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#PHSTMU Greetings Twitter! Today I’m going to be introducing a weekly thread on #creepyhistory and the implications of presenting it to the public. I want to start out with the Myrtles Plantation, located in St. Francisville, Louisiana. Pic source: Myrtles Plantation.
My wonderful professor @LWieck was kind enough to suggest the book “Tales from the Haunted South: Dark Tourism and Memories of Slavery from the Civil War Era” by the outstanding @TiyaMilesTAM. This is the book I will be referencing the most for this thread.
TW: physical and sexual violence.Myrtles Plantation was built in 1796 by General David Bradford and, over the years, was home to hundreds of slaves. However, the specific slave I will be focusing on is a woman named Chloe. She was supposed to have been owned by
Clark and Sara Woodruff and like many female slaves she was forced into becoming her master’s mistress. Chloe had a penchant for listening at keyholes and was caught one day by her master, who cut off her ear as punishment. From then on Chloe wore a turban to cover the scar.
In order to get back in the family’s good graces (or, perhaps, for revenge) Chloe poisoned the birthday cake of one of the daughters in order to nurse the family back to health. Unfortunately, this backfired and the wife and two daughters died.
The other slaves, fearing punishment for her deeds, hung Chloe and then threw her body in the Mississippi. Now, her ghost haunts the property, scaring residents and guests alike. This doesn’t match the historical narrative but nevertheless the legend persists to this day.
The Myrtles is no longer a working plantation but it does serve as a bed and breakfast with tours of the house. For years tour guides have told the story to a rapt audience. However, as Miles puts it “the confluence of consumer demand and vendor supply was producing an emphasis
on scenes of slavery” (93). The main attraction of the plantation is the ghost of Chloe, thousands of people travel from all over in hopes of seeing the tragic apparition. They do nothing to reckon with their history of slavery, only profiting from it.
As public historians do we have a responsibility to reckon with history that is scary, contentious and potentially off-putting? I think we do. The recent controversies over the removal of Confederate statues shows that it is important to people that the past be reckoned with and
that the right narratives are being spread.
Also, during Miles’s experience at the plantation most of the staff and audience were white. Myrtles Plantation is taking stories of physical and sexual violence against women and making money of off them.
Also, during Miles’s experience at the plantation most of the staff and audience were white. Myrtles Plantation is taking stories of physical and sexual violence against women and making money of off them.
Chloe is dead, if she existed at all, so why does it matter? Well when people present Black history in a way that doesn’t condemn the racism that they faced at the time it can be not only offensive but harmful as well. It can perpetuate racism and profit from suffering.
As public historians it is our responsibility to tell the stories of the past in a way that entertains and engages and the tours at the Myrtles certainly do that. However, when we do not take a strong stance against things that perpetuate racism we are not doing our jobs.
If you’d like to visit a plantation that reckons with it’s past in an amazing and productive way you can go to the Whitney Plantation located in Wallace, Louisiana. @WhitPlantation Pic source: National Geographic.
