Haunted History Of Louisiana Plantations A

Stories of ghosts and strange happenings at these historic Southern homes—with photos included. Louisiana plantations evoke images of grandeur and elegance, but beyond the facade of stately homes are stories of hope and subjugation, tragedy and suffering, shame and perseverance and war and conquest. After sixteen workers axed most of the Houmas House’s ancient oak trees, referred to as “the Gentlemen,” eight of the surviving trees eerily twisted overnight in grief over the losses wrought by a great Mississippi River flood. An illegal duel to reclaim lost honor left the grounds of Natchez’s Cherokee Plantation bloodstained, but the victim’s spirit may still wander there today. A mutilated slave girl named Chloe still haunts the halls of the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville. In this book, Cheryl H. White and W. Ryan Smith reveal the dark history, folklore, and lasting human cost of Louisiana plantation life.

Louisiana plantations evoke images of grandeur and elegance. Beyond the facade of stately homes are stories of hope and subjugation, tragedy and suffering, shame and perseverance and war and conquest. After sixteen workers axed most of the Houmas House's ancient oak trees, referred to as "the Gentlemen," eight of the surviving trees eerily twisted overnight in grief over the losses wrought by a great Mississippi River flood. An illegal duel to reclaim lost honor left the grounds of Natchez's Cherokee Plantation bloodstained, but the victim's spirit may still wander there today. A mutilated slave girl named Chloe still haunts the halls of the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville. Cheryl H. White and W. Ryan Smith reveal the dark history, folklore and lasting human cost of Louisiana plantation life.

"In this collection of thirteen chilling tales you will explore ghosts along the River Road at some of Louisiana's best known plantations, and also along the back bayous of the state. You will encounter the ghosts of the most haunted house in America, meet ladies in white and black who refuse to leave, learn of spectral children who continue to play, Civil War soldiers trapped where they died, pirates guarding buried treasure, and even the ghost of homes that met a fiery end. These true tales will delight and frighten you during your unique journey through the bayou state"--Back cover.

Broken clocks tick...beds rise in the air...paintings fly across the room...locked doors fling open...crystal chandeliers shake...heavy footsteps and eerie piano music sound in the dead of night-and that's just for starters. Welcome to the Myrtles Long recognized as America's most haunted house both by parapsychologists and the media, The Myrtles is a twenty-eight-room Louisiana bed-and-breakfast once owned by Frances Kermeen. In this spine-tingling chronicle, Frances tells the story of how she was drawn to this former plantation mansion, its bone-chilling history, and the incredible encounters of the ghostly kind she had that forever changed her beliefs about the supernatural-and just may change yours. Along with the sometimes terrifying, sometimes benevolent hauntings, her years at The Myrtles also brought death threats from the Ku Klux Klan, the tragic loss of friends, a catastrophic betrayal, and other personal challenges. They would all converge with the paranormal phenomena around her into one cataclysmic event...

In this book Tiya Miles explores the popular yet troubling phenomenon of "ghost tours," frequently promoted and experienced at plantations, urban manor homes, and cemeteries throughout the South. As a staple of the tours, guides entertain paying customers by routinely relying on stories of enslaved black specters. But who are these ghosts? Examining popular sites and stories from these tours, Miles shows that haunted tales routinely appropriate and skew African American history to produce representations of slavery for commercial gain. "Dark tourism" often highlights the most sensationalist and macabre aspects of slavery, from salacious sexual ties between white masters and black women slaves to the physical abuse and torture of black bodies to the supposedly exotic nature of African spiritual practices. Because the realities of slavery are largely absent from these tours, Miles reveals how they continue to feed problematic "Old South" narratives and erase the hard truths of the Civil War era. In an incisive and engaging work, Miles uses these troubling cases to shine light on how we feel about the Civil War and race, and how the ghosts of the past are still with us.

Step into the mysterious world of haunted plantations, where you'll meet the restless spirits of soldiers, slaves, and owners who roam the antiquated halls. Presenting majestic homes from seven southern states, this remarkable guide contains dramatic history and true stories from the days before and during the Civil War. Join paranormal expert Richard Southall on an awe-inspiring journey through each plantation, exploring grand houses and their ghastly ghouls. Haunted Plantations of the South presents fascinating research, in-depth interviews with ghost hunters, and unforgettable encounters full of paranormal activity and evidence. Discover the phantom casket of the Sweetwater Plantation, the Man in Black who haunts Bellamy Mansion, and many more compelling ghost stories along the way.

Discover this Cajun and Creole city where ghost stories abound . . . photos included! The Hub City boasts a multitude of spirits and specters, from those lost in Civil War skirmishes and fever outbreaks to those souls that simply can’t say goodbye. Today, they wander the halls of bed-and-breakfasts and restaurants and linger along back roads and cemeteries. Pirates are rumored to guard buried treasure, and ancient French legends hide in the swamps, bayous, and woods. Join journalist and ghost seeker Cheré Dastugue Coen as she visits Lafayette’s haunted sites and travels the countryside in search of ghostly legends found only in South Louisiana.

In the autumn of 1873, one of the worst yellow fever epidemics in U.S. history swept through Shreveport. As the deadly scourge claimed a quarter of the town's population, the dedicated efforts of five missionary priests offered a call to hope, even as they laid down their own lives in the struggle. True martyrdom is vanishingly rare, extolled as the highest possible sacrifice, yet Shreveport bore abundant witness through these five saintly priests. Their heroism in the midst of this tragic chapter is captured here by a trio of authors, winding a narrative that transcends history to reveal complex themes of virtue, sacrifice and response in times of human crisis and suffering.