Rose Hall - Annie Palmer
Rose Hall is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Jamaica, located high above Montego Bay in Jamaica. The Georgian Mansion was built in the 1770's for the Palmer family who made their fortune in sugar. The mansion was host to many parties for the high society of colonial Jamaica, whilst the slaves toiled in the Palmer's fields. Rose Hall is now considered to be Jamaica's most haunted building, it has recently been visited by American TV's Ghost Hunters paranormal team.
Rose Hall is famous for the story of its former infamous mistress Annie Palmer, who came here in 1820, as the teen bride of John Rose Palmer. Annie's parents were missionaries in Haiti, which is where she was raised. Annie spent a lot of her time with a native Haitian voodoo priestess who is said to have taught her the black arts.
Annie Palmer was a hard woman to satisfy, even though Rose Hall was a lucrative sugar plantation with an abundance of more than 2,000 slaves (which was considered a sign of great wealth), Annie still felt the need to turn to black magic voodoo. Annie was said to have murdered three husbands because they were not to her liking. Annie claimed that they had suffered from mortal illnesses, and always quarantined their bodies. Annie would later had them carried out and buried by slaves, who disappeared afterward, it is believed that she had the slaves killed so they couldn't tell anyone about the true cause of death.
One of the most widely-held beliefs is the certainty that Annie enjoyed torturing her slaves. She had a small second-story balcony on the rear of the house, where she would stand and watch slaves being beaten or whipped, often to death. Naturally, the slaves were terrified of her and wished to be free from her. One story tells of a servant girl who tried to poison her. The attempt was unsuccessful. Annie had the servant tried and executed, but requested that the girl's head be returned to her. She kept the head on a stick outside as a warning to the other slaves.
The most complete account of life at Rose Hall comes from the journal of a young book-keeper who was sent to work at the plantation to learn the process before taking over one of his father's plantations. This young man was much admired by Annie, who desired to take him as her lover. Unfortunately for her, the bookkeeper fell in love with a servant who cleaned his house.
When Annie learned why the bookkeeper discouraged her advances, she became very angry and put a curse on the servant girl. The servant girl was terrified and told her uncle about the curse. Her uncle practiced the white magic side of voodoo, but was not powerful enough to lift the curse. The young servant girl died soon after from a mystery illness. Her uncle was very upset and held a meeting with a group of Annie's slaves. One night, the group (led by the uncle) raided the house, they found Annie in her bedroom and killed her. The young bookkeeper heard of the plot and went along, trying to stop the slaves before they killed Annie, but he was unsuccessful. Afterward, the slaves burned some of Annie's belongings particularly her paintings. They were careful not to burn everything, and not to destroy the entire house because they were afraid that Annie's spirit would put a curse on all of them, although damaged, Rose Hall remained standing.
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Rose HallRose Hall Annie Palmer's Ghost
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