Since the home is now a private residence, investigators cannot get in to see if there are any merit to these claims. They discovered bound slaves in her attic who showed evidence of cruel, violent abuse over a long period. [20], When the discovery of the abused slaves became widely known, a mob of local citizens attacked the LaLaurie residence and "demolished and destroyed everything upon which they could lay their hands". It was a girls’ school, a music conservatory, a low rent apartment building, a home for wayward children, a bar, a furniture store, and luxury apartments. I feel pain when I hear history of torture and numerous killings of innocent people. [12] In 1832, she had a 2-story mansion built there,[11] complete with attached slave quarters. Is it the human hidden sadistic streak? [15], Court records of the time showed that LaLaurie freed two of her slaves (Jean Louis in 1819 and Devince in 1832). However, there are individuals who are capable of doing horrific crimes and obviously, something isn’t right in their heads, for sure. The History of the LaLaurie Mansion. Well some people like that sort of thing Sylvia, they find out a building has history and they’re bang on it! [33], Folk histories of LaLaurie's abuse and murder of her slaves circulated in Louisiana during the 19th century, and were reprinted in collections of stories by Henry Castellanos[34] and George Washington Cable. Her horrific legend starts after meeting her third husband, Leonard Louis Nicolas LaLaurie, a French expat and doctor. The LaLaurie house has had many incarnations before returning to its purpose as a residence. The LaLaurie mansion, from a 1906 postcard, Torture and murder of slaves and 1834 LaLaurie mansion fire, Escape from justice and self-imposed exile in France, List of serial killers in the United States, Paris Archives online; scroll over to page 26, "A torture chamber is uncovered by arson - Apr 10, 1834", "Marie Jeanne Anne L'Erable b. It was then rebuilt by Pierre Trastour after 1838 and assumed the appearance that it has today. They told of kindness from the LaLaurie daughters who would sneak food upstairs and how Delphine would beat her children for trying to help them. While others claim that the inhumane crimes that are pinned on Delphine never happened but have been added to with time to make a more frightening tale. The punishment for Killing a young girl is the loss of 9 slaves. She was a socialite and ran within the best circles of New Orleans society. Delphine LaLaurie was born in 1787 to a wealthy Creole family. Is the place still haunted till today?

Like many other families with status back then – the LaLauries owned a handful of slaves…but locals noticed that these slaves seemed to be completely neglected most of the time. Or via Shakespeare: “All the world’s a stage and the men are merely players.”. ", "Epitaph-Plate of 'Haunted' House Owner Found Here", "History of Delphine Macarty Lalaurie and the Haunted House on Royal Street", "The Louisiana Slaveowner Who Even Appalled Other Slaveowners", "Nicolas Cage buys house in New Orleans' French quarter for $3,450,000", "Nicolas Cage loses 2 homes in foreclosure auction", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Delphine_LaLaurie&oldid=984532922, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Marie Delphine LaLaurie, Marie Delphine Macarty LaLaurie, Delphine Macarty LaLaurie, Delphine Maccarthy LaLaurie, Madame LaLaurie, Torturing and killing of numerous slaves, discovered in 1834, Marie-Borja/Borgia Delphine Lopez y Angulo de la Candelaria, nicknamed "Borquita" (daughter by Don Ramón de Lopez y Angulo), This page was last edited on 20 October 2020, at 16:02. The event was soon forgotten, and the home was once again filled with the Creole finest. Born during the Spanish colonial period, LaLaurie married three times in Louisiana and was twice widowed. Her father was Louis Barthelemy de McCarty (originally Chevalier de MacCarthy), whose father Barthelemy (de) MacCarthy brought the family to New Orleans from Ireland around 1730, during the French colonial period. During the time slavery, in some in the many States of America, was allowed. Well cheers for reading the article Michael, glad you were able to learn something from it! Numerous paranormal apparitions have also been spotted – the most famous being that of the house’s previous owner, Delphine LaLaurie…. [6] Blanque died in 1816. Martineau wrote in 1838, that LaLaurie fled New Orleans during the mob violence that followed the fire, taking a coach to the waterfront and traveling, by schooner, from there to Mobile, Alabama and then to Paris. Eventually a neighbor spotted her chasing an eleven-year-old slave girl around the back courtyard with a whip.

The couple moved into their Royal Street mansion in 1831, where they were known for throwing lavish social functions for their well-to-do friends. Lia has been brushing Delphine’s hair when the brush caught on a snag, causing the hair to be pulled. [28] In the late 1930s, Eugene Backes, who served as sexton to St. Louis Cemetery #1 until 1924, discovered an old cracked, copper plate in Alley 4 of the cemetery. Rumors started to circulate, but Delphine LaLaurie was good at covering her tracks in public.