The plantation was built in 1796 in Lousiana by General David Bradford, also known as "Whiskey David". A nickname he got due to his role in the Whiskey Rebellion. Originally the plantation was called Laurel Grove, and David lived alone for years until his family joined him after he was pardoned for his part in the Whiskey Rebellion.

Myrtles Plantation is a large house built in the traditional Creole-cottage style with 22 rooms across 2 floors, and it is surrounded by 600 acres of land. 

Throughout its history, Myrtles Plantation has survived the American Civil War, been through multiple ownership changes, became a bed and breakfast, and also then a tourist attraction as the Most Haunted House in America. It's also allegedly haunted by 12 ghosts, and today I am going to share some of the stories with you guys!

Image credit: Wikipedia/Bogdan Oporowski

The Legend of Chloe

The legend of Chloe is the most well known of the ghost stories told about Myrtles Plantation. Chloe was a servant for Sara and Clark Woodruff. The story tells the tale of Clark forcing Chloe into being his mistress. One day Chloe is caught eavesdropping on private conversations and as a punishment, one of her ears was removed and she began wearing a green turban.

Chloe decided to get revenge on the family and baked a cake laced with oleander leaves. Some believe that Chloe planned to nurse the sick back to health to regain her position in the family. However, if that was her plan it didn't work. After eating the cake Sara and two of her children passed away.

Chloe was then captured by the other slaves at the plantation and hung. They then dumped her body into the Mississippi River, possibly to avoid punishment themselves.

The story is sad but there is no actual proof that any of it happened. There is no record of the Woodruffs owning a slave called Chloe or Cloe, nor is there proof that Sara and her children died of poisoning. They all died after contracting yellow fever.

Regardless of there being no evidence to support this tale, people still believe a woman wearing a green turban wanders the plantation grounds.

The Haunted Mirror

Mirrors were usually covered in homes following a death, this was so the deceased's image didn't get trapped inside the mirror. However, there is one mirror in the plantation that appears to have been overlooked. It is said to hold the spirits of Sara and her 2 children. People have reported seeing them and their handprints in the mirror. 

Ghost Girl

A young girl has been seen at the plantation and is said to be the ghost of a young girl that died at the hands of a voodoo doctor in 1868. Legend has it that she appears in the room that she died in and practices voodoo on anybody staying there.

The Ghost of William Drew Winter

William Drew Winter is the only confirmed death to take place at the plantation. William was shot dead by a stranger on the front porch. Unfortunately, he only made it to the 17th step before he passed away. People say that his ghostly steps can still be heard and that they stop when they reach the 17th step.

Image credit: Mr Jason Hayes/Flickr

The Union Soldiers and Other Stories

The house is allegedly built on an Indian burial ground and visitors have reported seeing a young Native American Woman on the grounds. 

During the Civil War, the Plantation was looted of anything valuable, and one story is that it was robbed by Union Soldiers. As they were stealing from the plantation it's told that 3 of them were killed inside the house. 

There is also allegedly a bloodstain in the doorway of the Plantation that is roughly the size of a body. After many attempts to remove the stain, it would not budge.

Final Thoughts

Myrtles Plantation has been standing since 1796 and has been owned by many different people over the years. I honestly think a building with this much history could be haunted. I know there is proof of only one murder taking place, but I think that a lot of the stories could be true. 

What do you think? Do you believe in ghosts? Let me know down in the comments! Thank you for reading. 

The Axeman of New Orleans is an American serial killer that was active from May 1918 until October 1919. The killer was never caught for any of his attacks, and the murders are still unsolved to this date.

The Axeman's victims were attacked using an axe as the name implies. It would usually be an axe that belonged to the victims themselves and was usually left at the crime scene. They would break into the homes of their victims, kill the occupants inside, but never steal anything.

People began to notice that many of the victims were Italian immigrants or Italian-Americans, which made them think the attacks were hate crimes. It caused hysteria throughout New Orleans, especially among the Italian community. Eventually, people would start to believe that the Axeman was not human at all, and believed they were some sort of demon.

There have been a few theories as to why the Axeman committed their crimes, but nothing is known for sure. It's believed that the crimes were targeted against females as any males that were harmed had just got in the way during the attack. This is a possibility as some men were spared when the Axeman entered their homes, and only the women were attacked or murdered.

The less likely theory was that the killer was a huge jazz fan and was trying to promote the genre of music. This theory came about because of a letter sent to the press saying they would spare the lives of anyone playing jazz in their homes on the evening of March 19th 1919. On that evening the jazz halls were full and jazz bands were playing parties at homes throughout town.

Nobody was killed that night.

Then in October 1919, the spree ended just as abruptly and mysteriously as it had begun.

In the time they were active the Axeman attacked 12 people in total, and 6 of those victims died from their injuries.

Attention! The content of this article or section may seem obscene or offensive to some readers.

The Victims

Joseph and Catherine Maggio. Joseph was an Italian grocer that was murdered with his wife in their home with a straight razor.

Louis Besumer and Harriet Lowe. The couple was attacked with Besumer's hatchet. They were hit over the head and found in a pool of blood. 

Anna Schneider. Attacked August 1918 when she was 8 months pregnant. She was beaten in the face repeatedly and was found by her husband. After the attack, she didn't remember anything about it but she gave birth to a healthy daughter.

Joseph Romano. He was an elderly man living with his nieces at the time of the attack. It happened August 1918 when the nieces heard noises coming from his room. When they entered his room to check they found him bleeding from 2 open wounds on his head. He would die from his injuries 2 days later.

Charles, Rosie and Mary Cortimiglia. The family were attacked at their home in March 1919. Their two-year-old daughter Mary died from a blow to the back of her neck, but Charles and his wife Rosie survived.

Steve Boca. Steve was attacked in his bedroom and hit over the head. He was knocked unconscious by the blow, but when he woke up he remembered nothing. He had suffered a serious head injury, and even though he fully recovered he never remembered what happened.

Sarah Kaumann. Attacked in her own home in September 1919. She was discovered by her neighbours when they broke in to check on her. She had a head injury and was missing some of her teeth. The weapon was found covered in blood on the front lawn. Sarah would go on to recover from her injuries but remember nothing.

Mike Pepitone. He was attacked in October 1919 in his bedroom. His wife heard the noises and woke up to find a man fleeing the scene. Mike had a serious head injury and was covered in blood. Unfortunately, Mike died of his injury, and this is the last of the Axeman's alleged murders.

The Suspects

The police questioned several suspects but no arrests were made due to a lack of clues and leads, which meant the killer was never caught. Even today nobody knows the true identity of the Axeman. 

One theory I found was by crime writer Colin Wilson, and he believed that the killer was a man called Joseph Momfre. They also stated that Mike Pepitone's widow shot Momfre dead and this is why the Axeman's spree ended so abruptly. However, there is no evidence to support this theory or any police record that proves the murder took place.

Final Thoughts

I find it crazy that there is still very little known about the killer after so many years. They don't know who actually committed these crimes, nor do they know the motivation behind them. We will probably never know the truth, but I find this case particularly interesting because of the mystery behind it. 

What do you think of the Axeman and their killing spree? Let me know in the comments.

Also please let me know if there are any unsolved cases you'd like me to cover on the blog! Thank you so much for reading.

I was nominated by a few people for The Versatile Blogger Award. These 4 amazing people are listed below and I have provided their blog and twitter links! Please check them out and follow them. 😊

• Emily - @emilygabriellax
• Chloe - @WriteBluesAway
• Laura - @LaurasLife_1
• Andrew - @excusemythai

What is The Versatile Blogger Award?

It's an award given to bloggers from other bloggers in recognition of the content and hard work that they put into their blogs.

The Rules:

- Thank the person that nominated you!
- Share a link back to their blog.
- List seven facts about yourself.
- Nominate 15 blogs that you love or have recently discovered.

My 7 Facts:

1. I am a biscuit fiend and my biggest weakness is chocolate bourbons. I could annihilate a full pack of those easily if I allowed myself! 

2. I really hate my voice because I sound like a 12-year-old boy with a blocked nose. When I played consoles I'd get a lot of stick for being a kid when I said anything in the lobby. 😂It used to annoy the hell out of me, but them knowing I was a girl was way worse!

3. I am a huge fan of the game World of Warcraft and I have played it for over 10 years. I am on a break now until the Vanilla servers are released, but this game will always have a special place in my heart. I even have a World of Warcraft tattoo. Oh, and I played Alliance. For the Alliance! 🦁

4. I love 90's chick flicks. They are my favourite things to watch when I am feeling down about anything, and my favourite has to be 10 Things I Hate About You. It's fun, the main character is a badass chick that takes no shit from anyone, and then you have Heath Ledger. What's not to love?!

5. I am bad at hair and make-up! Anything remotely girly I can't do well. I struggle with my hair the most, so the only two styles are down or in a ponytail. I also dress like I did when I was a teenager, which is jeans and t-shirts or hoodies. I am not a feminine person, so wearing a wedding dress will be interesting!

6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my favourite TV show. I like that the show is relatable for teenagers, and the gang went through a lot together. I also loved the fact Buffy would throw random puns in while she was fighting!

7. If the gif above doesn't tell you this fact, then I don't know what will! I am always hungry and feel that I should be twice the size I actually am. I'm a sucker for fast food and cake...It's a problem. However, a bonus fact for you, I do not drink alcohol, smoke or anything along those lines. So food is my only vice!

My Nominations:

• Mel - Your Travel Handbook
• Seonaid
• AJackson
• Emily Eva
• Chloë
• Zikanni's Musing
• That Skint Gal
• Nate Roden
• Sophiethesmurfy
• Nele | Navigatio
• Anaïs N.
• Mollie Johnstone
• Authentically Average
• Jessica Carter - Welcome to Spanish 1
• Nicole Francesca

Thanks again for the nomination, and please don't forget to check out all the people linked on this post! They are all great and supportive people!

The Silent Twins

June and Jennifer Gibbons were born on the 11th of April 1963. They were identical twins born in Aden in the Middle East to parents Gloria and Aubrey Gibbons. They moved to the UK with their family and lived in a small town in Wales.

Their Childhood

When the girls were young they would only communicate with each other and their younger sister Rose. They both had a speech impediment and were late speakers which made them hard to understand. This frustrated them so much they decided not to speak at all and it soon became a habit.

The twins were bullied relentlessly at school for being the only black children there, so the teachers started dismissing them 5 minutes early to avoid the bullies. The more they were bullied the less they spoke. This resulted in their speech becoming practically unintelligible to others, they became emotionless, and they would mirror each other's movements. For example, their walking would be synchronised, they would walk with their heads down, and whenever a person looked at them they would stop and only continue when they looked away.

This phenomenon is seen in twins a lot and is called Cryptophasia which means secret speech in Greek. It refers to the private languages used by children - especially twins - and is also known as twin talk or twin speak. Cryptophasia also includes mirrored actions and identical mannerisms.

Adolescence

At the age of 14, the girls were sent to different boarding schools in an effort to get them speaking to other people. Therapists had tried with no success and their parents felt this would help them out of their shells. However, when they were apart they became catatonic.

This only ended when the twins were reunited but they began to isolate themselves further and spent a lot of time in their room with Rose. They spent years together in their room creating plays with their dolls, giving them names, and even documenting their deaths. Eventually, they stopped talking to Rose when she got her own room.

One Christmas they were given matching red diaries and started writing. After studying a creative writing course together they went on to write several novels.

June wrote a story called Pepsi-Cola Addict that was set in an American high school about a teenager being seduced by a teacher. Jennifer wrote a novel called The Pugilist, a story about a physician that kills the family dog to use it's heart in a transplant to save their child's life. As you can see their novels were a bit on the strange side but they also wrote plays and short stories. 

As time went on the twins started to exhibit darker behaviour towards each other. On several occasions, they would fight and become extremely violent. Their fights would include scratching and strangling each other, and during one incident June tried to drown Jennifer. They both wrote regularly about their love-hate relationship in their diaries.

"Nobody suffers the way I do, not with a sister; with a husband, yes; with a wife, yes; with a child, yes, but this sister of mine, a dark shadow robbing me of sunlight, is my one and only torment."

In their teens, they met a couple of American boys and started to go out a lot. They would dabble in drinking alcohol, having sex, and experimenting with marijuana. They did this because it helped them relax and they would talk and laugh more. When the boys told them they were leaving they started to commit petty crimes like shoplifting, which slowly escalated to setting fires to buildings and vandalism. As a result of their behaviour, they were sent to Broadmoor Hospital at the age of 19.

Life at Broadmoor Hospital

Broadmoor Hospital. Credit: Andrew Smith

When they arrived at Broadmoor they wouldn't talk to anyone, so they were given tranquillisers weekly to help them communicate with people. They were kept separated and would only communicate by writing to each other. When they tried to room the twins together it resulted in fighting and they would have to be separated again. June admitted that after the fighting they still loved each other, and they would be upset when they were split up again.

Even though the twins had been talking to others they were not released, and they spent a total of 12 years at Broadmoor. It wasn't until March 9th 1993 that the twins would be transferred to a lower security facility called Caswell Clinic. Allegedly before their transfer, Jennifer announced during a visit that the twins had decided she was going to die. 

While they were being transferred Jennifer said she felt unwell and she fell into what was described as a trance. When they arrived at Caswell Clinic she collapsed. Jennifer died in her sister's lap at only 29 years old. Her cause of death was sudden inflammation of the heart muscle. Her death is classed as a mystery as she was in good health at the time of her death, and no drugs or other substances were found in her system.

June was understandably grief-stricken by the death of her sister and wrote poems about her loss. However, it was reported that she also admitted feeling a sweet release. June wrote in her diary the night of her sister's death saying:

“Today my beloved twin sister Jennifer died. She is dead. Her heart stopped beating. She will never recognise me. Mom and Dad came to see her body. I kissed her stone-coloured face. I went hysterical with grief.”

June was released from Caswell Clinic a year after Jennifer's death and is now able to talk normally. She pursued her dreams of becoming a writer but unfortunately, it never took off. She now lives a quiet life close to her family in Wales. She visits her sisters grave regularly and wrote the following poem for her headstone:

"We once were two

We two made one

We no more two

Through life be one

Rest in peace"

The story of the 'Silent Twins' is commonly referred to as odd or creepy. Personally, I think it's a sad story about two sisters that struggled a lot from a young age with bullying and racism. Unfortunately, their relationship was unhealthy and would fluctuate between a deep love for one another and violent hatred.

Have you ever heard of the Silent Twins before? What is your opinion on their story? Please share below in the comments.