Murder, Mystery, Oh My.....
We have all heard them-the ghost stories passed down from generation to generation. They are written about in books and told to us by our families and friends. I cannot say with any certainty that they are real or that they are not, for that matter, but the facts are that people keep telling them and we keep listening, whether it is to get your pulse racing or to have that thrill of unknown possibilities running wild in our imaginations. Who knows? If by chance you happen to be reading this in a darkened room, with only the light from your computer screen, maybe you shouldn't turn around to find the source of that not-quite-right sound behind you because it could be something you don't want to see, for you could be a part of those long told tales of mystery.
Click on the audio below to add ambiance to your reading experience! 

Myrtles Plantation

Picture
The first story I am going to tell you about is a haunted house located in St. Francisville, La. Myrtles Plantation was erected in 1797 and it has been said that it was built on an old Native American burial ground. Since the beginning, the house has been the site for many mysterious occurrences, many involving the deaths of young children through illnesses, poisonings, and murders. There have been reports of a haunted mirror, where a face and hand prints appear, photographs, where people and objects appear and disappear randomly and the furniture being rearranged. Guests of the house have found themselves tucked into bed in the middle of the night, their jewelery gone missing, and a grand piano that plays itself. The house has long claimed to be the most haunted house in America. There has been much evidence of ghostly apparitions appearing to people who visit the plantation. Could the ghosts be of the dozen people who have been murdered on the plantation? One ghost named "Chloe" is said to haunt the grounds at night. Chloe is said to be a slave of one of the plantations former owners, Clark Woodruff. She was involved in an intimate affair with Woodruff, when he decided he had enough of her and moved on to a new slave girl. Chloe was so distraught over the possibility of being sent to work the fields, the hardest work for slaves, that she began to eavesdrop on the private conversations of her owner. She was caught by Woodruff, and, to punish her for the act, he had her ear cut off to discourage any slave from eavesdropping. Chloe wore a green turban to cover the hideous scar from her missing ear and mysterious illnesses began to afflict the children of the house and Chloe was always there to nurse them back to health, some say because she wanted to get back into the good graces of the owner and others claim it was out of revenge. Never the less, one of the children had a birthday, for which, Chloe baked a cake. She was said to mix poisonous oleander leaves into the cake mix and served it to the two children and Woodruff's wife, Sarah. Apparently, she mixed too many of the leaves in the cake, and instead of making everyone sick as she intended, Sarah and her two daughters died within hours of eating the cake. Woodruff had refused a slice of the cake and was informed after the deaths of his wife and children, of Chloe's treachery and dragged her out of the house by the head of her hair and hanged her in the courtyard. Today, people have claimed to see a ghost of a young black woman in a green turban appearing at their bed side in the middle of the night and of her roaming the courtyard. Could Chloe's ghost be appearing to the guests? Is she stuck their for eternity to repent for her mistakingly poisoning Sarah Woodruff and her children? If you visit the house and have a tale to tell of the young woman in the green turban please leave a comment and share your story with me.

The photographic evidence of the haunting of Myrtles Plantation.

The video below is a little about the history of the Plantation and of the legend of Chloe's ghost.

Villisca House

Picture
The Villisca, Iowa house is said to be a site for hauntings, which did not seem to start until the current owners, Darwin and Martha Linn, purchased the home and began to restore it to its 1912 condition. The Villisca house was the site of the brutal murder of Josiah and Sarah Moore, their four children, Herman-age 11, Katherine-age 9, Boyd-age 7, and Paul-age 5, and two other children, Lena-age 12, and her sister Ina-age 8, who were spending the night. The murders occurred on June 10, 1912, sometime shortly after midnight. The entire family and their two house guest were bludgeoned to death with an ax, all their skulls were crushed beyond recognition, while the family slept in their beds. The crime scene was an unusual one. All the curtains in all the windows were drawn, except for two that did not have curtains, they were covered with clothing belonging to the Moore family. A pan of bloody water and a plate of uneaten food were found in the kitchen. There were two lanterns found, one at the foot of the Sillinger sisters' bed with its chimney taken off and the second lamp was found at the foot of Josiah and Sarah's bed with its chimney removed also. The murder weapon was found in the bedroom of Lena and Ina's room, bloody, but an attempt by the murderer to wipe the blood off was apparent. Next to the ax, on the floor, a slab of bacon was found on the floor, wrapped in what appeared to be a dish towel and an identical slab of bacon was found in the Moore's ice box. All of the victim's faces were covered with their blankets by the killer after they had been beaten with the ax and Lena Sillinger was found posed in a sexually provocative pose, with her undergarments removed. A scene for such brutal murders has left the house haunted by the sound of children laughing when none are present, falling lamps, moving objects, and banging noises. Is it the Moore and Sillinger children trapped here because of an unfinished life? Is it haunted because of the unsolved murder of a family that left the small town shattered? Almost one hundred years later, the crime will probably never be solved and that could leave the ghosts of that brutal murder in limbo for all eternity waiting for the justice that will never be theirs. 

Below is audio recorded inside the Moore house.

Below is a news clip from "Catherine Crier Live" about the unsolved Villisca, Iowa ax murders of the Moore family in 1912.