Plantation Legends

The Myrtles in St. Francisville began as Laurel Grove, built in 1796 by David Bradford, and today operates as a historic inn, restaurant and tour destination. Its best-known ghost story concerns “Chloe,” an enslaved woman said to have worn a green turban after losing an ear and later poisoned members of the Woodruff family with an oleander cake before being hanged. That dramatic story is folklore rather than established history: surviving historical research has not produced a record of a Woodruff slave named Chloe, and key details of the poisoning story conflict with documented family history. Other reported activity includes footsteps, figures or marks associated with mirrors, unexplained sounds and apparitions. Those are visitor traditions and paranormal claims, not verified supernatural events. ODDKNOWN retains the pin because the property, its plantation-era history and its long-running haunted-tour tradition are all real and documented, while the Chloe narrative is clearly labeled as disputed folklore. The Myrtles remains open as a lodging and tour property; visitors should use official reservations and tours.

What ODDKNOWN records

The Myrtles in St. Francisville began as Laurel Grove, built in 1796 by David Bradford, and today operates as a historic inn, restaurant and tour destination. Its best-known ghost story concerns “Chloe,” an enslaved woman said to have worn a green turban after losing an ear and later poisoned members of the Woodruff family with an oleander cake before being hanged. That dramatic story is folklore rather than established history: surviving historical research has not produced a record of a Woodruff slave named Chloe, and key details of the poisoning story conflict with documented family history. Other reported activity includes footsteps, figures or marks associated with mirrors, unexplained sounds and apparitions. Those are visitor traditions and paranormal claims, not verified supernatural events. ODDKNOWN retains the pin because the property, its plantation-era history and its long-running haunted-tour tradition are all real and documented, while the Chloe narrative is clearly labeled as disputed folklore. The Myrtles remains open as a lodging and tour property; visitors should use official reservations and tours.

Source classification: documented · Status: disputed.

Sources & references

1. Myrtles Plantation background search
2. Wikimedia Commons — credited media search
3. Internet Archive — books, scans and historical material
4. Google Books — published research and historical books
5. WorldCat — library catalog and bibliography
6. Library of Congress — catalog / newspaper / archival search
7. Society for Psychical Research — Psi Encyclopedia
8. Myrtles Plantation background search — Myrtles Plantation - Wikipedia