Ghostly Enconter - The Myrtles Plantation : the true story of Americas most haunted house

Copyright 2005 by Frances Kermeen

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

Cover design by George Cornell

Warner Books

Hachette Book Group USA

237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Visit our Web site at HachetteBookGroupUSA.com

First eBook Edition: February 2005

ISBN: 978-0-446-51072-1

Many have seen their faces, felt their cold breathheard their screams...

Two little blond-haired girls who peek through windows

The lady dressed in black dancing in the French bedroom

The Confederate soldier who stays in the Green Room in May and June

The one-eared slave tortured and betrayed by her masterbefore she killed his wife and daughters with a poisoned cake

The Voodoo Queen looming over guests in the Old Nursery

The baby whose cries can be heard during the day and well into the night

The murdered overseer who walks the groundsand tells tourists to go away!

Theyre just some of the ghosts youll meet in

THE MYRTLES PLANTATION

Ghostly Encounters

For my Father, with love

And in Loving Memory of
Hapton Sanders, Martha Mary Singleton,
Beverly Bilowich, Whelman Perkle, Jimmy Lorio,
Martial LaFleur, Maimie Thompson,
Violet Opal, Lizzie Russie, Guy Nurdin,
Marguerite Rarick, and Caesar,
Freckles, Woodruff, and Grinch

There are so many people I am grateful to for their efforts with this book. First, my agent Jodie Rhodes. After eight years and three agents, Jodie made a sale on my first book just weeks after acquiring it. I want to thank John Aherne and Beth de Guzman at Warner Books for believing in and championing this book. Id also like to thank Devi Pillai, Megan Rickman; Diane Luger and George Cornell for the great cover art; and the entire staff of Warner Books.

To my friends and family who helped me with the long and tedious editing process, Id like to give a special thanks to my parents, Bob and Millie Kermeen, as well as Arthur Payne, who provided creative and technical direction. Thanks also to Kerry Zimmerman, Laura Campbell, and Mike Scheck.

For those who shared my journey at the Myrtles, offering their love and support along the way, Id like to thank Ozelle Thurston, Fran Campbell Rarick, Betty Jo Eschete, Kerry Zimmerman, Lillie May Scott, Hester Eby, Delores and Katina Littleton, Thelma Washington, Robin Botsford, John and Barbie, Iris Williams, Sam and Cindy Moore, Jimmy Bane, Cathy Wallace, Charlotte McKeithen, Windell Weeden, Carolyn Lockhead, and John Miller, who will always hold a very special place in my heart.

For nearly a decade I owned an old Southern home in St. Francisville, Louisiana, known as the Myrtles Plantation. It had been my dream to restore and live in a historic mansion, furnish it with period treasures, and turn it into a wonderful romantic inn. As it turned out, I got more than I had bargained for.

I had no idea that the place was haunted, a fact that was kept from me during the purchase process. Nowadays you must declare any ghostly disturbance to a prospective buyer, but that wasnt the case back then.

Ghosts and sightings at the Myrtles were an almost daily occurrence. Voices, footsteps, and the scent of perfume were common throughout the house. In the spring and fall, the ball seasons, you could sometimes hear parties going on, but if you tried to find the source of the merriment, it seemed to move. A servant carrying a candle made her way from room to room at night, tucking people in. A beautiful Indian maiden sat naked beside the pond. Two little girls, reportedly poisoned in 1824, romped and played outside, stopping occasionally to chat with an unsuspecting guest. An overseer, brutally murdered decades ago, confronted visitors and brusquely ordered them away. And thats just the tip of the iceberg.

Although not everyone who died at the Myrtles became a ghost, and not every ghost is a murdered soul, many of the restless spirits can be historically accounted for. Some have their own particular room to haunt, or a time of year or even a specific day each year that they manifest, which correlates in some way with their prior physical life at the plantation.

The house itself is not the only place that spirits manifest. Ghosts can also be seen on the grounds, even in broad daylight.

Hundreds of these ghostly occurrences were reported by the guests at the Myrtles, and Im sure many more went unreported.

Why are there so many ghosts at the Myrtles Plantation? There have been many explanations. One is that it sits on sacred Indian burial ground. I feel, however, that the Indians chose that spot because it already possessed mystical qualities. The house was reportedly haunted long before a previous owner paved over the graveyard to make a parking lot. Another theory is that the intensely passionate emotions of the people who lived, loved, and died there bound these souls to the plantation. Or perhaps they just simply did not want to leave.

I kept a diary while I was at the Myrtles, quintessentially to have a record of the restoration process and my innkeeping experiences, but ultimately to document the ghostly encounters.

I was very careful, in writing this book, to make sure that every statement is true. In places, I used a composite of several people when it didnt affect the outcome so as not to confuse the story with too many characters. The important thing is that every single passage in the book actually happened. Its all 100 percent true.

I lived and survived at the Myrtles Plantation for nearly a decade and the experience changed me in a profound way. Anyone who has seen a ghost will tell you that the encounter has instilled in them a firm belief that life goes on after death, that the soul exists separate from our bodies. Spirits are real; life does not end. It is a very comforting thought. Maybe not when you are alone in the house and heavy footsteps are coming up the stairs, but at least in retrospect.

My experiences at the Myrtles have started me on a lifelong study of the meaning and existence of spirits.

You may wonder how I remained at the house when so much paranormal activity was taking place, dealing with frightening things I didnt believe in until I was confronted with their existence. To survive at the Myrtles for any length of time I had to put the ghosts out of my mind. To deal with them I had to not deal at all. We avoided the subject like the plague, especially at night before we went to bed when we were most vulnerable. If something frightening or scary happened, as it regularly did, we forced it back in our minds and busied ourselves with the daily activities of running an inn. When it was too frightening, as was the case when my husband became possessed, I fought like crazy to keep the images from surfacing in my consciousness.

Writing this book was difficult. As I neared the end, I found myself very emotional. It was as if a dam had been opened and water was finally flowing. Even now, its hard to reread the last several chapters.

The book is not just about ghosts and things that go bump in the night, although there was plenty of that. Its also about love, passion, and coming to terms with the spirit realm. There is a deeper message, that the soul transcends death, and anyone who has ever experienced a ghost has been blessed with proof of that.

Its my desire that this book will offer a little lagniappe, a Louisiana term for something extra, and that between the pages of ghosts and possession you will find a certain peace in knowing that there is so much more to life than this finite world.