Oculus of Myrtles

The mirror showed a reflection that wasn’t my own. But a reflection of a true haunting, that has left people running and fleeing in the middle of the night. It is said to be one of the most haunted items in the world. It also has a mysterious stain that will never come off by just wiping it off. It has been researched and examined very carefully but has no explanation for how and why its forever embedded in the glass itself. The stain almost looks like a handprint as if someone who once touched left a permanent mark, or could a mysterious force be trapped within the oculus itself. But the mirror itself is only just half of the haunting at Myrtles Plantation, which is said to be one of the most haunted places in America. Which has caught the attention of paranormal researcher and journalist Jennifer Lemaire to find out if any of the legends are true. Jennifer has always been interested in the paranormal ever since her brother passed away in a drowning accident. She hoped to encounter her brother’s spirit while investigating, to show proof there still is life beyond death. But after doing at least over 50 hauntings she has yet to encounter her brother. She would be staying at the plantation until she got all the answers she needed. Upon checking into the plantation, she asked if she could stay in the most active room that has the most activity. Which would be in the main house on the second floor where the original owner’s wife and two children had died after being poisoned.

Despite being a paranormal investigator, she is one of the biggest skeptics and always looks for logic and explanation when she goes to these places. She may be a believer, but she also tries to disprove when some of these occurrences most likely have a rational answer for things. Upon entering the main house, she was completely captivated by how ground this house was. There was a large dining room, a small quaint study, and a very nice parlor room. Before she went upstairs to go to her room for the night she stopped at the very sight of a large antique mirror. The mirror was hanging toward the back of the house on a large mantel and for some reason she was drawn to it. She almost felt like she was in a trance just gazing into her reflection when suddenly, she is shaken by a staff member asking if she is okay. She then replies that she is fine but just before she went on upstairs the staff member told her that this mirror holds a lot of negative energy, and that this mirror has seen a lot of death and misery around it. She even said its best not to gaze into it for so long because it has a way of latching on to people’s souls. Some even say it might have been cursed which is no surprise in these parts of Louisiana. Without giving anything a second thought, after what she said she went up to the room, and inside it looked just like any other bed and breakfast bedroom very casual, and quaint. As she unpacks her bags and gets ready to set up equipment to record all activity throughout the night. She hears the wind chimes outside clanging and for some reason she seems compelled to look outside. As she draws back the curtains to take a peek she looks down and sees what looks like small figure walk past a large oak and vanishes. She turns her head then looks back again and sees nothing, but then she looks to her right and sees a small statue next to the oak tree. She then quickly thought her mind must be playing tricks on her and just like that there she goes to being a skeptic. But as she’s also thinking about it some more, she thought how that statue could have gone from one side of the tree to the other. Also, the figure was much smaller than the statue itself and it looked like it had a own a white flowing night gown. She then hears thunder rumbling in the distance and whenever there’s thunder and lightning, she then quickly turns in. She has her video camera set out as well as a REM Pod which will detect activity if something touches it. As she lies in bed, she is just wondering what could possibly happen throughout the night. Later, that night around 3am as the storm continues to strengthen throughout the night, she falls into a deep sleep but is woken by the sound of the piano playing downstairs. It was very creepy it sounded like someone was pressing the same 2 keys on the piano with a small pause in between repeatedly. It was odd why someone would be playing the piano in the middle of the night especially during a serious thunderstorm. As she started to make her way down the stairs the piano music immediately stopped. She then walked into the main foyer where the piano was and there was no one there. Once again, she thinks to herself that it was a long drive just to get here and she’s probably just imagining it. But she still wants to see if this place truly is haunted, and she once again sees the mirror that seems like it holds a curse. So, she walks over to it and at this point she doesn’t care what the concierge was saying about the mirror, and that there is no way this thing could potentially be cursed. She then decided to look into the mirror and see if anything happens. After what seemed like an eternity, she then checked her watch to see that it was almost 4am.

She then says “well I guess I just waisted some sleep time so, good night ghosts.”

Then with another flash of lightning she saw a woman standing behind her with a green turbine on and she had glowing white eyes and she was very pale. She then quickly turned around and there was no one there but when she turned back around. The mysterious woman was now her reflection in the mirror, and she then reached out and pulled her into the mirror.

What happened next to Jennifer was something she was not expecting at all. It was as if she had now become that women, but she had no control of her body, and it was as if she was seeing through the eyes of someone else. She was able to see what time period it was, and she was in the 1800s still at Myrtles Plantation. There was a lot of chatting and for some reason the woman was so fixated on wanting to hear what they were saying. She then propped her ear on the two sliding doors to the main foyer trying to hear what the gentlemen in the next room were saying, when suddenly, the doors fly open, and the woman falls to the floor right in front of the men. The one gentleman is furious he then quickly grabs her from the floor and as she begins to scream as she is dragged outside to the back of the house. As she is dragged outside they walk past the mirror and she could see the woman’s reflection in the mirror and she is not wearing the turbine. The gentlemen then pulls out his sword as he is pinning her against the side of the house.

He then tells her “Chloe I have warned you for the last time and now you have to be taught a lesson the hard way” and he slices her left ear off as punishment for constantly ease dropping. Jennifer was so frightened from what that woman endured and could really feel how scared that woman.

She then found herself awake in her room and as she is quickly trying to take it all in with what just happened. She asked herself could it have been a dream or was it all real, she then could feel something in her left hand underneath the sheets. She then pulls the sheet covers back and sees it’s a bloodied ear in her hand. She screams and jumps out of her bed and runs down to tell the concierge of what happened. As she runs to the desk and tries to explain what she saw they both then go back up to the room and can’t find the bloodied ear she saw. She kept saying it was there, but it was nowhere to be found.

After she gets herself together after what she had just witnessed and experienced. Jennifer decided to roll back the camera footage to see what all happened before she got up in the middle of the night and to see how she got back in her bedroom. She could see the part where she was awoken by the music and as she is watching the video closer around 4am which was the time she decided last night to go back to bed. A huge flash of lightning illuminates the whole room and next thing she knew she was right back in bed. Jennifer is in total disbelief how and why could that have happened.

After she gets dressed, she goes to ask the manager Mrs. Simone De’Breaux more about the history of the plantation. Before she asked the manager about the history of the plantation she asked if anyone else was in the main plantation house last night. Because Jenn wanted to see if there was a logical explanation to the piano playing on its own last night. Mrs. De’Breaux says that she was the only one staying in the main house last night while the other guests stayed in the cabins, and the desk clerk left at 10pm last night. The manager then begins to tell the history and that it was the home of Judge Clark Woodruff, his wife and 3 children and this home was a sugar plantation where they owned many slaves in 1817. Legend has it that one of there slaves that worked in the house her name was Chloe and she was not only just a slave she was also Mr. Woodruffs supposed mistress as well. Chloe started to become nosy about his plans when he started to become distant. Chloe feared about having to work back in the fields which were brutal conditions to work in back then. So, she began to spy on his conversations he was having in private, and he started to notice that she was listening in on his conversations and he warned her not to do it again or else. The desk clerk then said the exact same thing to what she had experienced last night that ended up happening to Chloe. After that Chloe started to wear a green turbine to hide her disfigured ear. But there was more to it after her ear was cut off. Chloe wanted to either get revenge or get back in good grace with the Judge, so she decided to make his eldest daughters’ birthday cake. Only Chloe added something a little bit extra to the cake recipe…oleander. Which is very poisonous if consumed. She thought if they became sick and she tried to help heal and take care of them, so she could be allowed to work back in the house. Shortly afterwards the family began to fall in ill within a few hours and the only person that did not eat the poisonous cake was the judge. His wife and two of his children died shortly within a few hours after feeling ill. Chloe eventually confessed to the rest of the slaves what she had done and the rest of them feared they would be severely punished for trying to hide her. So, they ended up hanging her and throwing her body with a lot of heavy stones on top her into the river behind the plantation. By putting the rocks on top of her body would prevent her soul from rising to seek revenge.

Jennifer is speechless by this story and the fact that she witnessed what Chloe went through before even being told the story just shook her to her very core. But she can’t help but have mixed feelings about it all, and for some reason she had a lot of sympathy for Chloe despite her being responsible for killing almost all of Judge Woodruffs family. Jenn also couldn’t help but feel there was more to all of this with Chloe. So, for the second night Jennifer decided she wouldn’t go to bed, and she would wait to see what happens this time. After just sitting around waiting for something to happen she then starts to ask the spirits that reside in the home to give a sign that they are here. There is still nothing happening and so she then asks to speak to any spirit that wants to talk to her and that she is here to help. Jenn then asks one last time and this time she says.

“If you don’t give me a sign your present then I’m just going to leave and not come back.”

After she says this, she still doesn’t get a response. So, she tries again like with what she did last night and that is to stand in front of the mirror. At this rate she can’t help but think that all of this is tied to that mirror but, why? Jenn then closes her eyes and tries to focus on communicating and this time when she opens hoping to see something when she opens them. There’s nothing but she then sees tiny little feet walking down the stairs behind her and she can even hear the footsteps coming down the stairs and making their way toward her. The steps begin to make their way around the banister and walk toward her and they just stop right in front her. She then turns back toward the mirror and there are 2 little children in front of her and next thing she knows she is pulled once again into the mirror. But this time she is observing everything from a distance. She can see the children playing and running around and the mother motioning them to come inside. Next thing they are celebrating the eldest daughters’ birthday in the dining room, and I can see Chloe bringing in the poisonous cake into the room. But then Jennifer notices something there is another slave woman hiding behind a glass door with the curtains covering the door so, she couldn’t get a good look at this other woman’s face to see who she was. But she didn’t like the way this women was watching Chloe and the family and there almost seemed something sinister about her and she wasn’t quite to sure what it was.

The family begins to consume the lethal dessert unaware that their fate had now been put in the hands of another person. As they are eating, the scene quickly switches, and Jennifer is now in the same room that she is currently staying. She can see both the children and their mother lying down in their beds as the poison starts to affect them. Chloe is then seen tending to the ill-fated family but, what Chloe doesn’t realize no matter what her motive was it ended up working as both children and their mother gasp their last breath. She was absolutely horrified by what she had done and from what Jennifer could see was that Chloe had a look of true horror and sorrow. Jenn could tell by what she just witnessed that Chloe had either not meant for them to die or she had nothing to do with it. The judge comes rushing into the room when he hears Chloe wailing in shock and moves her out of the way. The judge is heartbroken at the sight of his whole family dead before his eyes and just collapses to his knees and begins to weep. Chloe slowly backs out of the room and runs down the hall and down the stairs and out the doors to the slave quarters. Jenn begins to chase after her and as she is about to run out of the main house as well. She is then seeing everything again through Chloe’s eyes and in the quarters, she is confessing everything to the other slaves about how she didn’t do it. The others knew what would happen to them for trying to hide her for what she had done, so they quickly seized her and dragged her outside.

With Jenn seeing everything through her eyes she could really feel her true pain and fear. The slaves then bring her to a large oak tree near the river and make a noose and begin to tie it around her neck. They then force her to stand on a large log, and Chloe is begging and pleading them not to do this. But then she sees a familiar face in the commotion of people that is just starring and smiling at her. Chloe then says under her breath “You!”

Then in a split second the log is kicked from underneath her feet.

Jenn then quickly wakes up and lands on the floor of her bedroom and is just struggling to breathe. As soon as she finally catches her breath she runs over to the mirror in her room and sees there is a large red mark that wraps all the way around her neck. Shocked with horror at the sight of torment that is truly happening to her she let out a large scream, and just ran out of the room straight to the night auditor. She quickly showed the desk clerk the marks and the desk clerk had no idea what she was talking about as there were no marks to be seen.