A Haunted History of Louisiana Plantations - Paperback

by Cheryl H. White (Author), William Ryan Smith (Author)

Beyond the façade of stately Louisiana platations are stories of hope and subjugation, tragedy and suffering, shame and perseverance and war and conquest.

After sixteen workers chopped down most of the Houmas House's ancient oak trees, referred to as the Gentlemen, eight of the surviving trees eerily twisted overnight in grief over the losses wrought by a great Mississippi River flood. An illegal duel to reclaim lost honor left the grounds of Natchez's Cherokee Plantation bloodstained, but the victim's spirit may still wander there today. A mutilated slave girl named Chloe still haunts the halls of the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville. Cheryl H. White and W. Ryan Smith reveal the dark history, folklore and lasting human cost of Louisiana plantation life.

Author Biography

William Ryan Smith holds a master of arts degree in heritage resources from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and works in healthcare administration. He makes his home in Shreveport with his wife, Leslie, and three sons, William, Jack and Colin. This is his first work with The History Press. Cheryl H. White is an associate professor of history at Louisiana State University at Shreveport, where she teaches medieval and early modern European history. She also has a great interest in the local and regional history of her home state. She has authored four other titles with The History Press and has written or edited several other historical works for other academic presses and journals.