The Strange and Horrifying History of the LaLaurie Mansion in New Orleans.
If you've read anything about the ghosts and hauntings in New Orleans, you know that the LaLaurie Mansion is there.It is a popular stop on the New Orleans Ghost Tours.1140 Royal Street is sometimes referred to as the "Haunted House" by people in the city.The two are the same in New Orleans.The location of American Horror Story has made it much more notorious.As Hollywood tends to do, producers took great creative liberties.People claim that the LaLaurie Mansion is cursed, so most of the filming happened at the Hermann-Grima House on St. Louis Street.
There have been reports of supernatural activity coming from this house for almost 200 years.Many hauntings are attributed to the slaves that Madame LaLaurie kept on the property.There is a room in the LaLaurie Mansion where slaves were kept and there are reports of moaning coming from it.The house has phantom footsteps.Many people who have stood near the house feel like they have been taken over by negative energy.
It would be foolish to assume that all of the ghost stories are related to Madame LaLaurie and her treatment of slaves.A tenant at the LaLaurie Mansion was murdered in his room in 1894.His belongings were trashed as if someone had taken them.Even though nothing of value was found, the police assumed he was a victim of a robbery.The police interviewed neighbors about his disappearance after he was murdered.According to one of his friends, he was having problems with Sprites in his house.As his imagination ran wild, his friend wrote it off.He said something interesting.He claimed that he was told by his friend that there was a demon in that house.The man was in this house.Is it possible that some of the ghostly phenomena could be a result of this brutal murder?It is possible.Until a real investigation team can investigate this location, nobody will know for sure.Can we hope to find out the truth about the ghosts at the LaLaurie Mansion if we communicate with the dead?
The LaLaurie Mansion was a school for all girls in the late 19th century.When it first opened, it was one of the few mixed schools in the city of New Orleans, but after the Reconstruction Era, politics became convoluted and the school became an all-girls, African-American primary school.
There were reports of physical assaults within a short time.We know that young girls would approach their teachers with tears in their eyes.Their forearms were bruised and scratched.
These girls were young enough to be unaware of Madame Delphine's death.It was not likely that the teachers would tell the children about the torture of slaves.I wonder if the young girls were playing prank on each other, or if their claims that a phantom woman had scarred them was true.There are no memoirs from this period.
Was the spirit of Madame Delphine LaLaurie to blame for the scratches?
The Ghost City Tours team was made aware of one instance in which a person on one of our ghost tours was a medium.She had seen things before the tour guide told the story.The medium was sucked in by the first sight of the LaLaurie Mansion.She whispered as she walked back on her heels.She took a picture of the mansion with her phone."That's not where the little girl fell out of the window," she said.
The tour guide paused because she hadn't gotten to the part of the story about the little girl.She said, "No, you're right."The story says that she fell into the courtyard.I think someone did some interior decorating but wanted to keep the symmetry on the outside of the home.
The medium felt a heavy emotion like the weight had settled on her shoulders in the next few minutes.She felt the spirit of a young boy who liked to play tricks on the living and a little girl who was often nervous.Did she feel powerless or angry?The tour guide asked a question."No," was the reply."LaLaurie does not visit the house anymore."
Is this true?Is the spirits of the slaves still in the house?Who is responsible for the reported hauntings at 1140 Royal Street?
The haunted house on Royal Street was visited by one of our guides.Lucky is a term used lightly here.
Our guide gave a ghost tour.They were standing across from the front door at the LaLaurie Mansion.Some fifty feet away, another group was discussing the tragedies of the LaLauries.The story of 1834 was slowly revealed.Our guide felt a tug on her bag, draped over her shoulder.She twisted to look over her shoulder and think that she might have found a pickpocket or someone intent on stealing her things.She told us the story in the middle of the tour.She got back into her character when no one was there.She felt the tug again, and this time it was a sharp yank.She whipped around, but no one was there.She told her tour what had happened and their faces were priceless.No doubt hers was as well.
Our guide was out on the streets again two weeks later at the corner of Governor Nicholls and Royal Street.The main hit was the LaLaurie Mansion.She had put her group under a set of street lamps.The lamps flickered on when she said "Leia".A few in the group were happy.The lamps blew out when the guide said "Leia" again.The light was not on.
Was the ghost of Leia still there?She was playing with the lights to expose her presence to the living.
The LaLaurie Mansion is visited by a few tours at Ghost City Tours.We visit this haunted home even though there are no tours in the city.In the place where the events took place, you'll hear the story of Delphine LaLaurie.
People can be seen standing around taking photos of the building at night.The number of ghost tours that crowd the cracked sidewalks, huddled around a guide who speaks of medical experiments and torture?It could be related to the volume of ghost stories and accounts of the LaLaurie Mansion's hauntings.It could be related to the tragic events that caused the hauntings in the first place.We should tell you who Madame LaLaurie was before we get into the ghosts and hauntings.
Marie Delphine Macarty was the woman who became known as the "cruel mistress of the haunted house".She was born on March 19th, 1787.
Delphine was a member of a powerful clan.Her family arrived relatively early during the French Colonization period.Many of her relatives owned and managed slaves.Her family originated in Ireland.According to legend, the family patriarch fled Ireland to France to escape the political and religious tyranny imposed by England's monarchs.
Louis Barthelemy was the first child of Louis and Marie Lerable.Marie's record was not entered into the sacramental register until almost five years after she was born.The Catholic Church only did this when the baby was close to death.
On June 11, 1800, Delphine Macarty married Don Ramon de Lopez y Angullo, a high ranking Spanish officer, at the St. Louis Cathedral.They traveled to Spain four years later.We know that Don Ramon died in Havana on his way to Madrid, but we don't know what happened on the journey.When he passed, Delphine was not with him.Delphine gave birth to a daughter named "Borquita" during the voyage.The mother and daughter returned to New Orleans after a short stay in Spain following her husband's death.
Jean Blanque was a man with many titles and was Delphine's second husband.They got married in June of 1808.The house at 409 Royal Street was bought by Jean Blanque after their union.Delphine gave birth to four more children during her marriage to Blanque.Blanque died in 1816.
The most controversial marriage was Delphine's third and final one.Leonard Louis Nicolas LaLaurie was a transplant patient.He was a doctor, though he might have been considered a Chiropractor today.Their meeting wasn't pure luck.One of Delphine's daughters from her second marriage was ill after she had some deformities along her spine.Louis LaLaurie used a lot of medical equipment that looked torturous to cure the girl.Even though Delphine's daughter did not get better, she was enamored with the doctor.According to letters, LaLaurie left New Orleans for France and it was his brother who persuaded him to come back.
The property at 1140 Royal Street was purchased by Delphine in the 18th century.The marriage was not a good one.Louis LaLaurie packed his bags and moved out sometime in the early months of 1834, after neighbors heard the couple arguing a lot.
Delphine lost her husband.Rumors spread that she was harming her slaves, and an incident in 1833 when a young slave fell to her death in the courtyard turned all eyes on Marie Delphine LaLaurie.All of her slaves were set free after an investigation by the council.Delphine bought them all back.The events took place at 1140 Royal Streets.
On the morning of April 10, 1834, a fire broke out at the house owned by Delphine LaLaurie.The seven slaves who were chained in the upper part of the building were found after the fire.
The nearly helpless were taken to the Cabildo where they received medical treatment.People came to see the victims.The people gathered at the LaLaurie Mansion in the expectation that the Sheriff would arrest Delphine.The Sheriff never showed up.As the day went on, it became clear that no action would be taken.The crowd became a mob with one thought in mind: vengeance.
The enraged crowd attacked the now empty residence when Madame LaLaurie escaped.They stripped the interior of its valuables and then tried to dismantle the house by damaging the walls and the roof.They demolished the entire house by the next morning.The local newspapers reported the details of the fire and aftermath.The account was picked up by national publications.Madame LaLaurie was reviled as a monster, a demon in the shape of a woman, and Furry escaped from hell.
There was a fire in the kitchen.Allegedly the fire started on purpose by a slave woman chained to a stove as punishment, in order to call attention to the terrible conditions she and her fellow slaves endure.
Slaves being found under extreme conditions after the fire is out is one of the stories told about the LaLaurie Mansion.The slaves were found when authorities arrived.According to the story, one of the slaves had many broken bones and was set in unnatural positions so that her limbs were crooked and bent.An obvious attempt to stir the brains of this poor soul was made when another slave had a hole drilled into his head with a wooden spoon sticking out.The person had their skin peeled back so that the tissue and muscle could be seen by the naked eye.According to the story, another slave had his body parts removed and wrapped around his waist.Others were covered with honey and black ants.The lucky ones were found dead, their torture at an end.
Many of the stories and exaggerations can be traced back to books written after the fire broke out.The haunted house of the Rue Royal was the setting for the more gruesome stories.Delavigne said she came upon her information from old newspaper accounts.Workers rebuilt the house when it was sold, according to Delavigne.Some of the skulls had holes in them as they were uncovered beneath the house.The bodies were buried to hide the fact that they were killed inside of the LaLaurie Mansion.Is the LaLaurie Mansion haunted by the ghosts of the former vessels?
Is the gruesome tales a product of the twentieth century?They go back to the same year as the fire.While other newspapers in the area said slaves were kept in poor conditions, the New Orleans Bee newspaper said some of them appeared to be part of medical experiments.The Bee's coverage of the LaLaurie Mansion has a few things to consider.They were the only newspaper that reported on the torture of slaves.Their reputation in the 1830s was similar to the National Enquirer's today, where Bigfoot and aliens are the main spread.Historians say the Bee's article about the fire, the slaves and the LaLauries was based on information they got from other sources.
Madame LaLaurie's neighbor was Monseuir Montreuil.Montreuil lived next to the LaLauries for many years before the fire broke out.Montreuil was in love with Delphine LaLaurie.Reporters interviewing people after the fire documented that Montreuil had made advances toward Delphine.The problem with unrequited love is that it isn't requited.Montreuil spoke of Delphine in a way that comforted him.
Much of this information was brought to light in the Sunday magazine section of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.The whole story was a result of a campaign orchestrated by Monsieur Montreuil.Her slaves were well told of her actions.She would give half-empty wine glasses to the slave who was waiting behind her chair at dinner.Her coachman was fed sleekness.The slave girl, Leia, was said to have been chased by Delphine through the house with a whip.According to his information and sources, the little negress who 'leaped from the roof' fleeing Delphine's whip was actually sliding down a curving banister, playing, and fell, being killed by the marble hallway floor.
Madame LaLaurie and the house that sits here today are shrouded in mystery.We can throw out any accounts of slaves used in medical experiments.The stories didn't show up until the 1940s.They would have been mentioned in previous newspapers if they were true.There is a chance that slaves were found in poor conditions inside the LaLaurie House.Madame LaLaurie was visited by a Lawyer.The laws regarding the treatment of slaves were warned about by him.She wasn't the nice person to the slaves she owned.Some wonder if Delphine's hatred toward slaves stems from the fact that her father had mistresses who were free women of color.It's hard to say.The exaggerated stories about slaves being found missing skin and heads are not true.
Our ghost tour guides are always asked what happened to Madame LaLaurie.She went back to France after leaving New Orleans.The ship docked in Mobile.Her death is shrouded in mystery, just as her life was.The account details her death while hunting.That is very unlikely.Does the arrogant Delphine seem to hunt?She returned to New Orleans later in life under an assumed name.There is a reason to believe that she could have.The Blanque Tomb is in St. Louis Cemetery #1.She probably died in France.She died in France on December 7th, 1849.Delphine wanted to return to New Orleans but her children wouldn't let her.Do you remember what happened there?Her son asked in a big way.All of her children lived the rest of their days with her in Paris.In the same house.
Eugene Backes, who served as sexton to St. Louis Cemetery #1 until 1924, discovered an old cracked, copper plate in the cemetery.The inscription on the plate was for Madame LaLaurie, who was born in Paris.
The events of that year are still being told today as though they happened yesterday.The truth can never be sorted because facts are spun into tales of brutality and torture.The more research one does, the more confusing the story becomes.The house becomes its own entity.
Nicolas Cage lost the building after he purchased it.New Orleanians whispered that it must be the curse of the LaLaurie Mansion that caused his career to tank after that.
According to notarial records, no one has lived at 1140 Royal Street for more than five years.The current owner of the mansion, an oil tycoon from Texas, has only lived there for about two years, so it is possible that his time at the haunted house is coming to an end.
Is the curse real at the LaLaurie Mansion?The entire story of Madame LaLaurie is told on our New Orleans Ghost tours.You won't forget the story you hear on the ghost tour.