A Brief Guide to Ghost Hunting by Leo Ruickbie

Author:Leo Ruickbie
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780338279
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

The locations I have chosen to discuss in a little more depth are those that balance both their worldwide and country reputations, and are particularly significant to the history of modern ghost hunting. The first on the list almost ended the career of two of today’s most famous ghost hunters.

THE MYRTLES PLANTATION

Behind a rotten wicket fence an unkempt gravel path struggles through the grass to reach an old unpainted, clapboard shed, and steps lead up to a small veranda, just large enough for a table and two chairs. This is the so-called ‘slave shack’, and, inside, one of the most controversial events in the recent history of ghost hunting took place one summer’s night in 2005.

The slave shack stands on land belonging to The Myrtles Plantation, an eighteenth-century building in the style of the Old South, low with a long veranda, set in extensive grounds. The intricate ironwork throws complex patterns in the shade of the veranda and Aphrodite’s sacred myrtle dapples the southern sunlight falling on the terrace. It is undoubtedly picturesque and at first glance a haven of tranquillity, but a dark shadow lies over The Myrtles. According to one source, it ‘holds the dubious record of more ghostly phenomena per square inch than anywhere else in the country.’68 For the paranormal plumbers Hawes and Wilson, it is ‘every paranormal investigator’s dream to check the place out’.69

Hawes and Wilson brought their team here to shoot Ghost Hunters in July 2005 and left with what they believed was indubitable evidence of the paranormal, but this evidence may have cost them their reputation. At least twenty different sorts of paranormal phenomena have been stated to occur at The Myrtles, ranging from footsteps to full-blown apparitions. Until Hawes and Wilson investigated, there appear to have been no alleged paranormal occurrences connected with the slave shack.

It was after 2 a.m., and Hawes and Wilson were sitting in the shack, discussing whether ghost hunting in general had been a wise investment of their time and energy. It sounded like they were having a dark night of the soul, perhaps even on the brink of giving up ghost hunting.

Watching the video footage later, the team were amazed by what they saw. Behind their backs as they talked a lamp moved 14 inches across a table. It was possible, they conceded, that Wilson may have inadvertently caught the lamp cord with his foot and caused it to move. They went back to check the room by daylight and ruled out the cord theory. There was only one other explanation possible: ‘the place was haunted’. But better than that, they had caught it on camera.70

Alleged paranormal activity at The Myrtles71

Visual (human)

1. The ghost of a black slave called Chloe (also Cloe, Cloey or Cleo).

2. The ghost of the plantation owner’s wife, murdered by Chloe.

3. The ghost of a girl or girls:

(a) one who died in 1868

(b) two murdered daughters of the plantation owner, who may or may not be:

(c) the ghosts of two blonde-haired girls seen by a guest.

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