Haunted Objects: Stories of Ghosts on Your Shelf (23 page)

Some point not to Queen Mary but to a character of folklore named Mary Worth, who either murdered her own child or watched the child’s murder happen, depending on the source. Her spirit is said to roam the earth, seeking to exact revenge for her child’s death. To summon her, recite, “Mary Worth, I killed your baby.”

Popular culture has long played a part in keeping the “Bloody Mary” myth alive, even causing it to morph over the years into two other similar legends. One is related to the Bell Witch of Adams, Tennessee, who supposedly haunted the Bell family in the early part of the 19th century. This case was loosely adapted into the movie,
An American Haunting
, and is the only example in the history of the U.S. Justice System where a spirit was blamed for a murder in a court of law. Local legend in Tennessee states that even today, if you say, “I don’t believe in the Bell Witch” over and over again in a mirror, she will appear and scare you until you do believe.

Another more recent example is that of the Candyman. Originally created by horror writer Clive Barker in his short story, “The Forbidden,” the character was adapted for a 1992 horror film,
Candyman
. The Candyman, the son of a slave, was a well-known artist who impregnated a white woman.

Saying “Candyman” five times, while looking into a mirror, will summon him. At left is how he appears in the movie,
Candyman
.

He was punished by having his drawing hand cut off (replaced by a hook), covered in honey, and then stung to death by bees. Intent on killing anyone who calls him by the taunting nickname of “Candyman,” he can be summoned by calling his name five times while staring in a mirror, similar to Bloody Mary. In the film—the first of a trilogy—his curse is prevalent throughout a poverty-stricken, gang-ridden neighborhood in Chicago.

Even though this character is fictional, it hasn’t stopped the Candyman legend from capturing the imaginations of those who have been born since the film’s release. He’s still just as feared and as frequently summoned as Bloody Mary among today’s youth, especially in urban neighborhoods.

But is there more to mirrors than the eye can see? In addition to offering a reflection of us and maybe the reflection of our souls, some mirrors also contain a reflection of the past. It’s embedded in the aluminum and the glass and frequently rises to the surface.

Take, for example, the mirror that hangs in a hallway of The Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana. Considered by many to be among the most haunted places in America, the plantation is now a bed and breakfast whose alleged hauntings have been featured on television programs such as
Unsolved Mysteries
and
Ghost Hunters
.

Originally built by former Pennsylvania lawyer David Bradford in 1796, the plantation was eventually passed on to his daughter, Sara, and her husband, local judge Clark Woodruff, in the 1820s. The Woodruffs lived on the plantation with their three children—Cornelia, James, and Mary. According to the legends, the Woodruffs also had slaves, one of whom was a beautiful young girl named Chloe. She was glad when she was asked to give up the hard labor of working in the fields in order to serve as governess to the Woodruff children, so much so that she easily gave in to the sexual advances of Judge Woodruff, a notorious womanizer. For a while, Chloe thought she was safe—as long as she was sleeping with Woodruff, she would remain in the house.

However, he soon began to grow tired of her as his mistress, and Chloe feared that meant she would soon be turned back out into the fields. Paranoid, she would often eavesdrop on conversations Woodruff had behind closed doors, listening in through the keyhole. When he caught her, Judge Woodruff cut off one of her ears as punishment. For the rest of her short life, Chloe kept her head wrapped in a green turban so no one would see the missing ear. An earring was pinned where the ear would have been.

Chloe didn’t seek her revenge right away; instead, she continued to serve in the house, yet her paranoia about being sent back into the fields never abated. She hatched a plan in which she would give the family a small amount of poison to make them ill, and then prove her worth by nursing them back to health. She put her plan into motion by adding crushed oleander leaves to a cake she was baking for Cornelia’s upcoming birthday. However, Chloe put in far too much oleander, and Sara, Cornelia, and James all died as a result. Judge Woodruff and Baby Mary, who had not eaten the cake, survived.

When Chloe told another slave how the Woodruffs had died—admitting that she was the cause—the slaves were fearful that Judge Woodruff would punish them all for the crime. To curry favor, they lynched Chloe and hung her from a tree. Once they were sure she was dead, her body was weighted with rocks and thrown into a nearby river.

In the ensuing years, a ghostly figure was seen roaming the grounds of The Myrtles—easily identifiable by her green turban and single earring. Chloe’s spirit still wanders the grounds today, and many feel that she can be seen in the hallway mirror that allegedly once hung in the dining room where she served the poisoned cake.

Chloe’s ghost isn’t the only one seen in the mirror; visitors often report seeing Sara Woodruff and her children in it as well. The legend is that Judge Woodruff sealed off the dining room after the death of his wife and children and never allowed it to be opened again during his time there. As a result, that mirror was left uncovered during Chloe’s lynching and during the mourning period for his family; hence, their spirits were all trapped inside its reflection.

These days, as it hangs in the hallway, the mirror is also subject to mysterious smudges that cannot be wiped away, despite being cleaned repeatedly and the glass being replaced on more than one occasion.

There are some problems with the legend of Chloe, however; for one, there’s no record that there ever was a slave by that name serving at The Myrtles. That’s easy enough to explain because slave records weren’t always precise in those days. In addition, the actual cause of death listed for Sara and her children is yellow fever. Was this just a cover-up for a heinous act committed by a scorned slave woman? Or is the legend just a better story than the truth?

The faces seen in the mirror could just be the result of pareidolia (sometimes called “matrixing”) in which our brain looks for familiar patterns in the random chaos of visual or auditory evidence. It’s like seeing Jesus in your grilled cheese sandwich or the face of a man in the moon. Those streaks in the mirror are simply perceived as being faces, because that’s what they most resemble.

There are some reports that the mirror itself was not even in the house during the time of the murders; instead, it was purchased by James and Frances Myers, who owned the plantation in the 1970s and were the ones who first began to bring attention to the hauntings there. It is said that Frances Myers actually purchased the mirror from an antiques dealer in the French Quarter of New Orleans, despite reports that it was haunted. She felt it would fit right in with both the décor and the ghosts that already roamed The Myrtles.

Marilyn in the Mirror

While Chloe may have become famous for her image in the mirror at The Myrtles, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel there’s a mirror that still reflects the image of one of the most famous women who ever lived.

The Hollywood Roosevelt opened in 1927, financed by some of Tinseltown’s elite, such as Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and Louis B. Mayer. It was intended to be the destination point for the stars, and it has lived up to that reputation over the years. In fact, many famous ghosts still roam its halls today. One of the most seen is the spirit of actor Montgomery Clift, who stayed in the hotel while filming the 1953 classic,
From Here to Eternity
.

But the most sought-after spirit is that of blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe, who called the Roosevelt home on more than one occasion. Marilyn lived there when she first started to hit it big as a model, and she fell in love with the hotel. She especially loved Suite 1200 and the large mirror that hung on its wall.

Sometime after Marilyn’s death in 1962, the mirror was moved out of Suite 1200. The rumor is that it was placed in the manager’s office and that a housekeeper was cleaning it one day when Marilyn’s image appeared in the mirror. By this time, the hotel was already becoming famous for its many Hollywood ghosts, so it seemed only natural to put the Marilyn mirror on display. It was placed in the lobby near the elevators, and visitors by the scores still report seeing the iconic beauty’s image reflected back at them. Of course, that could have something to do with the fact that the hotel placed an engraving of Marilyn on the wall right next to it—even though it’s merely a portrait of her face. The ghostly sightings include Marilyn in all her full-figured glory and in a variety of fashions, as if she stepped out of
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
and into the mirror itself.

Before haunting the mirror at the Roosevelt Hotel, Marilyn Monroe studies her lines in this 1955 photo taken in the studio of photographer Milton Greene.

As Marilyn once sang, diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but a mirror is apparently the best way of keeping one foot in this world while advancing to the Great Beyond.

Sacrifice

A spirit does not always make itself known with a loud shout. Sometimes the impact of the paranormal can be subtle, almost unnoticeable, until you happen upon it, and a normal part of your day is suddenly no longer normal.

Whether the communication is a bang or a whimper, the emotional punch may be just as moving, especially when the message being sent is one of love.

Josie believes she is either blessed or cursed with an ability to connect to those who have died. She has always felt attracted to the other side, and often gets odd feelings and sees things in places where other people have reported ghosts. Almost every house she has lived in since she was a child has experienced some kind of spectral commotion. She currently resides in an area that seems to have heightened paranormal activity. Known as the Glen, neighbors tell tales of the spirits they see and the unexplained things they experience.

Her most uplifting experience involves her husband from her first marriage. Unlike her other stories, she was on the outside of this one, watching the events as they unfolded. She is the only one who understands the significance of what she saw and the true meaning of sacrifice. When she shares it, her voice has a different tone than when she tells tales of ghostly people walking through her house or dark figures in her windows. This experience has special meaning for her, and as she battles sickness in her own life, the story takes on a different significance.

Josie’s first husband, Frank, was diagnosed with cancer. He kept his hopes up, but it was not the first time he had faced the disease and the outcome did not look good. As the months went on, the tumors continued to grow, and while Josie, who has always been drawn to the medical field and currently works as a nurse, tried to console him, they both knew what the future held. The doctors gave him worse news at each visit, and they both braced themselves before each appointment.

Even more disturbed by the news, however, was Frank’s mother, Eileen. Frank was her only son and her emotional grounding, but she was close to giving up on herself and on him. She was an alcoholic and suffered from asthma. As Frank got sicker, Eileen sank deeper into depression and turned to her faith. She began to beg God to save her son.

“She would sit there and drink and cry all the time. ‘Just take me. Let him live.’ It was a real thing for her. I don’t think she could imagine burying her son,” Josie said.

Then Eileen developed cancer herself. The doctors told her it was not as dangerous as Frank’s, but she needed to have a hysterectomy. It was autumn before she had the surgery because the doctors had issued requirements involving her alcoholism that needed to be met before the surgery could be performed.

“There were a few months between her diagnosis and the surgery, so she was sick for a while. I heard her say something about it being the bargain she made, but Frank didn’t get better. He was getting sicker and so was she. Actually she was pretty loud about it. She kept asking why God wasn’t living up to his end. Why would he curse them both?” Josie said.