Magnolia Plantation

A National Historic Landmark in Cane River Creole National Historical Park, this 18-building complex preserves one of the most intact plantation landscapes in the South, including the main house, slave quarters, and a rare surviving cotton press.

Magnolia Plantation traces its origins to the mid-1700s, when Jean Baptiste LeComte II received land grants from French and Spanish colonial authorities along the Cane River. His son Ambrose LeComte and wife Julia Buard transformed the property beginning in 1830, clearing 2,000 of its 5,000 wooded acres for cotton production worked by hundreds of enslaved people. By the 1850s, the plantation had grown into one of the largest operations in northwest Louisiana, with 21 structures including eight brick slave quarters that still stand today.

The Civil War brought devastation to Magnolia. Union soldiers killed the plantation watchman and burned the main house to the ground. During the conflict, Confederate prisoners were confined in the cramped brick cabins that had once housed enslaved workers. Many of those soldiers suffocated in the overcrowded quarters and were buried in shallow graves scattered across the property. The main house was not rebuilt until the 1890s, when it was constructed as a replica of the destroyed original.

One room in the rebuilt house became known as 'The Dying Room' — so named because residents reportedly went there when they no longer wished to live. According to local accounts, a Union Major was poisoned in that room during the war, and visitors have since reported seeing his face materialize in the window, staring out at the grounds where so many perished. The kitchen door in the main house opens on its own, and during full moons, witnesses have described mist-shrouded figures crawling on all fours across the property.

The plantation's overseer during the Civil War era, a man known as Mr. Miller, was shot dead on the front porch. His spirit is blamed for items that mysteriously go missing throughout the house. The plantation's current owner, Betty Hertzog, a distant descendant of the original family, has reported hearing heavy footsteps in the upstairs bedrooms when no one else is present.

The enslaved people who labored at Magnolia practiced voodoo, and their spiritual legacy permeates the property. Dr. Ken Brown, an anthropologist from the University of Houston, discovered deliberate lines of yellow powder placed across the doorway of Cabin 1 during archaeological work — evidence of ongoing spiritual practices. After emancipation, formerly enslaved people reportedly placed voodoo curses on the plantation owners, and the family's headstones and crosses are said to have been affected.

The Ghost Adventures team investigated Magnolia Plantation in Season 2, Episode 4, airing June 26, 2009. During their lockdown, they captured EVPs including the words 'go back,' 'hello,' and what sounded like a voice calling investigator Aaron's name. In the cabin believed to have belonged to Aunt Agnes, a slave healer, the crew recorded disembodied chanting. Most dramatically, cabin lights turned on and off more than seven times, appearing to respond directly to the investigators' questions. A greenish ball of light was observed moving through the attic, and an EMF detector spiked to level 4 during the session. The team also witnessed what appeared to be a woman's face morphing out of candle smoke during an attempt to make contact.

Today, Magnolia Plantation is a National Historic Landmark managed by the National Park Service as part of the Cane River Creole National Historical Park. The surviving slave cabins are among the most intact examples of enslaved workers' housing in the American South, and visitors continue to report whispered voices, the sound of screaming from the basement, and the sight of Confederate soldiers wandering the grounds at dusk.