Boo! Dead and Breakfast

 

Hello my friends.  Hope all is doing well from my 31 Days of Spook and that you had a restful weekend.  Mom had a really special weekend planned for daddy.  She told him to be ready to go in 15 minutes, she loaded up Albert her Smart car and they were off.

We anipals here thought they would be gone overnight.  But no, they were back probably in a couple of hours.  We couldn’t understand why.

That’s when daddy showed us this picture.  Gulps.  Enough said daddy.  He said that once they pulled up and saw this sign, for some reason he just felt like coming back home to us anipals.  Dad said that people were dying to get into this place – snorts.

Would you stay here for the weekend?

 

Boo! Myrtles Plantation

Hello my little horror fans. Thank you for staying with me during this 31 Days of Spook.  Today, let’s talk about haunted houses.

When I think about the most haunted house here in the United States, the first one that always comes to mind is the Myrtles Plantation in St Francisville, Louisiana.  Today, it’s a quaint little bed and breakfast.  But before, there was an ugly past that took place that made it the spook fest that it is today.

Back in the day of plantations, there was a despicable thing that southern plantation owners did and that was called having slaves.  It was a horrible act to ‘own’ another person just because of the color of your skin.  Thank goodness that those days are long behind us and we have progressed to the point of not ‘owning’ someone ever again.

But back in the day of the Myrtles when Mark and Sara Woodruff owned the plantation, they had many slaves, one in particular was Chloe.  Chloe was caught eavesdropping on a conversation of the Woodruffs.  For punishment, one of Chloe’s ears was cut off and she wore a green turban to hide it.  Chloe, to say the least, was very upset over having one of her ears cut off.

In order to get even, Chloe baked a birthday cake containing the extract of boiled and reduced oleander leaves, which are extremely poisonous.  Her plan was to make Mr. Woodruff sick but it backfired.  Only Sara Woodruff and her two daughters ate the cake and all three of them died from the poison.  All of the other slaves were very upset over Chloe doing this and supposedly they hung Chloe and then threw her body into the Mississippi River.

To this day when the circumstances are just right, you can see Chloe wearing her green turban walking through the Myrtles Plantation or the grounds.  And, if you look closer, you can see the Woodruff children playing on the front porch just like they did when they were alive.

And there are rumors about a mirror in the plantation.  Shivers.  This one had my fur standing straight up on edge.  Back in the day, when there was a death in the family, people covered all of the mirrors in the home.  Perhaps with everything going on with Chloe and the three deaths, a mirror that hangs in the foyer got forgotten.  It’s rumored that this mirror holds the spirits of Sara Woodruff and her two children.  So if you are visiting the plantation and primping in this mirror, give it a close look.  You might see some little hand marks on the glass.

But let’s now stop here with Chloe.  There are still others that haunt the plantation.  The house itself is reported to be built over an Indian burial ground.  Legend is there is a ghost of a young Indian woman that can be seen around the grounds.

And during the Civil War, the house was overtaken by Union soldiers.  It’s claimed that there were three soldiers killed in the house in the doorway.  There in the doorway is a blood stain  where the three soldiers were killed roughly the size of a human body that will not come clean.  Legend states that people that try to use a mop or broom on that one particular area are unable to push the mop or broom in that one spot.

Have you had enough of this plantation yet?  Is your fur standing on edge?  Let me end with one more story of the Myrtles Plantation.

There is also the ghost of William Winter.  He was shot on the front porch of the plantation.  He came back inside and crawled up the stairs to the 17th step where he collapsed dead in his wife’s arms.  Often, you can see a ghost walking or crawling up the stairs and disappearing on the 17th step.  Doesn’t this make you want to go ghost hunting now?

 

Boo! Bells and Coffins

Did you know that around 1829, they had bells attached to coffins?  I didn’t either until I stated doing some research.  You’ll never believe what those little bells were for.  Evil snort.  People in this time often got smallpox, diphtheria and cholera and doctors hastily pronounced they were dead and signed death certificates.  Sometimes they did this without even seeing the bodies themselves – just by the word of family.  Medical procedures were nothing like they are today.  Often with such, people were buried and and would wake up in a casket – shivers – the fear of that!  Patents were put out on caskets that had a hole drilled the coffin through which a chord was run that would be attached to a bell that was mounted above the grave.  The chord handle was placed in the ‘dead’ person’s hand just in case they ‘woke up’ from the dead.  They could ring the bell in hopes that someone would hear above and dig them back up.  It was an unfortunate time to live through, you think?

 

Play Dad

Courtesy of Pinterest

 

31 Days of Spook – Mental Health Ward

Today, let’s tell another true story from daddy.  I know you’re dying to hear it – evil snorts.

To get through college, daddy worked at a local hospital on the mental health ward.  No those rumors are not true – that is not where he met mommy – snorts.  When he first started at the hospital, he worked the midnight shift. The mental health ward during this time was in the basement right beside the morgue.  That would bring shivers to this little piggy to begin with.

One of his co-workers  told him a story the first couple of days that he was in training that still to this day puts his nerves on edge.  They said that years earlier, a mental health patient had gotten out of their rooms in the middle of the night.  They went into the  elevator and hung themselves around 3:00AM. Staff of the hospital found the mental health patient hanging in the elevator dead.

Since then, the elevators had locks installed on them and they won’t work without the key being inserted to call for the elevator.  The nurse told daddy that every night at 3:00AM, without fail, the elevator doors would open by themselves.  Daddy didn’t take too much into this until the first time he worked by himself.  The nurse’s station was right in front of the elevator doors.  Exactly at 3:00AM, the doors opened all by themselves. It still sends chills up and down daddy’s spine.  And the elevators to this date, still open and close exactly at 3:00AM.  Nothing is wrong with them, they’ve been checked.  There is no reason for them to open at this particular time.  Anyone going up?

 

31 Days of Spooks – Coffins

Hello my friends.  I’m so glad to see that you are staying with me during my 31 Days of Spook.  Hasn’t it been fun?  Scary?  Are you second guessing the bumps you hear in the middle of the night?  Today, I want to talk about something that I learned about coffins.  It’s an interesting tale of a time back when.

Did you know that around 1829, they had bells attached to coffins?  I didn’t either until I stated doing some research.  You’ll never believe what those little bells were for.  Evil snort.  People in this time often got smallpox, diphtheria and cholera and doctors hastily pronounced they were dead and signed death certificates.  Sometimes they did this without even seeing the bodies themselves – just by the word of family.  Medical procedures were nothing like they are today.  Often with such, people were buried and and would wake up in a casket – shivers – the fear of that!  Patents were put out on caskets that had a hole drilled the coffin through which a chord was run that would be attached to a bell that was mounted above the grave.  The chord handle was placed in the ‘dead’ person’s hand just in case they ‘woke up’ from the dead.  They could ring the bell in hopes that someone would hear above and dig them back up.  It was an unfortunate time to live through, you think?

 

31 Days of Spook – Oakland Cemetery

 I thought it was time to walk through a cemetery with you once again.  Today, I’m going to focus on one close to home – the historic Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia.  Oakland Cemetery was bought in 1850 and was originally named Atlanta Graveyard or City Burial Place.  It was renamed to Oakland Cemetery in 1972.

Oakland Cemetery offers twilight tours of the cemetery – how scary huh?  And around this time of the year, the cemetery even offers what they call “Capturing the Spirit of Oakland Halloween Tours”.  What a way to catch some things that go bump in the night.  There are over 70,000 residents in over 40 acres that are just dying to meet you whether you have a guided tour or walk the cemetery by yourself… if you’re brave enough.

A lot of the history of this wonderful cemetery centers around the Civil War.  There have been stories in the Confederate portion of the cemetery of hearing names being called as if in a roll call.  But to look around, there is no one living there, just the statue of a lion guarding the unknown Confederate dead and he’s not talking.

Often the guides at the cemetery will tell you that people actually die three times.  Once on their last breath, once when they are laid to rest and once when they are no longer remembered.  Sounds just like a situation for a few people to come out and be remembered, doesn’t it?  So the next time you’re in the area, drop by for a visit.  I’ve heard they’re always looking for a good soul to fright.

There are lots of famous people buried here in Oakland.  Mom took this photograph not too long ago.  Do you recognize the name?

 

 

31 Days of Spook – Dead and Breakfast

Hello my friends.  Hope all is doing well from my 31 Days of Spook and that you had a restful weekend.  Mom had a really special weekend planned for daddy.  She told him to be ready to go in 15 minutes, she loaded up Casper her Jeep and they were off.

We anipals here thought they would be gone overnight.  But no, they were back probably in a couple of hours.  We couldn’t understand why.

That’s when daddy showed us this picture.  Gulps.  Enough said daddy.  He said that once they pulled up and saw this sign, for some reason he just felt like coming back home to us anipals.  Dad said that people were dying to get into this place – snorts.

Would you stay here for the weekend?

 

What Would You Do?

  Shivers to mergatroid and back around the world!  I saw this on the internet this past weekend and I have to admit that I wet myself.  Go ahead and admit it – you did too just a little, didn’t you?  You wake up from a deep sleep in the middle of the night.  You flip on your light to go to the bathroom and see this sweet thing on your bedroom floor.

Personally, I would find a way out of the bedroom.  Then, I would burn that house down.  Period.  No questions asked.  I don’t care anymore.  The house is dead to me now with this creation anywhere in it.

What do you do?

 

31 Days of Spook – Mental Health Ward

Today, let’s tell another true story from daddy.  I know you’re dying to hear it – evil snorts.

To get through college, daddy worked at a local hospital on the mental health ward.  No those rumors are not true – that is not where he met mommy – snorts.  When he first started at the hospital, he worked the midnight shift. The mental health ward during this time was in the basement right beside the morgue.  That would bring shivers to this little piggy to begin with.

One of his co-workers  told him a story the first couple of days that he was in training that still to this day puts his nerves on edge.  They said that years earlier, a mental health patient had gotten out of their rooms in the middle of the night.  They went into the  elevator and hung themselves around 3:00AM. Staff of the hospital found the mental health patient hanging in the elevator dead.

Since then, the elevators had locks installed on them and they won’t work without the key being inserted to call for the elevator.  The nurse told daddy that every night at 3:00AM, without fail, the elevator doors would open by themselves.  Daddy didn’t take too much into this until the first time he worked by himself.  The nurse’s station was right in front of the elevator doors.  Exactly at 3:00AM, the doors opened all by themselves. It still sends chills up and down daddy’s spine.  And the elevators to this date, still open and close exactly at 3:00AM.  Nothing is wrong with them, they’ve been checked.  There is no reason for them to open at this particular time.  Anyone going up?