By Kathy Murray
New Orleans is known as one of the most haunted places in the world. But the patch of land at 1140 Royal Street, upon which sits the LaLaurie House, has the most tragic history of any spot in the entire city.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Delphine LaLaurie, also known as Madame LaLaurie, bought the house on Royal Street in 1832. She was quite possibly the most popular woman in town at the time. Well-mannered and filthy rich, she always held amazing and elegant parties at the mansion. All seemed to be picture perfect, but her friends and family didn’t know what her servants knew – that she was the most cruel and inhumane woman in the whole city.
THE FIRE
Mme. LaLaurie had numerous slaves, many of whom came and went, with the public just assuming that they had been freed or sold to another family. In 1833, a young slave named Lia managed to escape through a bedroom window. On the roof, she screamed for help as her mistress ran after her. Lia decided to jump, but was killed in the fall. Mme. LaLaurie quickly hid the evidence, but there was a witness and her slaves had to be sold. Family and friends bought them and quietly returned them to her. It was not long after this that the cook, who she kept chained to the kitchen floor, set a fire with the hope that the fire brigade would come and rescue her. What they found shocked them to the core and set in motion a haunting for the ages.
THE TRAGEDY
The cook pointed the firefighters in the direction of the attic, where there were at least a dozen slaves, some in cages, in various states of ailment, many having undergone hideous medical experiments. It appeared that the slaves, who had previously been thought freed, had been murdered by the demented Madame. LaLaurie was chased by a mob of angry citizens, but escaped to France, where some say she died in a hunting accident. Others believe she returned to the States and lived the rest of her life on the outskirts of New Orleans, under another name. Either way, her ghost lives on at the scene of her crimes.
HAUNTED
More than a century later, while LaLaurie House was being renovated, 75 bodies (according to reports) were found under the floorboards. Many of Mme. LaLaurie’s slaves can be seen walking the halls, and in some cases floating through them. Some are still wearing their chains. Rattling has become a common sound at the mansion. There is a tall man often spotted climbing the main set of stairs and Lia’s cries can be heard from the roof and the courtyard. Even Mme. LaLaurie has been reportedly seen on numerous occasions. Perhaps the eeriest result of the haunting can be heard just by walking past the house. The screams of many long-deceased men and women shatter the not-so-peaceful days and nights on Royal Street in New Orleans.
NEW OWNER
Actor Nicolas Cage bought the LaLaurie house in 2007, to add to his real estate collection, but he later foreclosed on it. Ghosts aren’t impressed with Hollywood superstars though: the haunting and the screams continue.