Myrtles Plantation, Louisiana

This historic home and former antebellum plantation is widely considered one of the most haunted places in America, with at least 12 ghosts reportedly roaming its grounds.

The Myrtles Plantation was built in 1796 by General David Bradford, who fled from President George Washington's army because of his involvement in the Whisky Rebellion. The plantation was named Laurel Grove and was passed down to Bradford's daughter Sara and her husband Judge Clark Woodruff. The Woodruffs had three children, but tragedy struck when Sara and two of her children died of yellow fever in 1823.

According to legend, one of the ghosts that haunts the plantation is Chloe, a slave who worked for the Woodruffs. Chloe was allegedly caught eavesdropping on the judge's private conversations and was punished by having one of her ears cut off. To get revenge, Chloe baked a cake with poisoned berries and served it to the Woodruff family. The poison killed Sara and her two children, but spared the judge. Chloe was then hanged by the other slaves and thrown into the river.

Another ghost that is said to haunt the plantation is William Winter, who married one of Bradford's great-granddaughters, Ruffin Stirling. Winter was a lawyer who lived and practiced at the plantation. In 1871, he was shot by a stranger on the front porch and died in his wife's arms on the 17th step of the staircase. Some visitors claim to hear his dying footsteps on the stairs.

The Myrtles Plantation has changed hands several times over the years and has been renovated and restored to its original glory. It now operates as a bed and breakfast, a restaurant, and a museum. Guests can stay in one of the 19 rooms, enjoy a guided tour of the historic home, or explore the 10 acres of land that surround it.

The plantation is also known for its paranormal activity, which has been documented by various TV shows and investigators. Some of the phenomena reported include ghostly apparitions, voices, footsteps, cold spots, moving objects, and mysterious photographs. Some of the most famous images captured at the plantation are of Chloe standing near the house and a young girl peeking through a window.

Whether you are a believer or a skeptic, you will surely find something fascinating about the haunted Myrtles Plantation in Louisiana. It is a place where history and mystery meet, and where you might encounter some of the spirits that linger there.

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Marland's Bridge - Sunset, Louisiana

This bridge is the scene of 2 events. On Nov. 3, 1863. There was a union campground just east of it, then it was attacked by the Confederacy. This is called ” The Battle of Bayou Bourbeau” The Confederates were victorious, and manage to capture an artillery piece. Young Corporal Marland then fought off 7 confederates and took his gun back, charging over the bridge back to Lafayette La. He was given a Medal of Honor for his actions there, and the bridge was named for him.

The actual haunting of the bridge has nothing to do with that though. In the early 1900s, a woman was on her way to meet her fiance’ to get married at the nearby church. The congregation waited for hours until they went looking for her. Traveling back to her house, they had to cross Marland’s bridge and found her horse and buggy there. After searching around for her, they discovered her body in Bayou Bourbeau near the bridge.

Years later, people passing over the bridge complain of their radios going on and off, and there are some eyewitness accounts of a girl in a white dress hovering over it. Sometimes, if you park near the bridge at night and turn your car off. She will not hesitate for a visit….

Address:

Near Robert Dailey Road and Bourbeaux Dr

Sunset, LA

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Charles Burr Ln Bridge - Opelousas, Louisiana

This is a very haunted bridge that all locals know about. Add night many people have seen A apparition of a old man holding a lantern at the bridge. Many people driving along the road and filled that something is in the backseat of the vehicle and look in the rear view mirror and see a shadow outline of a human body sitting on the back seat. One time I was walking down this road and I was hearing drums and no house was around. Me and my friends went down this road many times and got out at the bridge and we always feel uneasy and hear strange noises.

Address:

Charles Burr Ln

Opelousas, LA

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Hotel Monteleones Unsettled Guests ,New Orleans - Louisiana

Hotel Monteleone is such a fixture of cultural life in New Orleans, the city’s fabled French Quarter is said to begin in its lobby. Antonio Monteleone, a Sicilian immigrant, opened this beautiful and historic Beaux-Arts style hotel at 214 Royal Street in 1886. Easily recognizable, it is the only high-rise building in New Orleans. It contains 600 guest rooms, two restaurants, a heated rooftop pool, and a rotating bar called the Carousel Piano Bar and Lounge. Over the years, the hotel has developed a reputation for being haunted by as many as a dozen different specters.

The Hotel Monteleone was born in a merger of the Commercial Hotel with an older French Quarter hotel. In 1903, Monteleone added 30 rooms, and in 1908, he added 300 rooms in a major renovation that included renaming the building from the Commercial Hotel to Hotel Monteleone. In 1954, Antonio’s son, Frank, razed the original structure and reimagined it as the luxury hotel that stands today. The sky terrace, swimming pool, and cocktail lounges were added in 1964. Throughout its history, many literary figures, including Ernest Hemmingway, Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, and Anne Rice (among others), have stayed there.

Locals have long believed a plethora of spirits, including former employees, a man named William “Red” Wildemere, and a toddler named Maurice, haunt Hotel Monteleone. According to the hotel, “Generations of hotel guests and staff have regularly experienced haunted events that would cause even the staunchest skeptic to take pause. This haunted hotel in New Orleans had a restaurant door that opens almost every evening and then closes again, even though it is locked. An elevator that stops on the wrong floor, leading a curious couple down a hallway that grows chilly and reveals the ghostly images of children playing.”

Hotel Monteleone exterior. 

The ghost of a young boy named Maurice allegedly haunts the 14th Floor (actually the 13th—the hotel skipped the number 13 when they numbered the floors). According to legend, he was the son of Josephine and Jacques Begere, who were in town to visit the French Opera House on Bourbon Street. The Begeres left their son in the care of a nanny while they attended the opera. On their return, their horses became spooked and threw Jacques from their buggy, killing him. Soon after, his wife died of a broken heart. Hotel guests and staff believe young Maurice still wanders the hotel, searching for his parents in the afterlife.

In 2012, a woman named Phyllis Paulsen reportedly encountered the ghost of Maurice. She told hotel staff, “I was just relaxing in bed one morning when I looked up to see a young boy about three years old walk by the foot of my bed. Since he had come from the sitting room, I immediately got up to see if the door was open and to check if a parent may have followed him into the room. My husband had just left for a meeting and I thought he may not have closed the door all the way… It didn’t take me long to realize that I had seen a ghost.”

Larry Montz of the International Society for Paranormal Research investigated Hotel Monteleone in 2003 and allegedly uncovered over a dozen ghosts. Among those mentioned earlier, “Solemn John,” a businessman from Tennessee who committed suicide after one too many failed investments, makes his appearance. Two lovers who made a suicide pact at the rooftop pool are also believed to haunt the hotel.

With such inspiring architecture and a storied past, it is no wonder Hotel Monteleone has appeared in several movies and televisions shows. Expect to pay over $200 a night, but with an onsite parking garage and Bourbon Street in walking distance, and a chance to walk the same halls as Ernest Hemmingway and William Faulkner, it is worth every penny. If you request it, you might even get the chance to stay on the 14th Floor and have an encounter with the unseen. Failing that, you can still visit everything else the French Quarter has to offer while enjoying some of the best accommodations New Orleans has to offer.

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Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana

Rumored to be on top of a burial ground is the Myrtles Plantation in Louisiana, which is the home to at least 12 different ghosts. Built in 1796, ghost stories center around the tale of a former slave named Chloe, who had her ear chopped off after she was reportedly caught eavesdropping. In seeking revenge, Chloe killed two of the master’s daughters by poisoning a birthday cake. She was then hanged by her fellow slaves, and today is reportedly seen wandering the plantation with a turban on to conceal her ear.

If you want to investigate things for yourself, you can stay at the plantation for $175/night.

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Hangman’s Tree - New Orleans, Louisiana

During the antebellum period, a slave was caught in the heat of passion with a white female. Consequently, he was taken to an oak tree near Lake Pontchartrain and hanged. If one goes there late at night, he will hear the snapping of the rope and will see a shadow swinging back and forth against the tree.

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Witches Den or Circle - New Orleans, Louisiana

At this old fountain, witchcraft was practiced very regularly. Many dogs and cats were murdered during sacrifices; their howls and meows are still heard today. Also heard are the screams of cries of the murdered and of the virgins that were brutally raped.

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Old Elerbe Road School - Shreveport, Louisiana

This former school was closed due to the disappearances of several people, one being a beloved janitor. When the children went to look for him, they too disappeared--one by one. All that remains is a building in which all the lockers have been knocked out; in their place is a mural of the grim reaper. At night, one may hear the screams of children and the sound of a school bell.

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The Myrtles Plantation - St. Francisville, Louisiana

A profound sense of longing and loss clings to the moss draped trees surrounding the Myrtles Plantation, thick as the heady azalea-laced air. Legends abound here and the Myrtles Plantation is one of the most recognized haunts in the South, known as “one of America’s most haunted homes.” A beautiful antebellum mansion founded in the late 1700s, the Myrtles Plantation of St. Francisville, Louisiana, has most recently been honored as one of the 150 best properties to stay at according to National Geographic Traveler’s April 2008 issue. But although the rooms are beautifully furnished and appointed, and the estate is rich in history, neither reason is why many visitors choose to spend a night in this dramatic setting.

The architecture and gentle landscaping of the Myrtles evoke a mood of old-fashioned comfort and relaxation; but there are things at the Myrtles that remain restless. Visitors have mentioned jewelry disappearing and waking to find themselves fully tucked into their beds. Strange noises on the staircase, furniture that moves, a grand piano that plays by itself, mysterious handprints on the mirrors, odd things appearing in photographs – There is no doubt that the Myrtles is haunted, but the debate rages even now as to who or what is doing the haunting.

Most of the stories regarding the Myrtles revolve around a string of unfortunate choices that brought disturbance and death. It begins with David Bradford who helped quell the Whiskey Rebellion, and bought the land with a special grant from the Spanish, building a humble eight-room main house. Unfortunately the land had previously been the burial ground for at least one Native American tribe and when his builders happened upon bones, Bradford supposedly ordered them burned.

Bradford’s daughter married Clark Woodruff, a main figure in the most popular tales about the Myrtles. According to popular lore, Woodruff married Sarah, but was quite the philanderer! Woodruff’s most damaging affair was with a household slave, Chloe. When his attentions turned to a new slave, Chloe began eavesdropping to figure out ways to prevent being sent out to harsh labor in the fields. Catching Chloe listening to a private conversation, Woodruff drew a sword and cut off one of her ears. As a result Chloe began wearing the turban that has become her ghost’s signature in photographs. Even more desperate than before to prove her worth as a household staff member, Chloe baked a birthday cake for one of Woodruff’s children. In the batter she included some oleander, thinking the amount would make them ill enough that she could show her value by nursing them back to health. Unfortunately she overestimated the amount she needed. Quickly Woodruff’s wife and children succumbed to the poison-laced birthday cake. Afraid they’d be found guilty of murder by association, Chloe’s fellow slaves lynched her. Rumor claims Chloe’s ghost still haunts the grounds and the eerie sounds of children playing where none can be seen suggests that the Woodruff children have remained as well.

As the property was passed through other owners, tragedies mounted. Children died young (a horribly common occurrence) and diseases like yellow fever ravaged families. William Winter was murdered on the front porch of the Myrtles following the Civil War, supposedly rallying long enough to drag himself inside and partway up the main staircase where he died in his wife’s arms. In 1886, the Myrtles passed out of the original family’s grip forever.

Although historical records do not support every story that has helped make the Myrtles Plantation so attractive to would-be ghost hunters, enough paranormal researchers and curious visitors have investigated and experienced creepy and unexplained things that it seems certain the plantation is haunted. Precisely who is haunting the grounds is up to speculation, and perhaps we will never know the full truth, but murder, tragic accident and deadly disease seem to be the causes of most of the ghostly activity at the Myrtles. Financial difficulties caused the plantation to change hands several more times before the present era. Beginning in the 1950s, people began to mention odd occurrences happening in the house.

Today the Myrtles Plantation is a welcoming respite from the hustle and bustle of modern living. Rooms and cottages are available for rent and public ghost tours run several times a day. The Myrtles Plantation has a connection to true tragedy that makes it worth a stay, whether you are a spirit or not!

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Nicholson’s Home - Washington, Louisiana

A former civil war hospital, this home served as the site of many amputations during the war. Today, an amputee haunts the house. However, he is a friendly apparition who simply walks around the house on his one leg.

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Highland Road near Lee Drive - Baton Rouge,Louisiana

Usually during late September or early October, but occasionally at other times, the ghosts of ragged and dirty Confederate soldiers can be seen walking along or crossing Highland Road beginning around Lee Drive (south of the LSU campus) and the sightings continue as far down as Gardere Lane. There are numerous reports of soldiers scurrying across the road late at
night. However, in 1999 or 2000, there was an incident in early October
in which several drivers called police when a filthy, bleeding young man wearing a Confederate uniform and carrying a rifle staggered across
the busy intersection of Lee Drive and Highland Road around 5:00pm.
Police serached the area and found no one.

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Guaranty Income Life and Broadcasting Building - Baton Rouge,Louisiana

This structure originally housed the old location for the Baton Rouge
General Hospital. The bottom floor of the building used to serve as the
hospital morgue, but now it houses a cafeteria and several offices. The
old morgue freezer was turned into a file storage facility during the
renovations for the new office complex. At night, the entire floor
seems to drop several degrees colder than the rest of the building.
Several of the security guards refuse to go down there and many
complaints of strange noises have been reported coming from the bottom
floor. The elevator is even said to go up and down all by itself at
night when no one is there.

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