Morbid - Myrtles Plantation

Episode Date: October 22, 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 Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, weirdos, I'm Elena. I'm Ash. And this is a spooky morbid. Oh, my Ash is singing. I literally said to myself as you were saying, hey, weirdos, I'm Elena. I was like, don't sing during this one, you dumbass. Don't do it. And then I just did.
Starting point is 00:00:33 It's just in your bones. It's here. It's in your D-N-A. My dinah. In your dinah. It's in my denna. It's in your genome. So, but first things first, I just wanted to tell everybody because I had mentioned that
Starting point is 00:00:45 my dog Bailey has been going through. some issues lately. She had surgery for cataracts. She's kind of, 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. I know. 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 and 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 reteach her how to exist again. So it's been a little hard, but she's, I think it's for the best because
Starting point is 00:01:30 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 like 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, because we never call her that. I literally call
Starting point is 00:02:11 Bailey. Her name is not Bailey anymore. Bushka. Babushka. Busca, boobination station. The bubub. Boosh. Bubba. Boopination station. Boopa. There's a like, and then it goes into like goob, goop.
Starting point is 00:02:28 Goopi. Goopi. It's like she's just. Your papa. That's what I say. She's usually Bubba. That's what she's become. That's what the kids call her.
Starting point is 00:02:37 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. Yeah, it just made me feel warm and 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. Argue. She needs to arg it up. Argue, maybe. So I think we're
Starting point is 00:03:04 going to do that because she's beautiful. Oh my God, are you going to? I think we should. I have to go to PetSmart tonight. Do you literally want me to get you a costume? A pirate costume. I got Franklin and Lux Batwings and it turned out to be a big waste of money because they almost clawed my eyeballs out. Yeah, cats will do that. Yeah, they share well. Well, anyway, speaking of Halloween, we next week, holy cow, right? Yes. Holy shit.
Starting point is 00:03:25 I know. I know. Holy cow. Holy cow. Holy shit. We're all of a sudden censoring our terrible potty mouths. I wasn't even. But anyways, next week, for the week leading up to Halloween, we are going to be doing a
Starting point is 00:03:36 virtual live show because we really want to see your faces and we can't. I was like, well, we won't. We won't. But we wanted to be with you. So the Monday, Wednesday, Friday leading up to Halloween, there's going to 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 going to be at your local times. 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 going to have to wake up way earlier than that. The show starts at 5 for us. We're going to be up at like 3. I'm stoked. It's going to be up at.
Starting point is 00:04:12 awesome. We're going to be so punchy. You know us when we're tired. Oh yeah, you've, you've met us, right? And there's, so I think there's still tickets left, and you can get tickets at onlocationlive.com slash morbid world tour. It's going to be a ton of fun. Have we said we're dressing up? Yeah. Yeah, we're dressing up for the occasion. We're going ham. Elena made something for one of her costumes last night. And she was like, oh, do you want to 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 Elizabeth. thin collar that I made because I found like a DIY thing about it. And she just like whipped it up last yeah. So there's your hint for one of my costumes. Yeah. What could it be? I feel like I can't give a
Starting point is 00:04:54 hint at all because if I hinted any of my costumes, it would give it away. Yeah. I mean very like 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 Parcast, we've been having so much fun with it, guys. And we are doing like a big Halloween episode. So you've got to go listen to it. It's going to be fun.
Starting point is 00:05:23 I think you're going to 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. It is. Listen to them on Mondays.
Starting point is 00:05:32 That's when they drop. And I think you guys will dig it. Yeah, yeah. So go to look at that if you need some extra spooky spookies. if we haven't provided you with enough random episodes. Yeah. But I think other than that, we can just dive right in. All right.
Starting point is 00:05:45 So this is your episode. It's Elena Centric, 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.
Starting point is 00:06:03 You know why it's insane to me? And it's actually Myrtle's Plantation. I should have said it plural. It's Myrtle. 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 one of the most
Starting point is 00:06:16 haunted houses in America. Where? Where? So, it's in Louisiana. It's in St. Francisville. And, like, you know it, right? Yeah, but I've done that. It's in Louisiana. It's beautiful. I mean, it's like Spanish moss
Starting point is 00:06:32 hanging everywhere, kind of just like, picturesque, beautiful. Is that where you found out that you can buy Spanish mosh? Some Spanish marsh. So, maybe. So I looked at the picture and I was like, oh, gosh. And I was like, oh. And when I saw it, I was like, Spanish moss is so spooky.
Starting point is 00:06:50 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. 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. Someone's going to be like, that causes death and decay to all people.
Starting point is 00:07:08 plants. Someone will yell at me about it, but it's fine. I'm probably going to do it, so fuck it. But, but yeah, it's cool. If you didn't know, you can buy Spanish moss for your own fucking stuff. You know, now 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 antebellum 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. So I just wanted to put that out there right now that I'm like, it's a gorgeous place. Oh, my goodness.
Starting point is 00:07:45 And not recognize the fact that there's a reason it's beautiful because it was maintained. Exactly. That way. And that it's from 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 would say.
Starting point is 00:08:03 You were not wrong. And now, of course, the like, The present-day owners are the ones who take care of it, obviously. But back then, you know, I just wanted to put that out there that I acknowledge the time that this was taking place. 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 Myrtle's.
Starting point is 00:08:28 Yeah. And if anyone just heard, I just took the time to say especially and not ex-specially. Good for you. Did you hear that? I almost tripped. I did. Gross, Helena. growth. But, you know, the paths are riddled with tragedy and tales of human degradation. So
Starting point is 00:08:43 there will be a little bit of mentioning of that here. So we're going to start off with the 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 Murdles later. I hope so. So General David Bradford was known as Whiskey Dave. I love that 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,
Starting point is 00:09:33 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, 19, or 1791. Might as well be. So, yeah, 1791, they were pissed about it.
Starting point is 00:09:58 It was like, it's like in Hamilton when he says, when you taxed our tea, we got. frisky and this is what happened. 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 seven thousand 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, or, uh, uh, President Washington was like, you know, that guy. Yes.
Starting point is 00:10:36 Do you remember Washington? Yeah. His name is George. Yes, George. He's married to Martha. White hair? Yep, that guy. Okay.
Starting point is 00:10:42 So he was like, oh, I'm going to 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,
Starting point is 00:11:11 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 what I mean? Like they were not in the original colonies. Right, 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.
Starting point is 00:11:44 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. So apparently he had successfully lawyered a 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.
Starting point is 00:12:13 He had not registered this man properly. That, like, makes my skin crawl. It's horrific to think that that is a 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 slave owner threatened to kill him.
Starting point is 00:12:35 So people think he might have got out of Dodge because he was also being, you know, stopped by this guy. So he got out of Pennsylvania and he ran all the way to Louisiana. He probably didn't run, but you know. Forest Gump 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?
Starting point is 00:12:56 Just a little bit. Now, this is where he built the original eight-room Myrtle's 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 ten fucking children. A lot of kids.
Starting point is 00:13:17 Wow. In 1799, he was finally pardoned of his whiskey rebellion fugitive crimes. Yes. By President John Adams. John Adams. Yes, him. Brought to you by Hamilton. Yep, this whole thing is brought to you.
Starting point is 00:13:31 As soon as they mentioned him, I was like, well, going 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.
Starting point is 00:13:47 What's yellow fever? I love that you're like, yellow fever. Is that scarlet fever? No, because I think scarlet fever, you get like a yellow rash. It's called yellow something. I can look it up. Yeah. So I looked it up.
Starting point is 00:14:00 And they're not the same, but they could be caused by the same bacteria. So there it is. 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. Most of the time, it was very severe.
Starting point is 00:14:20 So that's what he died of in 1808. Delish. That's going to happen a lot. So the land ended up going to judge Clark Woodrisp, 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 law students bunk with him a little bit when he was teaching so judge clark woodruff was a law student at the time and he stayed with him and ended up falling in
Starting point is 00:14:45 love with his daughter that's like a really cute love story it's real cute uh woodruff had worked under bradford so it was like this whole like rom-com i was gonna say sounds like it's adorable and there's also a story that says their romance really bloomed under the crape myrtle trees on the property wow and that's how the house got its nickname that have eventually became its forever name. Ah. Because of the crape myrtle trees. So together they had three kids, Cornelia, James, and Mary Octavia.
Starting point is 00:15:14 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
Starting point is 00:15:40 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, people considered him a decent person in that time in other respects. Okay. Now, this plantation had many slaves working and living on the property. Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 00:16:02 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. 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,
Starting point is 00:16:25 which apparently would be considered the absolute worst kind of slave work. Oh. 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.
Starting point is 00:16:44 And I was like, wait, what? No, but I got that off the way you said it. All right, cool. But yeah, it's way worse to be outside. Obviously, both of them are terrible. Right. But like, if you've got to pick, you want to pick to be inside the house. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:16:56 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.
Starting point is 00:17:13 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 while Clark caught her one of the times that she was listening into the conversations and had her ear chopped off.
Starting point is 00:17:40 Yes. So she wore a tight headscarp around her head from then on to cover the wound. What a horrific beast. And they said it was like a green headscarp she wore. Now, obviously she's not happy. No. Who would be happy getting their ear chopped off after being like raped by this man? Right.
Starting point is 00:17:58 Now as a revenge plot, she poisoned dinner one night. Yeah, she did. It's either she poisoned dinner or poisoned a cake. There's like many different versions of this. Yeah, 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.
Starting point is 00:18:21 Right. They could be seen as accomplices. So they dragged her out of bed, hung her from a tree, and then after she was dead, they waded 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 affairing 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.
Starting point is 00:18:57 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 from.
Starting point is 00:19:19 Right. The other motive for poisoning the cake was to kill 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, that makes sense.
Starting point is 00:19:56 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. Yeah, 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.
Starting point is 00:20:15 Yeah. So I think, now this story is told sometimes at Myrtle's plantation. Like, this has been a legend that has really survived. No matter what, there is a, there is a Cleo or a Chloe, excuse me. There is a Cleo too later. But there is a Chloe. So Chloe exists. We just, I don't think there was any poisoning involved in anything.
Starting point is 00:20:38 No. Something happened, but we don't know. I think probably the part about him, like, cutting off her ear is 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.
Starting point is 00:20:58 So this is, I want to. I wanted to say it because this is a legend that is in many sources. It's repeated at Myrtle's Plantation. So I thought it was important to put out there at least. Yeah. 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.
Starting point is 00:21:20 Yeah. January 1st, 1834, he sold it to Ruffin Gray Sterling. Ruffin Gray Sterling. Old Ruffin. Wow. And his wife, Mary Catherine Cobb. They had a modest nine children together. They were super wealthy and very well known in high society.
Starting point is 00:21:40 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.
Starting point is 00:21:55 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? 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. They removed walls and rebuilt them to make four large rooms.
Starting point is 00:22:20 And these large rooms were ladies and gentlemen's parlors. And not together, a ladies' parlor and a gentleman. Sparler. 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 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 Myrtle's. 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
Starting point is 00:23:03 from spirits. Well, and we all know that a little runny-renny vation. A little runny-ranny. For a second, I was like, what does that mean? A little wrenny-rny vation. We'll stir that up. HGTV. They hate it. 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 Ruffin, died of consumption. I thought you said Ruffin died of Ruffin. No, he didn't die of Ruffin. He died of consumption or tuberculosis. Poop. On Gillette. I know. Oh, I was like, oh, no. Remember when I made that joke before and everybody was like, what? What?
Starting point is 00:23:51 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 it. Or maven, I meant, not maided. But according to American hauntings Inc., people thought she had, quote, the business acumen of a man. A man, you say.
Starting point is 00:24:21 A man? Which is so sweet and not offensive or all. At all. Yeah, that's so cool of her that she was like a man. I wish I had the business adventure of a man. I'm so proud of her. Of their nine children, only four of them live to the age to get married. Oh, no.
Starting point is 00:24:38 So 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. Yeah, it was hedging your bet. It was like, we're going to get one of them to adulthood. At least. We'll leave this house to one of them, I guess.
Starting point is 00:24:53 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. Real bummer for them. Because again, like when that was like a real currency back then, but when the Civil War went down, all of a sudden Confederate currency was like, like you can't use that anywhere. So they had vast 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.
Starting point is 00:25:31 Uh-oh. At some point, one of her daughter's husbands was murdered on the front fucking porch. Oh, Jesus. And actually died in the house, some say. So her daughter, Sarah, and her husband, William Winter, they had been married June 3, 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, that Confederate currency is not happening anymore.
Starting point is 00:26:00 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. That's horrible.
Starting point is 00:26:17 Baby, baby, baby. they were desperate to save her. So they contacted, because they had tried everything. They contacted a local voodoo priestess named Cleo. She stayed there with Kate for like days. She was doing what? Yeah, it was just the best thing ever. I was like, what happened?
Starting point is 00:26:35 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,
Starting point is 00:26:54 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 where you 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. Yes. So at that time, easy, peasy to do because every. but he sucked. So this is, and of course, he's just going to blame her. Right. So this is legend, and who knows if it's really true, but I'll mention it later.
Starting point is 00:27:27 I'm going to 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.
Starting point is 00:27:54 Oh, shit. Yeah. And it was on the side of the house. He stumbled onto the porch and then into the home. Legend says he struggled up the stairs, but only made it to the 17th step. Ah. And died in his wife's arms on January 26, 1871. I'd love to feel bad, but I don't.
Starting point is 00:28:12 Yeah. And 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. According to the newspaper, a dude by the name of E.S. Weber was set to stand trial for the murder, but nothing ever came above it. I couldn't find anything else.
Starting point is 00:28:29 He skipped town. He skipped town, yes. So Mary Cobb and her daughter, Sarah, lived in the Myrtle's until 1880 when she passed away. Everybody's just dying. Left and right. In the Myrtles. So many people die here. So it then went, and it's getting changed to like hands and owners.
Starting point is 00:28:47 so much. It then went to son 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. What? And they're like, fuck you, seven. They'll like seven. Take that. And they grew the plantation, it, like the farming portion of it. Then during a storm, Stephen's son, Harry, I think it was his eldest son, was trying to get the cattle in, and some of the cattle, I guess, had wandered.
Starting point is 00:29:27 So they were like, you got to go get them. So he went to get them, and he fell into the Mississippi and drowned. Jesus. Yeah. And the Myrtle's was given down to another son, who I think is named Surgett. Oh. Good old Sergit, Serge. We got Ruffin, we got Surgett.
Starting point is 00:29:46 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. Eventually, eventually the property became divided to all the Williams kids. It was like subdivided. Then it went into the hands of Marjorie Munson. Oh, love that name. We love it in 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. So we're all the way up now.
Starting point is 00:30:25 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 a slave woman, matching the description of what Chloe is said to look like. Okay. This is when she started making herself very known.
Starting point is 00:30:52 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. Because Chloe's a fucking sweetheart. If you fall asleep and your blankets are not scooted on in, you'll wake up with all your blankets tucked in. That's awesome.
Starting point is 00:31:11 Isn't that cool? I never. I never. I never. I never fall asleep without my blankets tucked in. See, I've never. full asleep tucked in, so she wouldn't have anything to do. So maybe she would just wake me up with the candle. Yeah, maybe. Thanks, Chloe. So even now, people see Chloe, like full body apparition on the site.
Starting point is 00:31:26 I love that. They know it's her because she's wearing the green head wrap to cover her bengal deer. In fact, there's an absolutely infamous photo that was turned into an official postcard at the Myrtle's. So in 1992, the owner of the bed and breakfast was asked by insurance to take photos of the outside of the burtles 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.
Starting point is 00:32:08 two houses. And it matches the description of Chloe. That's so cares. It really does. And it's, this apparition is transparent. You can see the house behind her, like, through her. That's the coolest thing I've ever heard of her life. 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. We'll post it. Um, 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.
Starting point is 00:32:46 Oh, my goodness. Now, remember Cleo, the voodoo priestess that was hanged for not being a miracle worker? My girl? Curing yellow fever. Well, people think maybe this woman with the headscarf hanging around the property, maybe Cleo and not Chloe. Why? Well, because because of the whole weirdness with like the Chloe story. Yeah, and it seems like these two things are a little intertwined and it could get confused.
Starting point is 00:33:11 So people think maybe that, because when you look at her, because Chloe's supposed to be a teenager in the story, when you look at this woman, it looks like an older woman. Okay. Like maybe it's, I mean, it's weird to say that, but like maybe it looks like one because she is an apparition, so it's weird to tell. But I think it just people think it could be either. Huh. 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.
Starting point is 00:33:39 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, 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 Antebellamara clothing. Goodbye. Staring out the window.
Starting point is 00:34:08 And it's like clear as day. That's so creepy. And you can see everything but like through her body. Very creepy. So Myrtle'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.
Starting point is 00:34:27 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 old. 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 him.
Starting point is 00:34:52 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 the original mirror. We don't fucks with old mirrors. No.
Starting point is 00:35:03 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. Oh. Which either way is fucking terrifying.
Starting point is 00:35:22 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. Oh, I'd be out. I'd be out of the state.
Starting point is 00:35:31 I'd be out of the country. I'd be like, nope. Outty 5,000. I can't deal with that. People often also see handprints and drip marks on the mirror. And it looks like the drip marks and the handprints 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, 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.
Starting point is 00:36:03 from the murder of the Union soldiers that never goes away. What? And maids of the actual bed and breakfast have tried like 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 that hard. Yeah. So people also hear screaming on the property.
Starting point is 00:36:26 Great. Random disembodied screams. Awesome. They also hear little kids voices often because I mean there was what, I think, I I think according to my tally, there was about 467 kids that roamed this property at one point or another, and also died everywhere in this property. All of them died. Like, they're all just dying a yellow fever everywhere.
Starting point is 00:36:45 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 will follow, like, the sound of a child thinking it's a real child, and then the child will just, like, laugh and disappear. I hate it. Yeah. Or they'll hear them and find.
Starting point is 00:37:03 that no kids are there and 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 kids forever. Yeah. People hear footsteps on the stairs, and these footsteps also stop on the 17th step. Oh, my God. Yeah, I'm saying.
Starting point is 00:37:22 This is the creepiest thing in my opinion. Oh, fuck. There's a doll room. No. Bread of breakfast. No. People will wake up to suddenly see all the dolls tossed about the room. Shut the fuck up and get right out of here.
Starting point is 00:37:35 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 in bed. Ew! Fuck off. Yeah, I would... No. I would... Nope.
Starting point is 00:37:57 I was all down for, like, going to this bed and breakfast and I am gone, like, the wind. Oh. I'm going. Have fun. Like once the Rona is like out of here, I want to get down. I want to get to Louisiana. I don't know who you're going with. I mean, I want to get to Louisiana anyways because Nalans, but I need to go to Myrtle's
Starting point is 00:38:17 plantation. I don't know who you're going with. Just to see this situation. You going alone? Someone will go with me. Not me. I know it. All right.
Starting point is 00:38:23 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 them wanted to. So I'll find a friend, okay? You and I go, me and Christine, will drink wine at a hotel room and wait for you guys to come back, shitting your pants. There you go. I like it. Sound good, everyone.
Starting point is 00:38:40 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 picture a ghost? Please don't!
Starting point is 00:39:02 Just constantly. That's fucked. It's not funny at all. The death is not... Death isn't funny. No. We're serious. Death becomes us. The idea of a ghost walking around, just randomly go, please don't. It's pretty funny. It's pretty funny. I'm sorry that I cackle. I love it.
Starting point is 00:39:26 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 shit. my microphone. Swap in the microphone. So that's funny. Please don't. So, stop.
Starting point is 00:39:40 A young girl, this is creepy. I don't like this. Oh, okay. A young girl who's sent to have like curly hair. She's wearing like an old dress. No. Has been seen floating outside the window of the game room. And it looks like she's like trying to look in.
Starting point is 00:39:56 Like she's like putting her hands on the glass to be like, hello, 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.
Starting point is 00:40:11 No way, 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. They're like, I don't want an audience. Don't look at me. This are very, don't look at me.
Starting point is 00:40:30 Yeah, they're not confident. their musical abilities, which if they're playing one chord over and over, it's like, I get it. Maybe it's like a little kid that only ever learned one. And it's nervous when someone walks in the room. Yeah. Yeah, you made me feel like an ass, but cool. You're welcome. So a television miniseries remake of The Long Hot Summer, it starred John Don Johnson.
Starting point is 00:40:51 Don Johnson. Who? Who did it star, though? Don Johnson. Okay. I said John Johnson. I know. Sybil Shepard, Ava Gardner, and Jason Robards was, it was partially filmed there.
Starting point is 00:41:06 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.
Starting point is 00:41:22 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 dressed just walked through the gate without speaking to him like just walked past him stop and he was like um 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 like nope i'm good i hear for that energy and then i found this blog and i also wrote in my notes um blod which is funny and then i found this blod that said i found this blod and It was great. I found this blog and it is Camillefei.com. I don't know if she's updating this blog now, but I figured I'd give her a little, I'd give her a little shout out. She wrote a blog post,
Starting point is 00:42:10 my experience at the most haunted house in America, the Myrtle's Plantation. Her experience was nuts. She had tons of weird smells. Her bed was shaking in the middle of the night. I hate that. 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, murder splintation. 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 like try to shake it herself to see like what it would take. She said it was way too heavy to shake. That's so hooked up. So she's like, there's no reason this thing should have been shaking. And she said she was
Starting point is 00:42:46 sharing the bed with her mother. And she was like, I kept waking her up being like, they're shaking the bed. Oh. And I was like, ugh. 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, 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 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.
Starting point is 00:43:27 demonic and I'll snug you. That's all I'm asking. That's all I'm asking of you. Yeah, it bummed me out, but louser. That is Myrtle's plantation. It is, huh? And you can go visit there if you want to. With Elena, because she needs a guest. Guys, let's go together. I'm not going to be there. So have fun. Well, it looks like I just wanted to double check. You can book tours there still. You can. I think even through Rona. So they have day tours, they have evening tours. They have evening tours. They have private tours. Shit. They have something called a Baton Rouge pickup tour.
Starting point is 00:44:02 And that looks like it is hoping to make it to the Myrtle's, but need transportation. We got you covered. So they'll pick you up. They'll pick your ass up to the Myrtle. 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 like the ghosted.
Starting point is 00:44:22 That's where I first saw it is all those like, I don't know if it was ghost adventures, but it was one of those ghost shows and like the most terrifying places on earth that's been on those ones. Obby. And I remember seeing it. I mean, I was living at my parents' house when I first heard about this, so I was young. You were but a 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.
Starting point is 00:44:47 If you look at any list of one, the most haunted places in America, it's always like pretty close to number one, if not number one. Yeah. And then it's usually on lists of most haunted places in the world, too. Damn. Which it makes sense because I think about 135,000 people died in that house. Wow, you really up to that count. No, I said that about the kids. But now there's like, I can't do that quick of subtraction, but there's a lot of adults that died there. Shoot. Shoot. Shoot.
Starting point is 00:45:21 So, guys, I know that, you know, plantations are one of those. things that are uh, problematic if you might, if you want to say. Um, but you know, this one is just very interesting because it's so freaking haunted. Like,
Starting point is 00:45:36 it's just got so much history to it, like random deaths in the house. Yeah. That and then like the photo proof that goes with it. That is wild. The photo proof thing was not so. The photo proof is really bonkers. And I'll definitely post photos of it for everybody to see.
Starting point is 00:45:50 Uh, but yeah, if you want to go, it's in Louisiana. You can get it tall. You can stay in a room. And conquer. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:45:57 And apparently if you stay in William Winter's 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 Rona pieces out of here. Mark me down for some wine by myself that night. So I hope you enjoyed that. Yeah. I hope it's spooky-spokied you out.
Starting point is 00:46:18 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 Morgid Podcast. Hit us up on Twitter. at a morbid podcast. Send us a Gmail.
Starting point is 00:46:29 At morbidpodcast.gmail.com. And you can shop our merch at shop. Dot 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.
Starting point is 00:46:41 And we hope you. Keep it weird. You want us to wear that you buy a plantation. You put all this money into it. And then it changes hands all at all the time, all the time, all the time. And not so worth that you have slaves on your plantation and you do really horrible things to them. Like, you know, such as having slaves. Don't do that.
Starting point is 00:46:54 That's really awful. And don't keep it so weird that you kill. anybody in your house or that you die in the house with all your kids and haunted dolls. Doles. Doles. Doles. Dals. Bye.

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