Ghosts In The Mirror

This story happened in March of 2001 to my mother and father, who were vacationing in Louisianna. During their visit, they stopped at the Myrtles Plantation -"America's Most Haunted House", in St. Francisville, La.

To give you background information, I am quoting from the about.com website about this haunted site: "The magnificent mansion seemed to settle relatively peacefully on the land for many years and when General Bradford died, his daughter Sarah, married since the age of 14, and her husband, Judge Clark Woodruff (age 35) and their three children occupied the home. Like many, in those times, living with the family was a young slave woman named Chloe, who was not only responsible for the tending to the domestic needs of the family, but to Judge Woodruffs personal needs as well. The young mistress, jealous of Sarah, was caught eavesdropping on the family, and the Judge ordered that her left ear be cut- off as punishment. To help mask her scars, she wrapped her head with a green sash, in turban style. Fearing that she would be cast from the family and sent back to the fields to suffer arduous labor, she created a scheme where she would be seen as a hero to the family and earn her chance to stay. She baked a cake and laced it with a deadly poison made of boiled oleander leaves.

Her hope was that the family would fall ill and she would nurse them back to health, and back into their good graces. Tragically, though, Sarah and two of her young children died from the poison. Admitting to her crime, Chloe was attacked by an angry mob, hanged and her corpse was flung, tied with weights, into Mississippi River.

Many who now visit The Myrtles have claimed to witness the ghost of Chloe wandering the grounds and in various rooms of the house. She seems to be one of the more visible of the many lost spirits who move from their world into ours.

There is an interesting mirror that hangs [in a main hallway], which for no explained reason, becomes covered with handprints that are embedded and cannot be removed.

The mirror part has been replaced over the years, and again the handprints suddenly begin to appear."

My mother, on the tour, photographed the mirror with everyone else. However, as they continued to tour the home, she had a 'feeling' to go back and photograph the mirror again.

The next day she phoned me from New Orleans saying that they had developed the photos, and several faces had appeared in the picture. After careful examination, we have located 6-7 different faces in the picture, of varying sizes. Two appear to be of black women, and one just might be the General Bradford. He's located within the banister and is grey, but the two images of the black woman or woman and man are in color! Most of the images are above and to the right of the circular, white flash bulb glare.

My entire family and several friends have now viewed the scanned copy of the photo, and nearly everyone sees at least a few faces within the mirror. Spooky!