Morbid - Episode 181: Myrtles Plantation

Episode Date: October 23, 2020

It’s a haunted Morbid up in here! Alaina tells us the history and all the terrifying hauntings going on at Myrtles Plantation in Louisiana, one of the most haunted homes in America. Myrtles has been around since 1796 and some of the hauntings going on include: shaking beds, floating children, and who knows maybe the ghost of a small child will crawl into bed with you at night!? Alaina is taking applications for a pal to go with her when Rona is gone, because Ash is all set. As always, thank you to our sponsors: Gabi: Take a few minutes, right now, and stop overpaying on your car and home insurance! Go to Gabi.com/MORBID. Plushcare: Make your appointment today, go to PlushCare.com/morbid. Firstleaf: Join today and you’ll get 6 bottles of wine for $29.95  or 12 bottles for $59.95! Go to TRYFirstleaf.com/morbid HelloFresh: Go to HelloFresh.com/80morbid and use code 80morbid to get a total of $80 off across 5 boxes, including free shipping on your first box See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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That's ANGI, or download the app today. Hey weirdos, I'm Melena. I'm Ash. And this is a spooky morbid. Oh my gosh, it's singing. I literally said to myself as you were saying, hey weirdo, I'm Elena, I was like, don't sing during this one, you dumbass. Don't do it. And then I just say, it's just in your bones.

It's here. It's in your DNA. My dena. In your dena. It's in my dena. It's in your genome. So, the first things first, I just wanted to tell everybody, because I had mentioned that my dog Bailey

has been going through some issues lately. She's had surgery for cataracts. She's been having a lot of trouble with both of her eyes. And everybody's just been so sweet about it that I just wanted to update you. Everybody was asking and I was like, oh, so Bailey ended up having a lot more trouble with her eyes and the surgery apparently did not take. So one eye, she has a detached retina. In the other eye, we had to just the other day get removed. So now she has one eye, and it's one eye that does not work.

So she is now completely blind, and we are having to re-teach her how to exist again. So it's been a little hard, but I think it's for the best because she was in a momentous amount of pain. She honestly seems so much happier. She does. It's seeming she's so much chiller now and she seems like she's like, oh yeah, because before she was having all this pressure issues and they were telling us that it's like

a migraine to a dog to have all this pressure behind your like ocular cavity. So we had it removed on the recommendation of our amazing bets, and we're going with it, but I just wanted to thank everybody for being so sweet about it. I know, everyone was really supportive. And everybody's been asking for updates, so I just wanted to say, you guys are fucking awesome. And thank you so much, and Bailey loves you all, and I love you all. It's so weird to hear you call Bailey Bailey, because we never call her that. I literally call Bailey.

Her name is not Bailey anymore. Bushka, babushka, babushka, gubination station, the babush, baba, boop. Boopination station, boopah. There's like, and then it goes into like, goob, goob, goobin, goopy loopy. It's like she's just, your baba. That's what I say.

She's usually baba. That's what she's become. That's what the kids call her. It's like she's just... Your Baba! That's what I say. She's usually Baba. That's what she's become. That's what the kids call her. That's also what I call Annie. Yeah, there you go. But yeah, I just wanted to thank you guys again before we jumped in because you guys rock and I love you so much and I feel very lucky that I have you all to care about my pup me too.

I feel like you. The weirdo community is so great. And I just want to... I just want to make me feel warm and fuzzy. fuzzy It should and I came up with a really good idea I personally think that we should just like a freaking pirate for Halloween Yeah, she needs to argue it up. Argg maybe so I think we're gonna do that because she's beautiful. Oh my god Are you going to I think we should I have to go to pet smart tonight

Do you literally want me to get you a costume a pirate costume? I got Franklin and Lux Bat wings and it turned out to be a big waste of money because they almost clawed my eyeballs out. Yeah, I can't do that. Yeah, they share well. Well, anyways, speaking of Halloween, we next week, Holy Cow, right?

Oh, yes. Holy shit, I know. Holy cow. Holy cow, holy shit. We're all of a sudden censoring our terrible potty mouths. That wasn't even. But anyways, next week for the week leading up to Halloween, we are going to be doing a virtual live show

because we really want to see your faces and we can't. So it's like, well, we won't. But we wanted to be with you. So the Monday, Wednesday, Friday leading up to Halloween, there's gonna be three shows each focusing on a different part of the world. I think we've got Australia. I know we've got Australia, North America, and Europe.

And it's gonna be at your local time. So we will wake up at 5.30 in the morning for Australia and do a show for you and we can't wait. Oh, girl, we're gonna have to wake up way earlier than that. The show starts at 5. For us. We're gonna be up at like 3. Yeah, so guys, it's gonna be awesome.

We're gonna be so punchy. And there's no us when we're tired. Oh yeah gonna be so punchy. And there's one we're tired. Oh yeah, you've messed up. And there's, so I think there's still tickets left and you can get tickets at onlocationlive.com slash morbidworldtore. It's gonna be a ton of fun. Have we said, we're dressing up for the occasion.

We're going ham. Alaina made something for one of her costumes last night. And she was like, oh, do you wanna see the beep? Oh, you know what, I'll tell you what it is because it's not really giving away exactly what. Okay, you can. It's an Elizabethan collar that I made because I found like a DIY thing about it.

And she just like whipped it up last night. So there's your hint for one of my costumes. Yeah, what could it be? I feel like I can't give a hint at all because if I hinted any of my costumes. What could it be? I feel like I can't go to hint at all because if I hinted any of my costumes, that would give it away. I mean, very specific things. Yeah.

It's going to be exciting, though. We're excited about it. Yeah, so I think that's all the... Well, I think the only other thing we wanted to just mention was with Halloween coming up again. It's all coming off a Halloween. Crime Countdown, our other podcast with podcast, We've been having so much fun with it guys and We are doing like a big Halloween episode. So you gotta go listen to it. It's gonna be fun

I think you're gonna love it. There was a lot of fun on Monday It was a lot of fun to record it was and when it's fun to record It's always a good outcome. So it is listen to them on Mondays That's when they drop and I think you guys will dig in. Yeah, yeah. Go look at that if you need some extra spooky spookies if we haven't provided you with enough rent of episodes. Yeah, but I think other than that we can just dive right in. All right, so this is your episode. It's a Lainus Hendrick and it's haunted. This is my spooky October haunted episode. Cool, and I decided to cover Myrtle Plantation.

You know I've never heard of Myrtle Plantation? That's insane to me. Well, here I am insanity right in your face. You know why it's insane to me? It's actually Myrtle's Plantation. I should've said it, um, plural. It's Myrtle's Plantation. Well, that's okay. I've never heard of Myrtle's Plantation.

Yeah, you're like, oh, Myrtle's, of course. Yeah. No, it's known as the one of the Haunted most haunted houses in America. Oh, yeah, where so it's in Louisiana. It's in St. Francisville and like you know it, right? Yeah, but it's in Louisiana. It's beautiful. I mean, it's like Spanish moss hanging everywhere, kind of just like picture-esque. Is that where you found out that you can buy Spanish moss? Moss from Spanish marsh. So maybe. So I looked at the picture and I was like, oh, goge.

And I was like, oh, and when I saw it, I was like, Spanish moss is so spooky. And I would just love it if I could just cover my whole yard in Spanish moss, but we don't have it here. Yeah, duh. And then maybe I looked online to find out that I could buy Spanish moss if I want to and put it on my trees and maybe I'm considering it. I don't know. We won't talk about it. Either way it's gorgeous. You're someone's gonna be like that causes death and decay to all plants. Someone will yell at me about it but it's fine. I'm probably gonna do it. So fuck it. But yeah it's cool if you didn't know.

You can buy Spanish moss for your own fucking stuff. No, you know, but like Louisiana, good on you. So, but this, you know, this is kind of the case with a lot of plantations, like antiballum plantations. They're haunted. Well, they are haunted, yes. But they're also beautiful on the outside, but that's because they were maintained

and kept that way for years on the back of human suffering and racism. Yes. I just wanted to put that out there right now that I'm like, it's a goal, just play. So my goodness, and not recognize the fact that there's a reason it's beautiful because it was maintained.

Exactly. That way. And that it's not by the owner. And that it's beautiful because it was maintained. Exactly. That way. And it's not by the owners. And that it's from an error, an error, an error. And an error. And an error. A huge error in history, I'll say. You were not wrong.

And now, of course, the present day owners are the ones who take care of it, obviously. But back then, I just wanted to put that out there that I acknowledge the time that this was taking place in. You smell what we're stepping in. You do. But unfortunately, it's just the truth. So, of course, there's like a real aesthetically beautiful vibe to these kind of places, especially marbles. Yeah. And if anyone just heard, I just took the time to say, especially and not expeci especially. Good for you. Did you hear that?

I almost tripped. I did. I almost tripped. I almost tripped. I almost tripped. I almost tripped. I almost tripped. I almost tripped.

I almost tripped. I almost tripped. I almost tripped. I almost tripped. I almost tripped. I almost tripped. I almost tripped. I almost tripped.

I almost tripped. I almost tripped. I almost tripped. I almost tripped. I almost tripped. I almost tripped. I almost tripped. I almost tripped. guy who made it all happen. Murdle. General David Bradford wasn't expecting that. No. Murdle. I'll let you know why it's named Murdle Slater. I hope so.

So General David Bradford was known as Whiskey Dave. That's for him. There's a reason for that. In 1783, he became deputy attorney general for Washington County. He was also a member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. And into the 1790s, he was becoming more and more unhappy with the direction the government was moving in,

again, 1790s. So this is very early in our United States. Yeah. He did not agree with the centralized government that the Federalists like Alexander Hamilton, Alexander Hamilton, were trying to make happen. So he was not for Alexander Hamilton. Oh, he wanted to be in the room where it happened. He was. He would have been on that side. So people in Pennsylvania were really pissed about the excise tax on whiskey.

That was approved by Congress on March 3rd, 1971. 1971. Mine is what, so yes, 1791. They were pissed about it. It was like, it's like in Hamilton when he says, when you taxed our tea, we got frisky, and this is what happens. This is what happened. Here we are.

So around 1794, shit was going bonkers, and Pennsylvania was in legit rebellion. Because all the drunks were pissed. They were mad, like you're taxing our whiskey. That same year, David Bradford, general David Bradford, led a militia of five to 7,000 men in Pittsburgh to protest and fight this whiskey tax.

Wow. So he was the leader of this whiskey rebellion, it was called. Okay. So now Washington, our president Washington, was like, you know that guy. Yes. Do you remember Washington? Yeah.

He's married to George. Yeah. He's married to Martha. White hair? Yep. That guy. Okay. So he was like, oh, I'm gonna fuck you all up.

I feel like he said it a lot calmer. Oh, I'm going to fuck you all up. Correct. And he started ordering his own troops to shut this rebellion down, and he was leading some himself. So he was like, real not for this. So, David's only shot was to get the fuck out of there, but it may not have just been this whole rebellion thing that he needed to get the fuck out of there for, because if you

remember at this point, it is not the full United States yet. So them going to Louisiana meant they were out of the country. That's so weird. You know, they were not in the original colonies. Right, right. Yeah, which is weird. But the thing was, it's sure it sounds nice that he had to run away from this whiskey rebellion

that he was leading, but he apparently also had some issues with a fellow slave owner. Uh-oh. Because remember, they're all slave owners. You should have some issues with a fellow, or with a slave owner, not a fellow. Everybody should have issues with slave owners. Yeah. So apparently he had successfully lawyer to case, David had, with a fellow or with a slave owner. Not a fellow. Everybody should have issues with slave owners.

So apparently he had successfully lawyer to case, David had, where this enslaved man should have to or this enslaved man that was enslaved by this douche that he was feuding with. Apparently, and this is so awful. It sounds because this is like talking about, you know, not registering your pet, you know. Oh my God. He had not registered this man properly. That like makes my skin crawl.

It's horrific to talk about that as a human thing. Yeah. So he had not registered this man properly. So General David Bradford had argued that he needs to free him. And this fellow slave owner was pissed about that. So this fellow fellow slave owner threatened to about that. So this fellow slave owner threatened to kill him. So people think he might have got out of dodge because he was also being, you know, stopped by this guy. Got threats. So he got out of Pennsylvania and he ran

all the way to Louisiana. He probably didn't run, but you know. Horse gum style. Exactly. Once there, he was able to get a Spanish land grant that allowed him to get 650 acres of land. Oh, just that many. Just a little bit. Now, this is where he built the original eight-room Murdles plantation in 1797. He had originally

named it, though, Laurel Grove. He already had five kids, and then once they all moved in there, with him and his wife Elizabeth, they had five more. So they had 10 fucking children. A lot of kids. Wow. In 1799, he was finally pardoned of his whiskey rebellion fugitive crimes. Yes.

By President John Adams. John Adams, yes, him. A few by him. I'll tell you, yeah, this whole thing is brought to you. As soon as they mentioned him, I was like, well, good single thing. Unfortunately for him Yep, this whole thing is brought to you. As soon as they mentioned him, I was like, well, good to sing the whole thing. Unfortunately for him though, he only enjoyed it to 1808 when he died of yellow fever.

Oh no. Tons of people die in a yellow fever here. Is that scarlet fever? Nope, oh it's different, no. What's yellow fever? I love that you're like yellow fever, so that's scarlet fever. Yeah, because I, I think that scarlet fever,

you get like a yellow rash or like that's called yellow something. I could look it up. Yeah, I could look it up. So I looked it up and they're not the same, but they could be caused by the same bacteria. So there it is. So that's probably what you were thinking about. Also yellow fever is also called yellow Jack,

black vomit or American plague. That's gross. And it's an acute viral disease. So it's not awesome. It's most of the time it was very severe. So that's what he died of in 1808. The Lish. That's going to happen a lot.

So the Linn ended up going to Judge Clark Woodruff, who was his son-in-law, who had married his daughter, Sarah. Because during General Bradford's time, like living in the house, he had actually had like lost students bunk with him a little bit. When he was teaching, so Judge Clark Woodruff was a lost student at the time,

and he stayed with him and ended up falling in love with his daughter. That's like a really cute love story. It's real cute. Woodruff had worked under Bradford, so it was like this whole like romcom. I was gonna say, sounds sounds like a new doorbell. And there's also a story that says their romance really bloomed under the

Craype Myrtle trees on the property. Wow. And that's how the house got its nickname that eventually became its forever name. Ah. Craype Myrtle trees. So together they had three kids, Cornelia, James, and Mary Octavia. So he had taken over the plantation really when Bradford passed away and had added on to the planting and farming that was like running the whole operation.

So he really grew the place. In 1823 or 1824, I could see both in different sources. His wife Sarah and two of his three kids died. Oh, no. Of yellow fever. James and Cornelia, the legends say, and we will get into the paranormal part of this particular legend in a bit, but the real legend says that Clark was kind of an asshole. I mean, you have to be an asshole to like own people.

Yes, you know. So there's that, but I guess like he was like a, the people considered him a decent person in that time and other respects. Okay. Now this plantation had many slaves working and living on the property. Mm-hmm. Although he was married to Sarah, who he supposedly had a beautiful love affair with and made a family with her, uh-oh. He was also forcing himself on the women who were working as slaves in their home. Okay, so he was horrifically disgusting. So that's what I mean by that problem he has.

Yes. So one such woman was named Chloe, and she worked inside the house as opposed to outside in the fields, which apparently would be considered the absolute worst kind of slave work, because you're in, you know, you're in the elements, you're in the, you're not having water. It's not like they're sitting there like giving you hydration or anything like that. It was pretty horrific. They were just out in the sun all day. I thought you were saying being in the house was worse than being out there and I was like, wait, what? No, but I got that out. Yeah, the way you said it. All right, cool. But yeah,

it's way worse to be outside. Yeah, obviously both of them are terrible. Right. Like, if you've got a pick, you want to pick to be inside the house. Exactly. Now there are two versions that I found of this story that involves Chloe. Okay. I'm going to tell you both. The first one is this. So, Chloe didn't really have a choice in this matter, obviously. She was also a teenager. Oh, no. Because if she said no to him, shit was going to be really bad for her. If he didn't just outright kill her. Right. Probably anybody she loved. Chloe obviously was smart because she knew that if Sarah the wife found out that it would

also be a ton of trouble, like a whole other mess of trouble. Yeah, just from a different end. So she started listening in on their conversations to see if she could pick up any suspicions so she could like prepare herself and she's smart. So well Clark caught her. One of the times that she was listening into the conversations and had her ear chopped off. Yes. So she wore a tight headscarfer on her head from then on to cover the wound. What a horrific beast. And they said it was like a

green headscarfer she wore. Now obviously she's not happy. No. Who would be happy getting their air chopped off after being like raped by this man. Right. Now as a revenge plot, she poisoned dinner one night. Yes she did. It's either she poisoned dinner or poisoned a cake. There's like many different versions. Whatever. And Sarah and two of the children ended up dead days later. Oh. Now, this made the other enslaved humans on the property nervous because if Clark found out it was Chloe, it would be bad for everybody. Right. They could be seen as accomplices.

So they dragged her out of bed, hung her from a tea tree, and then after she was dead, they waited her down and threw her body in a river. So that's the first story. Okay. The second story starts off the same with an affair and like him forcing himself on her. But this time he started having an affair with another enslaved human other than Chloe while still a fairing with Chloe. And in this one she was nervous that he was going to get bored of her and stay with this other chick and she would be relegated into the fields. Right.

So it wasn't because she wanted to be with him, it was just, I don't want to be put outside. Right. Which makes sense. So she thought of a plan and this plan was one of two plans. The first was to lightly poison the kids and then nurse them back to health to show how necessary she was working in the home. Unfortunately, she overdosed them and died, which is hard to nurse back to health to show how necessary she was working in the home. Unfortunately, she overdosed them and died, which is hard to nurse back to health from.

Right. The other positive, the other motive for poisoning the cake was to eat kale Clark because he cut her ear off and likely raped her several times. Yeah. So it could be either one, both stories are told. Either way, in the end,

this legend says that two of the kids died and the wife died. Wow. So this one ends the same way that the other slaves were freaked out. They thought they were going to be guilty. She is dragged out of bed, hanged and thrown in the water. My God. Now apparently Clark closed the dining room where the dinner was eaten and wouldn't allow it to be used while he was living there for the rest of the time. Yeah, I mean, that makes sense. But here's the thing.

Oh. So it's on record that Sarah, the wife, died of yellow fever. Right. So she wasn't poisoned. Yes, so this is a lot. And two of the kids died within a month of each other after Sarah, both of yellow fever as well. Okay. So Mary Octavia lived for a long time after.

Yeah, so I think, now this story is told sometimes at Martel's presentation. Like this has been a legend that has really survived. No matter what, there is a Clio, or a Chloe, excuse me, there is a Clio too later, but there is a Clio. So Chloe exists, we just, I don't think there was any poisoning involved in anything. No.

Something happened, but we don't know. I think probably the part about him like cutting off our ears, true. And maybe that's the extent of it. I wonder if that's where it ends. It's like, there's really no record of any of this, so we have no idea. All we know for sure is that Sarah and the two kids died

of yellow fever and that Mary Octavia survived well into adulthood. So this is, I wanted to say it because this is a legend that isn't many sources. It's repeated at Mertle's plantation, so I thought it was important to put out there at least. Yeah. What if you were trafficked into a cult over shot nine times, or fell in love with a vampire, or went into a minor surgery and woke up one week later, paralyzed? What would you do? I'm Whit Missildine, the creator of this is actually happening, a podcast from Wondry that brings you extraordinary true stories of life-changing events, told by the people who lived them. From a young man that dooms his entire future with one choice, to a woman who survived

a notorious serial killer, you'll hear their first-person account of how they overcame remarkable circumstances. Each episode is an exploration of the human spirit and personal discovery. These haunting accounts sound like Hollywood movies, but I assure you this is actually happening. Follow this is actually happening wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wundery app. So after the deaths, this is when he officially purchased the land and the home from Elizabeth and they all lived there together until she passed away in 1830.

So from his mother-in-law. Yeah. January 1st, 1834, he sold it to Ruffin Gray Sterling. Ruffin Gray Sterling. Old Ruffin, wow. In his wife, Mary Catherine Cobb. They had a modest nine children together. They were super wealthy and very well known in high society.

Ooh. So she looked at this beautiful house and said, surely it's stately and gorgeous, but let's renovate the fuck out of it and really make it befitting our status, like Beetlejuice style. Yeah, because she was like eight rooms, honey, please. We got nine kids.

So the renovation was very extensive. It turned it into what it looks now, which is gorgeous. So Sterling added an entire Southern section to the home, which I don't know what that is. I literally was like, what? Yeah, I'm assuming it's just a section that is in the South Wing. I don't really know. I don't think I have a Southern section, I'm assuming it's just a section that is in the South Wing. I don't really know.

I don't think I have a Southern section. I'm walking up. It's, they removed walls and rebuilt them to make four large rooms. And these large rooms were ladies and gentlemen's parlors. And not together. A ladies parlor and a gentleman's parlor. I love it.

Because forever the two will not meet. No. There's also a big dining room something called the game room They added a ton of railings outside like the little details They raised the second story by one foot because they had really tall ceilings when they had added the addition Love it. The home was doubled in size. It ended up having 22 rooms Damn and they renamed it the Myrtles. Love it. Now it is said they already were starting to see paranormal

shit happening because they installed some things that point to seeking protection from spirits. One we all know that a little running, running, vation, a little running, running. For a second, I was like, what does that mean? A little runny version. We'll stir that up. H-T-T-V. They hate it. They told me.

So apparently they installed locks upside down, and this was done to confuse spirits trying to get into the house. That's funny. They put a stained glass window on the front door that had French crosses all over it, which are used to protect against evil. Love it. So people think they knew what they were doing. Oh. Now, he died of roughen, died of consumption. I thought you said roughen, died of roughen. No, he didn't die of roughen.

He died of consumption or tuberculosis. Poop. On Gillette. I know. Oh, oh, it's like, oh no. Remember when I made that tip before? I did. Everybody was like, what? What?

So he died of consumption on July 17th, 1854. Apparently his son died the same year from straight up murder in the house over a gambling debt. Oh no. He left all his land and home to his wife Mary Cobb, who apparently was like a business maiden. Love she was just, or maven, I meant not made it. But according to American hauntings Inc, people thought she had, quote, the business

acumen of a man. A man. A man, you say. A man. Which is so sweet, not a fence of her all. Success. Yeah, that's so cool of her that she was like a man. I wish I had the business adventure of a man so proud of her. Of their nine children,

only four of them lived to the age to get married. Oh no. That's not a good, not a good stat. This is like maybe a fucked up thing to say, but I think that's why people had so many kids back then. Because it was just playing the odds. I really think so. I was hedging your bet. It was like, we're gonna get one of them to adult high at least. We'll leave this house to one of them, I guess. I hope. So apparently the Civil War was tough for them because they got looted by union soldiers and their vast money was in Confederate currency,

which was useless because they lost. Ha ha. Real bummer for them. Because again, that was like a real currency back then, but when the civil war went down, all of a sudden Confederate currency was like, you can't use that anywhere. So they had best wealth in that, but then nope, you don't anymore. So during the looting by the Union soldiers, it is said that three Union soldiers were killed

in the gentleman's parlor. Uh oh. At some point, one of her daughter's husbands was murdered on the front fucking porch. Oh Jesus. And it actually died in the house, some say. Wow. So her daughter Sarah and her husband William Winter, they had been married June 3rd, 1852 on the property. They had six children. There was some back and forth as they, you know, as they tried to hold on to the plantation because there was a lot of debt because remember, you know, a lot of currencies not happening anymore. And it changed hands a couple of times because of hard times, but they got it back eventually. There was just a bunch of back and forth. I didn't want to go through it all.

That's fine. In 1861, their three-year-old daughter Kate got yellow fever. Oh, no. Three. Like, that's horrible. Baby, baby, baby. They were desperate to save her. Yeah. So they contacted, because they had tried everything, they contacted a local voodoo priestess named

Cleo. Mm-hmm. She stayed with their with Kate for like days. She was doing what? Oh, Cleo was just the best thing to remember. I was like, what happened? And she was trying to save her. She was trying to do rituals and magic,

but yellow fever was a real bitch. And Kate passed away despite her attempts to save her. Oh, no. And she like stayed in her room. She did everything around her bed and everything, but she passed away in the bed. William Winter was apparently furious, obviously, because he's probably overcome with grief. Yeah. And the problem here was he wasn't angry at,

like, yellow fever, which would be worries. Should direct that rage. He was mad at Cleo. So he blamed her and he had her hanged. Are you kidding? Yeah. And obviously Cleo was a black woman. Yeah. So at that time, easy peasy to do because everybody sucked. So this is, and of course, he's just gonna blame her. Right. So this is legend and who knows if it's really true, but I'll mention it later. I'm gonna mention later why it's important to say this story. Like exactly how it happened. Okay. In 1871, William was apparently teaching Sunday school in one of the parlors, and heard someone clomp up on horseback outside the home, and the person was like, William!

Yeah, so he went outside and whoever it was, who was like, William, whoever it was, just shot him. Oh shit! And it was on the side of the house. He stumbled onto the porch and then into the home. He legend says he struggled up the stairs but only made it to the 17th step and died in his wife's arms on January 26, 1871.

I'd love to feel bad, but I don't. Yeah. And they could never find who it was either. Nobody love to feel bad, but I don't. Yeah. They could never find who it was either. Nobody knows who it was, no one saw him. It was karma. It was a guy named karma. Yeah. According to the newspaper,

a dude by the name of ES Weber was set to stand trial for the murder, but nothing ever came of it. I couldn't find anything else. He skipped town. He skipped town, yes. So Mary Cobb and her daughter, Sarah, lived in the Mertles until 1880 when she passed away.

Everybody's just dying. Just like a lesson right in the Mertles. So many people die here. So it then went, and it's getting changed to like hands and owners. I know. It then went to sun Stephen, and then changed hands out of the sterling family

a few times over. Basically, the place was in debt and hard to manage. That was the problem. Because it's fucking huge. So then Harris Milton Williams bought it in 1891 and moved in with his wife and young son. Eventually, they had six more children, as one does.

I was literally just going to say, only one son. One son? What? And they're like, fuck you seven. They'll like seven. Take that. And they grew the plantation a bit like the farming portion of it. Then during a storm, Steven's son Harry, I think it was his eldest son, was trying to get the Catalan and he like some of the cattle, I guess, had wandered. So they were like, you gotta go get him. So he went to get them and he fell into the Mississippi and drowned.

Jesus. And the Mertles was given down to another son who I think is named Sergit. Oh, good old Sergit, Serg. We got roughen, we got Sergit. We're okay. And he lived there with his wife and what was described as a spinster sister? Is that me? Shit. I'm always at your house and like I literally think I am a spinster sister. You're the spinster sister.

I love that. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery's podcast American scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in US history, presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our newest series, we look at the kids for cash in US history, presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our newest series, we look at the Kids for Cash scandal, a story about corruption inside

America's system of juvenile justice. In Northeastern Pennsylvania, residents had begun noticing an alarming trend. Children were being sent away to jail in high numbers, and often for committing only minor offenses. The FBI began looking at two local judges, and when the full picture emerged, it made national headlines. The judges were earning a fortune, carrying out a brazen criminal scheme,

one that would shatter the lives of countless children, and force a heated debate about punishment and America's criminal justice system. Follow American scandal wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon music or Wonder App. Uh, eventually. Uh, eventually the property became divided to all the Williams kids. It was like sub-divided.

Um, then it went into the hands of Marjorie Munson. Oh, love that name. We love it. We love it. We love it. We love it. And alliteration. Marjorie Munson, this was in the 1950s, and this is when the paranormal activity

really started coming to light. Oh, this is the 1950s now. Yeah, so we're all the way up now. So that's when the family first started seeing strange things and hearing strange things. I believe it. But it was really in the 1970s when the Myers family purchased it

and turned it into a bed and breakfast that reports started flooding in. So this is when the specter of Chloe or at least what the slave woman matching the description of what Chloe is said to look like. Okay. This is when she started making herself very known. Apparently she'll wake you up by standing next to you while you're sleeping and she'll just be holding a candle. Hi, Chloe. Or she'll tuck you into bed. Cause Chloe's a fucking sweetheart. If you fall asleep and your blankets are not,

not scooted on in, you'll wake up with all your blankets, tucked in. That's awesome. Isn't that cool? I never have to be tucked in. I was gonna say I never fall asleep. We're totally out of this. Like it's tucked in.

See, I fell asleep tucked in, so she wouldn't have anything to do. So maybe she would just wake me up with the candle. Yeah. Maybe the Chloe. So even now, people see Chloe, like full-body apparition on the site. I love that. They know it's her because she's wearing the green head wrap to cover her bangled hair.

In fact, there's an absolutely infamous photo that was turned into an official postcard at the Mertles. So in 1992, the owner of the Bed and Breakfast was asked, asked, was asked, was asked by it insurance to take photos of the outside of the Mertles to show the distance between the various buildings on the property. This was to help the underwriters, the insurance underwriters with creating an insurance policy for like fire damage. Money, you know. So she did it. And when she did it, she caught what is pretty clearly a woman in a turban style head wrap between the two houses. And it matches the description of Chloe.

That's okay, it really does. And this apparition is transparent. You can see the house behind her, like through her. That's the coolest thing I've coolest thing. And she's like leaning up against one of the houses. It almost looks like she thinks she's not in view and she's like looking at the camera. It's very creepy. I love it. Well posted. A patent researcher named Norman Benoit went to the plantation in 1995 and began researching this photo because he was like, what the fuck? He did determine that the dimensions of the apparition were exactly correct for a real human being. So he was like, no matter what happened to this photo, that's a real person. Oh my goodness.

Now, remember Clio, the new priestess that was hanged for not being a miracle worker? And girl, curing yellow fever? Well, people think maybe this woman with the head scarf hanging around the property may be Cleo and not Chloe. Why? Well, because of the whole weirdness with the Chloe story. Yeah, and it seems like these two things are a little intertwined and it could get confused. So people think maybe that, because when you look at her, because Chloe's supposed to be a teenager from the story, when you look at this woman, it looks like an older woman.

Like maybe it's weird to say that, but like maybe it looks like when she's an apparition, so it's weird to tell. But I think it just people think it could be either. Now the bed that Kate, baby Kate, three-year-old Kate died in is still there in the house. Why? And it shakes violently out of nowhere. There are gouges in the hardwood floor to show how violently it moves. That is like one of the things that scares me the most.

And there's another photo, a proof of a young girl apparition that's pretty compelling and unexplainable. I'll post this one too. The photo was taken of a teacher and her students there for a field trip. And behind them in the window is a young girl in like Antibela, Mara clothing. Goodbye. Staring out the window. And it's like, clear as day. That's so creepy. And you can see everything but like through her body.

Oh, very creepy. So Mertle's called in Dave Young of Paladin Paranormal for his opinion on this photo, because they were like, what the fuck? Yeah. He saw nothing to suggest it was tampered with or photoshopped. Okay. So, he sent it off for a second opinion.

He sent it off to the Society of Psychical Research in England, which is apparently the oldest and most well-respected and renowned paranormal research group out there. I think Harry Price was part of that. Oh, there you go. So they said nothing was done when developing this photo and they could point to nothing that was done to tamper with the photo. Either Harry Price was part of that or they fought against it, I don't remember. Either way. But they know their shit. They're all up in these stories. So there is a mirror in the front hallway. That's over 200 years old. It's like an original mirror. We don't fucks with old mirrors. No. So people often say they see spirits in the mirror.

Believe it. They see a woman and two children. No, thank you. Thought to be Sarah Woodruff and the two kids. And people say they will see them like together crying or just standing there staring at them. Which either way is fucking terrifying. Are they like trapped there? I have no idea but I hate it. I do too. I don't like I hate that. I don't like a mirror poltergeist. I'd be out. I'd be out of the state. I'd be out of the country. I'd be like no out of 5,000.

I can't deal with that. People often also see hand prints and drip marks on the mirror. And it looks like the drip marks and the hand prints are in the mirror, like not on the surface. That's fucked. And no matter how many times they clean it, they keep appearing.

That would stress me out so much. Yeah, it's a lot. Some owners have replaced the glass and they still return. Wow. And in the gentleman's parlor, there is a blood stain people say from the murder of the Union soldiers that never goes away. What? And made of the actual bed and breakfast had tried scrubbing it off and it either reappears

or doesn't come out. That's so nuts. I mean blood is very hard to get out. It is, but not just years and not that hard. It's not that hard in years. Yeah. So people also hear screaming on the property. Like, great.

Right. Random disembodied screams. Awesome. They also hear little kids voices often, because I mean, there was what, I think according to my tally, there was about 467 kids that roamed this property at one point or another.

And also died everywhere. And everywhere in this property at one point or another. Yes. And also died everywhere in this property. Everywhere in this property. Like they're all just dying a yellow fever every day. Right. They also see kids playing a lot and they'll hear them playing. They'll see them in like the hallways. They'll see them outside, out on the porch.

Like people follow like the sound of a child thinking it's a real child. And then the child will just laugh and disappear. I hate it. Yeah. Or they'll hear them and find that no kids are there, not ever see them, they'll just hear them. That would make me really sad. I know, because I'd be like, you all died.

And you're all just crazy. You're all dead kids. Yeah. People hear footsteps on the stairs, and these footsteps also stop on the 17th step. Oh my God. Yeah, I'm saying. This the 17th step. Oh my god. Yeah, I'm saying this is the creepiest thing in my opinion. Oh fuck.

There's a doll room. No, no. Red or backfist. No. And people will wake up to suddenly see all the dolls tossed about the room. Shut the fuck up and get right out of here. They have also reported their hair or arms being tugged on by little child hands in that room.

And some have even said that they wake up and a doll is suddenly laying next to them and they're like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh No, I would nope. I was all down for like going to this bed and breakfast and I am gone like the end. I'm going to have fun. Like once the Rona is like out of here, I wanna get down, I wanna get to Louisiana. I don't know who you're going with. I mean, I wanna get to Louisiana anyways cause Nalance but I need to go to Myrtle's plantation.

I don't know who you're going with. Just to see this situation. You're going alone? Someone will go with me. Not me. I know it. All right. I know someone will go.

So I think, and that's why we drink covered this, and they wanted to go. Oh, yeah. Or at least I wanted to. So I'll find a friend, okay? UNM go, me and Christine will drink wine at a hotel room, and wait for you guys to come back, shitting your pants. They go. I like it. Sound good, everyone.

I like it. So people will also hear guns firing everywhere. Apparently another man was killed during a robbery on the property. Yeah. And he's seen walking around and also just screaming, please don't. That's not funny, but like I'm uncomfortable. Can you just make sure you're in the middle? Please don't!

Just constantly, that's fucked. It's not funny at all. Death is not- Death isn't funny. No, we're serious. Death becomes a- The idea of a ghost walking around just randomly goes, please don't! It's pretty funny. It's pretty funny.

I'm sorry that I cackled. I love it. So again, we got to make some kind of funny here. It's a spooky episode. We can be silly about it. Sorry, I just like slapped the shift. I'm like, f***ing the microphone.

So that's funny. Um, please don't. So, stop. A young girl, this is creepy. I, please don't. So stop. A young girl, this is creepy, I don't like this. Okay. A young girl who's said to have like curly hair, she's wearing like an old dress, has been seen floating outside the window of the game room, and it looks like she's like trying to look in, like she's like putting her hands on the glass to be like, no, can I see in there? I'm kind of here for that. I'd be like, get the fuck out of here.

I'd be like, bitch, teach me how to do that. Just floating. There's a piano, obviously. Of course. And the piano plays by itself often. No, play, Jose. But it will play often the same chord over and over. And sometimes it will keep going into the night. And when you walk in the room it stops. But when you leave it starts again. I don't want to. So they're like, don't look at me. This is very, very, don't look at me. Yeah, they're not confident in their musical abilities.

Which if they're playing one chord over and over, it's like, I got it. Maybe it's like a little kid that only ever learned one chord. And it's nervous when someone walks on the road Yeah, you maybe feel like an ass but cool So a television mini series remake of the long hot summer. It's star don't John don't John don't Don't don't Who did it start though? Don

Johnson, okay, I said, John Donson. I know. A civil shepherd, Ava Gardner, and Jason Robards, was, it was partially filmed there. And when they moved furniture in a room for a scene, they left for a second, and suddenly when they came back, all the furniture was back in place. Shut up.

And they were all terrified. They all say that this happened. They couldn't wait to stop filming there. They were like, get me the fuck out. Yeah, fuck that. One day, while somebody who worked there, like, he was like a gatekeeper there, well, he was at work.

He said a woman who was in a white, old-fashioned dress just walked through the gate without speaking to him, like, just walked past him. And he was like, oh, excuse me. And she just walked right up to the house, went through the front door without ever opening anything. And he quit his job immediately and never returned. Love it. He was there for it.

I'm good. I hear for that energy. And then I found this blog, and I also wrote my notes, um, blog, which is funny. And then I found this blog, but said, I found this blog and it was great. I found this blog and it is, on this blog and it was great. I found this blog and it is Camille Fay.com. I don't know if she's updating this blog now, but I figured I'd give her a little shout out. She wrote a blog post, my experience at the most haunted house in America, the Martles Plantation.

Her experience was nuts. She had tons of weird smells. Her bed was shaking in the middle of the night. And she said it felt like someone was taking it and literally moving it side to side. I had a bed when I was younger. That shook in the middle of the night. Yeah, well, murderous plantations. So Ben there done that. You can feel right at home there.

No. And she said she got up at one point in the middle of the night to try to shake it herself to see what it would take. She said it was way too heavy to shake. That's so tough. So she's like there's no reason this thing should have been shaking. And she said she was sharing the bed with her mother. And she was like I kept waking her up being like they're shaking the bed. And I was like, and she said at one point she felt a childlike presence crawl into bed with her between her and her mother in the middle of the night.

And she said, if you ever have had, if you're like a parent and you've had a toddler crawl into bed with you in the middle of the night and like squish beneath you like between you, that's what it felt like. Okay, so I just screamed nope, but then again, that made me really sad. Because it's like a little kid needs his mom. Who's crawling into this bed being like, can I snuggle you? You know what, I would snuggle a little ghost child

as long as they were good. As long as they were not demonic. Don't be demonic and I'll snuggle you. That's all I'm asking of you. Oh. Yeah, it bummed me out. But, lousy. That is Mertel's plantation.

It is, huh? And you can go visit there if you want to. With Elena. With me. With me. Guys, let's go together. I'm not gonna be there. So have fun!

Well, it looks like I just wanted to double check. You can book tours. They're still. You can. You can even through Rona. So they have day tours. They have evening tours. They have private tours.

Shit. They have something called a Baton Rouge pickup tour. And that looks like it is hoping to make it to the Mertles, but knee transportation, we got you covered. So thank you, I'll pick your ass up to the Mertles. So dang. And you know, I think it looks pretty rad. They have covered it on Discovery Channel,

National Geographic, the travel channel, they've done the ghosted, that's where I first saw it, all those like, I don't know if it was ghosted ventures, but it was one of those ghost shows and like the most terrifying places on earth, I'd spend on those ones. I'll be. And I remember seeing it, I mean, I was living at my parents house when I first started about this, so I was young. I was about a child when I first started about this, so I was young. You were a bunch of child. I was but a child, so I've known about it for a while, but yeah, it's definitely been on like all the lists.

If you look at any list of one, the most haunted places in America, it's always like pretty close to number one. Yeah. If not number one. Yeah. And then it's usually on lists of most haunted places in the world too. So, damn. Which it makes sense because I think about 135,000 people died in that house. Wow, you really up to that count. There's a, no, I said that about the kids, but now there's people.

I can't do that quick of subtraction, but there's a lot of adult, but I'm there. Shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo. do that quick of subtraction, but there's a lot of adult that I don't know. Shoes. Shoes. So guys, I know that plantations are one of those things that are problematic, if you want to say. But this one is just very interesting because it's so freaking haunted.

It's just got so much history to it. Like random deaths in the house. Yeah. it's just got so much history to it. Like, random deaths in the house. Yeah. And then, like, the photo proof that goes with it. That's wild. The photo proof thing was not there. The photo proof is really bonkers, and I'll definitely post photos of it for everybody to see.

But yeah, if you want to go, it's in Louisiana. You can get it all. You can stay in a warmth and conquer. Yeah, and apparently, if you stay in William Winters Room, I think it is, is the one that the bed shakes. Well, so. Mark me down for none of that. Mark me down for whenever Ronu pieces out of here.

Mark me down for some wine by myself that night. So I hope you enjoyed that. I hope it's spooky, spooky, do you out? It did, thank you. You're welcome. Well, in the spooky, spooky, do you out? It did, thank you. You're welcome. Well, in the meantime, you can follow us on Instagram and check out some pictures of all the dead things at Morbid Podcasts.

Hit us up on Twitter. At A Morbid Podcasts. Send us a Gmail. At Morbid Podcasts.gmail.com. And you can shop our merch at shop.morbidpodcast.com. Do it, there's really cool stuff. And it's changing all the time. It is, and also we hope that you keep listening.

And we hope you keep it. We're gonna have to wear the biopentation and you put all this money into it and then it changes hands all the time, all the time, all the time. And not so weird that you have slaves on your plantation and you do really horrible things that I'm like, you know, like such as having slaves,

don't do that, that's really awful. And don't keep it so weird that you kill anybody and your house or that you die in the house without your kids and don't end dolls. Don't end kill anybody in your house or that you die in the house without your kids and don't and don't. Don't. But don't. Don't. Bye.

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