Annie May Patterson had an English mother and an Irish father who migrated from the United Kingdom (some say France) to live in the then rich and first independent black nation, Haiti. In Haiti, Annie Patterson was favorited by a voodoo princess. She brought Annie with her to forbidden voodoo ceremonies where they worshiped evil spirits and gods and would summon spirits of black magic and death. When the Haitian princess and her parents died, Annie chose to move to Jamaica in search marrying a wealthy powerfull man. That's when the Legend of the White Witch of Rose Hall begins.

When Annie May Palmer moved to Jamaica, Palmer's great nephew, John Rose Palmer, inherited and occupied the great house. In 1820, he married Annie May Patterson, at the age of 18. Little is known about her marriage to John Rose Palmer, although,it is known that Annie Palmer poisoned and then killed John Palmer three years after marriage.


After the death of John Rose Palmer, Annie assumed control of the Rose Hall plantation. While in control, she was ruthless in her treatment of slave lovers and husbands; all of them dying early deaths. She stabbed her second husband to death in the Toile Room while he lay sleeping in his bed and she strangled the third husband in the Crewel Room. Slaves carried their bodies to the shore via secret passageways. The returning slaves were also killed to keep her murderous secrets. Annie claimed yellow fever, a common illness of the era, took the lives of all three husbands.



Cursed by her slaves as a white witch, Annie made Rose Hall sinful. She took slaves as lovers, casting them aside and murdering them at will. Annie was feared by the slaves who lived and worked on the plantation. She ruled with an iron fist, and defiance, or even perceived as being rude, was answered with public whippings, torture in the dungeon, or even death. Bear traps were spread among the land to catch those who were sneaking away. It's possible Annie's insanity was caused by poisoning from her tin and lead dinnerware. Through continuous use, Annie might have ingested large quantities of lead, a poisoning that can cause irreversible neurological damage.

Finally, Annie Palmer died in 1831. The legends surrounding her death vary. The most popular attributes her ghastly death to Takoo, a freed slave and respected voodoo priest who blamed Annie for his granddaughter's death. Takoo came to her room via a secret passage, left open by Annie's trusted kitchen maid, and left the same way, but was hunted down in the hills and shot by Rose Hall's white overseer. A second legend claims Takoo was her lover. Variations on these legends allege she was murdered by a slave lover who feared she was plotting his own death or a slave overseer on her plantation who was avenging the murder of his daughter's fiance. Still another legend asserts several slaves plotted and carried out her death on the first night of the rebellion. This legend claims her corpse was mutilated and thrown out the window before they fled.

Annie Palmer was entombed in a specially prepared grave... a grave with three crosses on three sides of her gave to contain her power even in death. The third side was left open in case her spirit desired to roam the plantation again. The White Witch of Rose Hall is said to roam the Great House to this day.

In ensuing years, The Rose Hall Great House fell into ruin and remained empty because of its sinister reputation. The last caretaker was said to have been thrown off the balcony (where Annie Palmer supposedly spent a great deal of her time watching slaves) by an unforeseen force.

In 1965, an American couple, Mr. and Mrs. John W. Rollins, bought Rose Hall and began its restoration. (A millionaire businessman, Rollins was lieutenant governor of Delaware.) The late architect Tom Concannon supervised the challenging project - his job simplified when he gained access to photographs of the great house taken at the turn of the century. Costing them two and a half million dollars, the restoration included rebuilding of some exterior walls, replacement of the roof, and installation of new floors, windows, and interior partitions. Then came the collection of furnishings that reflected authentic 18th-Century Colonial styles.

The Rose Hall Great House is now a historic museum, open to the public, with regular tours and a gift shop located in the infamous dungeon beneath. Annie's Pub, also in the dungeon, is a quaint tavern where you can purchase alcoholic beverages. Since it's opening, a large number of people who have photographed the rooms and features of the old place have reported paranormal activity and ghostly images. Many have written back to the museum and enclosed photos to prove what their cameras recorded. A disproportionately large number of these photos include the mirror shown above. The most common phenomena is the appearance of someone in the mirror.

Rose Hall's White Witch: The Legend of Annie Palmer


If you are interested and want to know more about the Legend of The White Witch of Rose Hall. Then this is a must read book. Its a very good representation of what was going on and has plenty of mysterious twists, turns and turnarounds!

"There have been many versions of this Legend of Rose Hall - some good, some not so good - but this one is definitely the best...this is what happens when history and the best of fiction meet."

"It crafts the truths of slavery with the age-old stories of one of the most memorable characters in Jamaica's history - Annie Palmer. The themes of betrayal, romance, love and mystery underpin this epic drama - the bewitching plantation owner, Annie Palmer, the beautiful and determined slave girl, Millie, the handsome and sophisticated John Rutherford caught in the middle - a torrid love story set in the steamy climate of the tropics."

Rose Hall Great House Tours

They do not have a schedule time for tours...as soon as you get there a guide is waiting to take you on your well awaited tour.

• They conduct tours every day from 9:15am - 5:15pm


• Tours last for 45 minutes


• The cost for an adult is $20 dollars


• The cost for children under 12 years is $10 dollars

The Rose Hall Great House Hillside Entrance

It was a gloomy and rainy day just before sunset on April 17, 2008, when me and my boyfriend Derrick traveled up the hillside to the 18th-Century Rose Hall Great House. A storm was brewing and the clouds had obscured what little bit of sun there was left that day, which definitely helped set the mood for our tour. We got out of our taxi and were greeted by our tour guide dressed in what seemed to be an 18th-Century working dress who would soon tell us the terrifying tale of the mystery surrounding the White Witch of Rose Hall.

The Rose Hall Great House Entrance

Rose Hall Cobblestone Walkway to the Garden Arbor

We all walked up the cobblestone walkway, under the garden arbor climbing with plants and vines. I was startled and quickly stopped when my boyfriend pointed out that right above my head was the Jamaican National Bird, the doctor bird or swallow tail humming bird, only found in Jamaica. We were delighted to have seen such an immortalized bird surrounded with superstition. The origin of the name 'Doctor-bird' is somewhat unsettled. The Arawaks spread the belief that the bird had magical powers. They called it the 'God bird', believing it was the reincarnation of dead souls. This is manifested in a folk song which says: "Doctor Bud a cunny bud, hard bud fe dead". (It is a clever bird which cannot be easily killed). Maybe this was the reincarnation of one of dead souls believed to roam the estate? We took pictures of the mysterious bird and walked up the steps to the front of the house which looked to come straight out of a scary story. The whole area surrounding the estate seemed to be filled with a sense of malice.

The tour guide explained that the estate originally laid upon over 6,000 acres with around 2,000 slaves tending to it. We learned that the house is sometimes referred to as the Calender House because of it originally contained 365 windows, 52 doors and 12 bedrooms.

We entered the great house through what was once the torture dungeon. It has since been turned into a gift shop and bar. In one corner is a glass showcase, displaying letters and photographs sent in by previous visitors. The letters typically read "when we developed our pictures, we were shocked to see a woman" or "look at the headboard with a reflection appearing where there isn't any light" or "look in the mirror and you will notice an appearance of a woman". I have to admit we were pretty skeptical, but, determined to capture out own photo of a ghostly appearance to send back and be displayed in the dungeon's showcase.

We left the dungeon and walked up the limestone steps to the terrace where we entered the ballroom through massive mahogany doors. The room was furnished in traditional 17th and 18th century furniture with a French chandelier in the center of the room. There was large wood paneled windows surround the room which were open to let in the ocean breezes. As we walked through the extraordinarily large ballroom we stepped upon the crickedy wooden floors as our tour guide explained that this room was used for entertaining guests. Back then they the only source of light after the sun set was the candlestick sconces that hung from the walls.

We walked along to the library where a picture of the original lady of the house, Rosa, hung. The Rose Hall Great House was supposedly named after Rosa. Rosa's final marriage was to John Palmer (possible James Palmer), the representative of King George III to the Jamaican Parish of St. James. Upon the death of John and Rosa Palmer, the house was inherited by John Palmer's, great nephew of John Rose Palmer (some say the great house was named after John Rose Palmer).



Next to the Lower Gallery where there hung an unknown portrait with six kids with one girl set as the center point. The children in the portrait have never been identified; although, Psychics believe this to be a portrait of Annie dressed in red symbolizing her power, thirst for blood, love addiction, infatuation, and danger. They believe that they surrounded her with children to depict her as a loving person, a portrait of deception. Our guide pointed out that no matter where you stand in the room, her eyes followed you...

The dining room featured a four pedestaled Sheraton banquet table surrounded by mahogany Chippendale style chairs. The banquet table was set with 18th century tin and lead dinnerware which may have attributed to Annie's madness. During those times people were unaware that by eating with their beautiful dinnerware they were ingesting large quantities of lead, a poisoning that can cause irreversible brain damage.