True Haunting in the United States

By Bob Blick

This trilogy is a combination of 3 very popular books:

Book 1. The 13 Most Haunted Places in the United States
Book 2. More Haunted Places in the United States
Book 3. The Salem Witch Trials & Haunting

Readers have commented that the thing they like best is reading about the past history of the places that are haunted. The history tells the story of why ghosts may currently haunt these places.

There are some gory and atrocious things hidden behind the walls of many of the buildings and prisons and hospitals featured. Many prominent people have reported seeing ghosts in places such as the White House and Alcatraz, to name just a couple.

Some of these ghosts or spirits are playful while some are just plain nasty.

Sit back on a dark gloomy evening and prepare to be scared. Who doesn't like to be scared?

Note: Quotes used in this book are included verbatim so the spelling in these quotes may not be correct. The author wanted the quotes to remain true.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bob Blick
• Release date: Jun 13, 2013
• ISBN: 9781524220839

Book preview

Introduction

For years people have reported haunting and strange events that cannot be explained.  Although many say that ghost and haunting aren’t true, there is an army of others that will beg to differ.  While many people are afraid of even the thought of a ghost there are others that find seeking them to be thrilling.  There are those how want to prove that ghost really do exist and dedicate years in the research of this unexplained phenomena.

If you have an interest in ghosts and supernatural happenings, some of the ghost TV shows can be interesting and the better ones give you a background into the haunting, just as I have tried to do here.

Talk to almost anyone and at one point or another they will have had something unexplainable occur. Whether its sounds in their house or a feeling that someone is there when no one is around, most of us have experienced something.

I was driving to California to get married a hundred years ago (maybe not that long ago ) and had driven for over 40 continuous hours with no sleep. I was on the hills in Nevada and feeling extremely tired so was looking for a rest area. There was none near so I tried singing and doing whatever I could to keep awake.

It didn’t work. I dozed off and to this day I swear someone or something tapped me on the shoulder just as I was heading towards the edge of the hill. I woke up and jerked the car back to my side of the road. Needless to say I was wide awake by the time I did find a rest area.

As to what happened, I’ll never know for sure. I was not one to believe in ghosts or spirits but this was eerie.

So it is when you visit many places across the United States that are said to be haunted. People will get certain feelings or see something they can’t explain. Certain places are considered the most haunted and these places generally have a history behind the haunting.

So what causes a haunting?  Many will claim that it’s unfinished business.  Others say it’s the strong connection to a certain place.  Some also state that not only do ghosts stand in our presence, but evil spirits and demons are present as well.  What causes this?  What can prevent it?  These are the burning questions that paranormal investigators and other researchers try to answer every day.

Throughout the years there has been documented evidence of haunting at homes, businesses, cemeteries, hospitals, and even prisons.  Today thousands of people tour and visit these sites in hope to catch a glimpse of the unknown for themselves and for the pure adventure alone.  Here in this book I will not only provide you with the top 13 most haunted destinations in the U.S., I will also fill you in on the history and haunting of each and every place.

The secrets that are held in these spine chilling tales will leave you baffled and may even give you the desire to visit and see for yourself.  So let’s not delay anymore.  Let’s dig into the next chapter if you aren’t scared and if you dare!

The Myrtles Plantation

St. Francisville, Louisiana 

This is considered one of America's most haunted homes. This plantation is rumored to be the home of at least a dozen ghosts, the most famous being Chloe. I will tell you about her later.

Unsolved Mysteries was filming a segment about these alleged haunting and during the entire production the crew was experiencing technical difficulties, according to the host, Robert Stack.

If you are ever in Louisiana you can take a tour and you can even stay at the Myrtles’ Plantation.  This is a very large 650 acre plantation and carries plenty tales of murders mayhem, and tragedy.  The history of the place gives you a background as to why the place is considered to be haunted.

The plantation was first owed by David Bradford. He was a very successful man. The home has since had many owners but it seems that almost anyone who has owned the place has had a tragedy of some sort.

Bradford was an attorney and a wealthy businessman, which seems to go hand in hand. In addition he was the Deputy Attorney General for his county.  Bradford began teaching law to Clark Woodrooff.  Woodrooff went on to earn his law degree and not long after he married Bradford’s daughter Sarah in 1817.  When Bradford died, Woodrooff managed the plantation for his mother-in-law and would later purchase the property.

Mysterious misfortunes began soon after Woodrooff and his wife Sarah started a family. They had three children who were all born in the home.  But things started going south, so to speak.  Sarah contracted yellow fever and died in 1823, only a few years after they were married.  This wasn’t uncommon at that time as the disease was widespread and many families were affected by it. Had this tragic event been the only occurrence, nothing would have been thought of it and we would not be discussing it.

Unfortunately there was more to come.

The next year Woodrooff’s son contracted yellow fever as well and died almost a year to the date of the death of his wife.  Then about two months later yellow fever claimed another daughter as well.

Woodrooff had enough. He sold the home to Ruffin Stirling, another wealthy man. Considering the size of the plantation anyone who would purchase it would have to be of considerable wealth. Sterling added a large addition to the home to show off some European furniture.  The plantation that had previously been known as Laurel Grove became known as the Myrtles’ Plantation, named so because of its lovely blooming Crape Myrtles.  Unfortunately four years after the renovation was completed, Stirling died of tuberculosis. He had owned the plantation for twenty years.

The home was next purchased by William Winter.  One day while Winter was teaching a Sunday school lesson at his home, he was called out by a man who said he had some unfinished business he needed to discuss.  Winter walked out onto the side porch and the man shot him. Witnesses claim he died instantly.

However another version of his murder claimed he had managed to crawl up the stairs, where he collapsed in his wife's arms on the seventeenth step. This story is sometimes disputed and there are various versions, but stories persist that his ghost has been seen walking, staggering, or crawling up the stairs, always stopping on the seventeenth step.

The murder of William Winter is actually the only murder in the house that has been verified.

His wife stayed on at the plantation but she herself died at the age of forty four inside the home.

The home was then purchased by Harrison Williams.  He had not lived there long when his son fell into the Mississippi river and drowned.  The home eventually passed on to William’s heirs after his death and was subsequently sold to Marjorie Munson, a widow, sometime in the 1950’s.

That is when the strange ghostly occurrences actually began.  Marjorie claimed she saw the ghost of a black slave woman in a green turban.  It was reported that Williams had also encountered this same apparition.  There is an interesting mystery involved here.

Legend holds it that while Clark Woodrooff was living in the house he owned slaves. One of them took care of his home and children. Her name was Chloe. As the story goes Woodrooff forced Chloe to have sex with him and she did so because she didn’t want to have to work in the fields.  Later Clark began having an affair with another woman, causing Chloe to be terrified she might end up being replaced.  She would listen through the keyholes of doors trying to hear if there was any mention of her being returned to the fields.

One night Woodrooff caught Chloe eavesdropping and he cut off her ear, wanting to teach her a lesson.  She started wearing a turban to hide the scar.

Chloe allegedly came up with a plan where she would cause the family to get sick and then nurse them back to health. She figured they would then realize how important her being there was to them.

She baked a cake for one of the children’s birthdays and in the ingredients she added a hand full of crushed oleander flowers, a known poisonous flower. Unfortunately she added too much. Woodrooff didn’t eat any cake, but two of his children and Sarah did and all died within a matter of hours.

When the other slaves found out what Chloe had done they became outraged at her as they felt they all would be blamed and punished. They entered the house and captured her.  They took Chloe to a tree near the home and hung her. 

Supposedly Woodrooff was murdered years later. 

Now this conflicts considerably with the original account I gave. How this story came to be is not known, and when this account was examined, Chloe is not known to have ever existed. Public records show the children and Woodrooff’s wife all died of yellow fever. Woodrooff was not murdered as this version states as his oldest daughter lived to an elderly age and he died while staying with her and her husband on their farm.

I have given both versions, however, as you will hear conflicting stories but I tend to believe the original as there seems to be more verification. However many people have said they have seen Chloe’s ghost, or at least the ghost of a black woman, wandering the plantation alone on many occasions. Others have claimed they have been woken by a black woman standing next to their bed. No matter whether the legend is true or not, people swear this woman is wearing a green turban and haunts the plantation.

Children are also said to be heard playing when there is no one around. Maybe this is the ghosts of Woodrooff’s children who died there?

One gate guard seems to have quit his job after seeing a woman walk past him and proceed to the house, where she vanished once she reached the door. I guess it didn’t take much to scare this gentleman. 

Other Legends

There are numerous other legends surrounding the Myrtles. The house is reputedly built over an Indian burial ground and the ghost of a young Indian woman has supposedly been seen. During the Civil War, the house was ransacked by Union soldiers and legend claims that three of the soldiers were killed in the house.

A mirror located in the house is rumored to hold the spirits of Sara Woodruff and two of her children. According to an old custom, mirrors are covered after a death, but legend says that after the death of the Woodruffs, this particular mirror was overlooked. The spirits of Sara and her children are said to be trapped in this mirror, and they are occasionally seen or will leave handprints in the mirror which reappear minutes after they are removed.

The picture of the reportedly haunted mirror within Myrtles Plantation is above.

There is (or was) supposed to be a blood stain in a doorway about the size of a human body that will not come clean.

The plantation is also reportedly haunted by a young girl who died in 1868 after being treated by a local voodoo practitioner. She supposedly appears in the room in which she died, and has been reported to practice voodoo on people sleeping in the room. If I ever do visit the house I can assure you I would make certain never to sleep in that room. I have read and studied much in the paranormal field and the practice of voodoo is the one thing that scares me the most.

The Myrtle Plantation does offer a bed and breakfast tour.  They have their own website and tour details can be found there.  Many people touring this place have said they managed to get some remarkable pictures and video evidence that seems to even baffle professionals or skeptics.

The story of this plantation is typical of stories passed down throughout the ages. It can be difficult to verify old tales so I try to write all that I’ve found and let you be the judge.

Waverly Hills Sanatorium

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville was founded in 1778 and grew rapidly.  There was, however, a tuberculosis outbreak in1900 that caused a huge amount of deaths. 

Years later in 1924, the Waverly Hills Sanatorium began construction. It was built to hopefully aid those who had become infected with tuberculosis. In 1926 it was open for business.

The sanatorium had four stories of rooms for housing patients as well as operating rooms, a kitchen and a cafeteria, a library, a salon/beauty parlor, and a morgue. 

The fifth floor was a heliotherapy department where people with tuberculosis of the bone were treated with the help of sunlight so it was equipped so the sun easily shown in.

As you would expect there were many deaths during these times since so many people were infected with this disease.  There were