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| Is this the ghost of Chloe, the unfortunate slave lynched at Myrtles Plantation? (Full photo below.) |
Magestic Myrtles Plantation was built in St. Francisville, Louisiana, circa 1794 by former Revolutionary War General "Whiskey Dave" Bradford of Whiskey Rebellion fame. Since the early 1980s, it has functioned as an 11-bedroom bed and breakfast and gourmet restaurant, currently under the proprietorship of John and Teeta Moss. It was Teeta who took the above photo on May 15, 1995. When developed, the picture appeared to show a transparent human form somewhat cut off by a white support column. According to Teeta Moss, no one was present at the time the photo was taken. The plantation, which purports to be the scene of nearly a dozen murders, seemed full of restless entities who were frequently felt and heard by the Mosses and guests. This was the first, but not the last time that one of the ghosts has posed for a camera.Is the specter in the picture Chloe, a slave who allegedly belonged to Judge Clark Woodruffe, son-in-law of Whiskey Dave? Legend says that Chloe-- a young house servant--was forced into a sexual relationship with Woodruffe during one of his wife Sarah Matilde Bradford's pregnancies, as was an all too common practice in the antebellum South. After the judge tired of her, Chloe feared she that would be sent to work as a field slave. In her unease, she began to eavesdrop on the judge. Chloe was caught and one of her ears was cut off as the penalty. The disfigured girl took to wearing a turban, but was apparently still kept on as a house servant.
Either in a bid for revenge or an attempt to prove her worth as a nursemaid to the family, Chloe baked a birthday cake poisoned with oleander for one of the Judge's young daughters. The two Woodruffe girls and their mother ate the cake and died. Purportedly, it was the plantation's slaves who exacted the punishment on Chloe by lynching her, then tossing her corpse into the nearby Mississippi. The stories report that since her unfortunate death, Chloe has remained at The Myrtles, as have the children she killed.
Over the years the trio have been joined by the ghost of William Winter, owner of the plantation from 1860-1871, who was murdered on his porch then staggered back into the house to die. A young girl with long curly hair has been seen outside the game room's window, cupping her hands around her face as she peers inside. An unknown woman roams the house as if searching for someone and a baby cries. The newest ghost at The Myrtles is that of the Mosses' pet cat, Mert, who died in 1999. According to WJTV reporter Rick Garner, on October 15, 2000, "[He and his associate] noticed a grey cat looking at us on a porch from 20 yards away. I shined my flashlight and identified the figure as cat, but its eyes did not reflect the light-- as most animals' eyes would with light shining into them! I fired up the digital camera with the cat walking away. All three of us ran to the cat, which seemed to disappear-- quicker than any cat I've ever seen. I ran until the porch railing stopped preventing me from going further and noticed the temperature had dropped dramatically."
For a comprehensive article on the history of and the hauntings at The Myrtles, visit Left Field Psi. Author M. Blanchard has thoroughly researched The Myrtles' history in the historic record, finding no evidence for the poisoned cake story or the existence of Chloe--however, there appears to be a solid record of paranormal activity at the old house, going back well before the current owners promotion of the house as a haunted inn.
When kimmesue@bellsouth.net decided to photograph her cousin during a visit to The Myrtles, she chose infrared film. In the first photo (left), only the cousin is seen in her modern clothes. (Note: Kim's cousin is not nude in the photo, but the infrared film gave her that appearance.) In the second photo (below), taken immediately after the first, the cousin suddenly seems to be wearing a gown with a ground-length full skirt. Standing beside her appears to be a child. "I know the stories about The Myrtles and the small children who still haunt this plantation home," Kim writes. "Could this be one of them?"Infrared film is a three-layer, black-and-white emulsion that acts as a panchromatic film because of an increased sensitivity to "near-red" light beyond the visible spectrum. Infrared radiation allows photos of anything that generates heat to be photographed in minimal or zero-light conditions. Infrared film produces unnatural colors depending on the degree to which the subject reflects or absorbs infrared light. For example, the color blue can appear as black and green can appear as red or white.
What does that mean in regard to Kim's photographs? Frankly, I can say nothing more than that the film picked up a sudden burst of otherwise invisible infrared light that happened to create this time-travel type image. If this photograph is not a hoax, then either chance or "spirit" combined to produce a gown reminiscent of the mid-1700s for Kim's cousin, with the skirt trailing out from a tight bodice exactly as it should. The child's dress silhouette is also appropriate for that period.
If the photo is paranormal, and the ghost child is real, why is Kim's cousin wearing colonial-era clothing? My off-the-cuff and only vaguely scientific conjecture is that this could be the way the child's spirit views reality, as it was when she lived at The Myrtles.
If you are an infrared expert, please contact me with your opinions at lisby@earthlink.net.
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