Episode 775: Mad Madame Delphine LaLaurie | Forensic Files

Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is Morbid. >> This is going to be so morbid today.
>> You know what though? We're we're we're ready. We're ready. We can do this. >> We can get through this.
>> Yeah, we have blankets. >> Yep, we do have blankets. >> Blankies today cuz in good old New England, I don't know
what happened there. >> Good old New England. >> I became Erika Jayne in that moment.
Go listen to the rewatcher. But anyway, in good old New England, we've had about
three false starts to spring. Yeah, which we always do. >> We do. I feel like we've had more than
usual this year. >> It always feels like that. >> And I'm cold. >> Yeah. We go we slingshot back and forth. We're
like, "Oh my god, it's 70°." And then the next day it's like >> Oh my god, it's snowing.
>> looked outside and we said, "Why is it snowing?" >> And then it went away and we were like,
"That was weird." And then all of a sudden it was like and we were like, "Oh, it's sleeting."
>> Yeah, or it was like hail. >> falling from the sky? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> I don't know. And then today it's like
50, but I'm cold. I don't know. >> Hello? >> Yeah. We don't know how to dress. We
don't know how to act. >> Back to you, Pete. >> Yeah. >> That was Ash and Elena with meteorology.
>> Uh but yeah, I think the only biz nasty we really have is go buy tickets to the live show at Radio City
Music Hall. >> Go buy your tickets. I'm so excited for that show. >> One night only.
>> One night only. We're not doing another one unless it's many years from now. >> we're not doing one.
>> We won't. And there's merch for that >> is. >> that you can only get there. >> Go get your tickets.
>> And get them on Ticketmaster. >> Do it. Make it a whole thing. >> Yeah, go with your girlies.
>> weekend in New York. You deserve it. >> Get crazy. >> You [ __ ] deserve it. You've been
working hard. >> You know? It's been >> woke up today in this world, woof, you've done enough.
>> Yeah. So go get it. >> Yeah. Go do it. >> Also, we have something fun and exciting
upcoming. Maybe maybe sometime next week. Not totally sure on timing, but >> Yeah, soon.
>> Keep an eye on socials cuz we're going to be announcing something fun. >> Yeah, that you guys will be psyched
about. >> are going to be stoked. >> Something you've been like, "Hey, hey, can I have that?"
>> Hey. >> So, yeah. And also, um last little tidbit, pre-order The Butcher Legacy.
>> Period. >> If you haven't done it, what are you doing? Come on. It's the third in the
series. You can get it at the butcher at butcherlegacy.com. >> Okay. >> Anywhere you want. Go pre-order it. It's
coming out August 11th. And if you haven't do like taken a little little swan dive into the series, start at The
Butcher in the Wren. >> Yeah. >> Do it. It's It's okay. >> It's really good. >> I I feel good about it.
>> It's I would I would I would hype it up a bit more than that. >> Yeah, The Butcher in the Wren, then get
The Butcher Game, and then get The Butcher Legacy. Dive into a series. We all need it.
>> If not, you might be a loser. >> Maybe. I didn't say it. >> I did. >> So, don't come at me.
>> Don't be a loser. >> Go pre-order The Butcher Legacy. My dog agrees. >> dog agrees.
Now we'll pause. I Wow, there wasn't even a follow-up bark there. >> No, so I think she was LIKE
>> HELL YEAH, MAMA. >> YEAH, she's just my hype girl. >> Yeah. >> That's my hype woman.
>> Right there. Real. >> That's crazy. >> which we needed. So, this is going to be
a rough one. >> Okay. >> Uh >> I said it like I was serious. Okay. >> Okay. >> We're finally going to be covering
Madame >> Oh, no. >> Yeah. >> This [ __ ] >> If you don't know who I'm talking about,
I'm sorry, but I'm the one who's going to be telling you about this because she's one of the worst people ever.
>> Yeah, if you've seen um American Horror Story, you know about this. >> Yeah, you at least know like a
fictionalized version of the history. Yeah. >> I love Kathy Bates. >> Love Kathy Bates. But hate Madame
LaLaurie. >> Um And I believe that's how you pronounce That's what I I did I I looked at a lot
of things to see how to say it cuz you hear LaLaurie. >> Um >> That's what I've always heard.
>> I think the correct pronunciation is actually LaLaurie. >> I mean that makes sense cuz it's like
French. >> Yeah, cuz it's like French. >> It's making me laugh because that's a French last name. It's making me laugh
because there's a drag queen named LaLaurie. >> LaLaurie? >> Yeah. >> Oh, so it's it's not LaL
Is it spelled the same? >> No, it's I think it's L A L A >> Oh, okay. Cuz I was like
>> Woah. >> Like her first name LaLa, last name Ree. >> Oh, that makes sense. >> But when you say it quick it sounds the
same. >> Yeah, that makes sense. Um so this is this is a story that is really gruesome.
It's upsetting. It's got haunted elements at the end of it. >> Oh. >> It's got everything really.
>> Okay. >> Um >> One potta? >> One potta. >> One potta. >> And um so here's one thing I want to say
right up front. I refer to the victims in this case as enslaved people. >> Mhm. >> Uh because you know
>> That's correct. >> Exactly. But some of the quotes that are going to be used in this are a little
outdated. >> Okay. >> And they refer to them as slaves. >> Okay. >> I am going to read the quotes how they
are just cuz they're quotes. >> Yeah. >> But just know that when I'm saying it it's enslaved people.
Those are quotes if it is a little outdated. >> Got it. >> Just to be clear. So let's start you at
the end to then bring you back to the beginning. >> Oh, I love a full circle. >> Love that. In April 1834,
a huge fire broke out at the mansion of Delphine LaLaurie on Royal Street in the
New Orleans French Quarter. LaLaurie was known to have kept several enslaved people as servants in her home,
but when neighbors, bystanders, anyone tried to go into the house and rescue those people that were trapped inside,
they found that the doors were barred. >> Ooh. >> After forcing them open and making their
way into the house, the rescuers were absolutely horrified to find the quote horribly mutilated bodies of at least
seven enslaved people. >> Oh. >> Delphine LaLaurie was known, by the way, to treat her servants, {quote} very
badly. >> Yeah. >> Um including physically abusing them. Like there were reports of that. It
wasn't like it was completely hidden. But no one in New Orleans had imagined that she was a sadistic torturer and
murderer. >> Yeah, like they did not know how bad it was. >> Yeah. >> So, let's go back to who Delphine
LaLaurie actually was. >> the [ __ ] did she get this way? >> So, her name is Marie Delphine Macarty
originally. >> That's like such a pretty name. What are you doing being a beast?
>> Yeah, exactly. She was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 19th, 1787. And
the beginning of her life is obviously a little sketchy because it's so long ago.
>> Yeah. >> Um but property records from that period do indicate that her family was one of
the wealthiest that New Orleans had ever seen. >> Oh, wow. >> Uh in the late 18th century, letters
written by a friend of her family said that her mother, who was also Marie Macarty, uh is was described as
vivacious and frolicsome. >> Ooh, bet. Describe me? That's my description from this point forward.
>> Vivacious and frolicsome. >> What is frolicsome? >> you wanted to end. The the
similarities between you and the Macarty family. >> Yeah, definitely. For sure. >> Um but
>> I like that. Does that just mean like >> around? Probably. >> All right. What does frolicsome mean,
though? >> And she was known to throw lavish parties. When you look at it from here, you're
like, "That sounds fun." Around this time, Delphine and her brother Louis would have been about 9
and 13 years old. So, well, it's unlikely they participated in what was described as the bacchanalia.
>> What? >> Basically, there was like there was some [ __ ] It was just it was a time.
>> What does that mean? >> parties >> were a time. >> Okay. >> Watch The Re-Watcher and watch True
Blood and you'll get an idea >> We like Mary Ann's parties? >> Yeah. >> They were orgies?
>> Some might say. >> [ __ ] >> Some might say. >> [ __ ] >> Not having orgies. Like fine, have an
orgy, but you have kids home. What don't do that. >> Yeah. I mean but they definitely
they witnessed a lot probably and it would definitely have an influence on her later in life.
>> going to say that'll [ __ ] you up. >> Yeah. And in stark contrast to these lavish parties and the lives of luxury
that were experienced by the McCarthy family, there was also a growing fear at this time that the enslaved people that
they were treating so poorly and saying that they owned >> Yeah. >> were going to they were starting to
rebel and revolt. And so a lot of white people in the region felt that that was coming which like
>> Yeah. >> you deserved it. >> It's also like yeah, did you never think that was going to happen when you
>> enslave a human being? >> Exactly. Um and so Delphine's uncle Jean Baptiste Labreton was reportedly
murdered by enslaved people on his plantation in New Orleans in 1771. >> Probably had it coming.
>> It 100% had it coming. >> Yeah, I'm not even I'm going to take away that probably. You're on a
plantation, had it coming. >> One evening he was awoken from sleep by a fire raging in a shed just outside his
bedroom window. And when he ran outside to direct the men to put the fire out, he was shot and killed. So it was like
drawing him out. >> Well, well. >> An investigation conducted in the days after this concluded that two of the
people that Jean Baptiste enslaved, Temba and Mirliton, they were responsible for the murder and were
brutally executed for it. Their bodies were displayed in the city square. >> Meanwhile, that's just like
like you can't treat people. >> You can't, exactly. >> for that long. Like what I'm not saying
murder is ever okay. >> No, but it's kind of like self-defense. >> But it's like you can't be doing this
[ __ ] >> And this is the kind And you know what it is? It's like when you get when you
set this precedent of like brutality and violence >> Mhm. >> and disrespecting people as human beings
and like taking humanity out of the equation, which is what you were doing when you were enslaving people,
>> Yep. >> how can you be surprised when people use that same precedent against you?
>> Right. >> You set the precedent. Like it's not like you're sitting here like treating people like humans
>> No. >> and having all this humanity and grace with people and like No, you're treating
people like property and you're being brutal and violent to them. >> they're not just going to sit around and
take that forever. >> back on you, you set the tone, man. Like it's not okay from the jump. Yeah. So it
just pisses me off. But although this death occurred more than a decade before Delphine's birth,
the effect of this death would definitely affect the family like as a whole. >> Yeah.
>> Now life in the Macarty home was one of luxury and excess, like I said, and Delphine wanted for nothing. And her
heritage and family name were entitled, or so she thought, to all the finest things. She would just get whatever she
wanted for the rest of her life. That's what she thought. But outside the home, there was the constant reminders of how
easily those things could be lost or taken away, either by violence or simply lack of vigilance.
And add to that the growing resentment of free and enslaved black people, whom she perceived to not only be a violent
threat, but also a threat to her inheritance and social status. >> Oh. >> And what results is a cruel, callous,
horrific, self-centered person who is capable of the most terrible of acts. >> Yeah.
>> Because she's growing up in this house of excess, never need wanting for anything, witnessing lavish parties that
were like not okay. >> And also like the people in her family, the men in her family especially, were
treating black women, too, like property and they were having these like non-consensual relationships with them,
sometimes impregnating them and then also treating them like dirt. You know what I mean? So, she's
seeing this like that she's really seeing like throwaway people. >> Yeah. >> And it's like and then she's growing up
to think that's that's okay to act that way. >> And then with this growing sense of fear
in the community and like people >> uncle murdered by the people that he treated so horribly and owned.
>> But she doesn't see it that way. >> She saw it as their fault, not his fault. Yeah.
>> Ooh, that's a mess. >> Yeah, so it's not a good mix to to be grown up with. Now, in the late spring
of 1800 when Delphine was barely 14 years old, she married Hello? Roman Lopez y Angelo de la Candelaria.
>> Brother, what are you doing with all those names and a 14-year-old bride? >> Exactly, what's going on here?
>> You're having too much. >> He was 35 years old. >> Get a grip. >> And he was a widower and a high-ranking
officer in the Spanish military. >> Find a grown woman. >> Yeah, get it together. Now, at the time
of their marriage, he was a serving as the second in command to the governor. He was the representative of the
treasury and he had jurisdiction over matters of police, the courts, and the military. So, he had a ton of power and
influence. >> Yeah. >> And shortly after they were married though, he was ordered to return to
Spain because he hadn't asked for permission to marry a child. >> Oh. >> Yep. >> It wasn't that he married the child, it
was just that he didn't ask nicely. >> he had to ask the government for permission.
>> Like the crown for permission. >> And he hadn't done that. >> Oh, he didn't >> So, Delphine went with him, but he was
held and faced consequences in Spain for not seeking permission. >> like, "Hey, is this your child bride?"
>> She returned home without him and on her return trip to Louisiana, she gave birth
to their first child. >> Oh my god. >> 14. >> Oh my god. >> Borgia Delphine Lopez y Angelo de la
Candelaria or Marie Borgia, whom she nicknamed Borquita. >> Okay. >> In March 1807, on her 20th birthday,
Delphine remarried. This time because she never saw him again. She remarried this time to Jean Blanc, a native
Frenchman and local banker who was more than twice her age. >> Sounds like a good wine.
>> Uh, yeah. Yeah, the Jean Blanc. >> I'll take the Jean Blanc. >> According to, um, sources, Jean Blanc
was, {quote} every bit Delphine's match, a ruthless wheeler-dealer who was a merchant, slave trader, and associate of
the pirates Jean and Pierre Lafitte. A few years earlier, Delphine's mother died from natural causes, and she left
her a sizeable sum of money, which was put towards her $33,000 dowry. >> Oh. >> Cuz remember dowries were a thing.
>> I kind of love the idea of a dowry. >> They have to pay? >> No, I just like I just like I think I
like the word. >> Yeah. >> You know what I mean? >> You're like, I actually don't love the
idea. I just love the word. >> the idea. I just like the word. >> I was like, what about the idea?
>> It gets you gets you going. >> No, I just like >> I like a collection. >> I don't like that you have to use it to
be like, marry me, I'm so good, but I like the collection, and I like the word. >> Oh, okay.
>> Like collecting. >> Okay. Yeah. >> And it's pretty stuff. Like, oh, these nice glasses, let's put them in your
dowry. These shoes, you seen these these sparkly shoes? Put them in your dowry. >> Yeah.
>> don't want it to go to a man, and it will. >> No, it won't. >> No, I think we should re- I think we
should redo it. >> Yeah. >> Let's update our dowries and just have like collections.
>> name the word >> dowry >> It's a great word. >> Feels nice. Yes, thank you. >> It it feels too nice for what it is.
>> Period. You see where I'm coming from. >> I do. Now, in addition to the money left
by her mother, Delphine also inherited a large number of farm animals, farming equipment, and a downtown plantation.
>> Uh, I was going to say, hell yeah, until you got to the >> and you said, hell no.
>> like, farm animals, downtown, let's go. Oh. >> Now, despite that inheritance, Blanc
purchased a large home for them at 409 Royal Street, and he purchased that through a sheriff's auction. For the
duration of their marriage, they would split their time between the plantation left by Delphine's mom and the house on
Royal Street. Now, over the course of their 8-year marriage, Delphine gave birth to four
children. Are you ready for their names? >> I'm so ready. >> Marie Louise Pauline,
Louise Marie Laure, Marie Louise Jean, and Jean-Pierre Pauline. So, she was just
>> Trying to do riddles? >> She just She was like >> She was like, "Which one is which?"
>> She just >> She just like presented them to groups and was like, "Who do you think is who?"
>> I guess it's good cuz you can be like, "Louise!" And three of them are like, "Yep." Yeah. And you can always get
someone. >> And Marie? >> Mhm. >> Wow. >> Marie, you can always get >> Marie Louise Louise Marie Schmureesh
Madub Schmish Mab. >> Yeah, cuz it's Marie Louise, Louise Marie, and Marie Louise.
So, she just switched the different third name. >> Reverse, reverse. >> Marie Louise Pauline, Louise Marie
Laure, and Marie Louise Jean. Now, while little is known about their private lives, there's a lot that's
known about their public affairs during this time. >> I need to go back for just 1 second. So,
there's all the Marie Louises, and then there's Borgita? >> Uh Bor- yeah, Borgita is from uh
the other marriage. >> But I'm just like, how do we go from Borgita to Marie Louise?
>> And actually, Borgita, her her name >> is Marie. >> is uh Borja Delphine Lopez y Angelo de la
Candelaria or Marie Borja. >> Yeah. So, there's another Marie. >> So, like, hello.
>> Yeah. >> Anyway, sorry. >> is known about their public affairs. Um they were very local and very active in
local real estate, and even more active in local politics. Uh Blanque was very outspoken and often ruthless when it
came to getting what he wanted. >> Yeah. >> According to Carolyn Long, Blanque was quote much disliked by most
of the Native Americans residing in or near New Orleans. Not only because his ways were entirely foreign to them, but
also because quote they considered him a dangerous man. I'm sure. Another account
of him written by a representative of the Spanish Crown describes him in like only slightly kinder terms. It said this
clever and daring man is persuasive persuasive of tongue, whereby he sways the crowd. Blanque is regarded as one of
the persons financially interested in the piracies of Barataria, which he openly protects. Basically, he was not
only despised by the native population, but also by the Spanish >> Okay. >> who identified him as one of those
financially backing local pirates. >> Awesome. >> Yeah. So, his financial support of the
pirates essentially, it was basically because he had relationships with pirates. He was friends with Jean and
Pierre Lafitte, who were very famous >> infamous, I should say. At the dawn of the 19th century, as the agriculture
business in Louisiana was like really booming, the Lafittes were among the many who
were importing the labor of enslaved people from Africa and Caribbean nations. >> Okay.
>> Um but they were known to also be among the more unscrupulous of people doing
that. Not that any of them were scrupulous, but meaning they didn't abide by any laws.
>> Right. >> Uh Jean Blanque would often receive these shipments of enslaved people from
the Lafittes and either help to and speaking in these terms really makes you >> Shipments of people. That just
>> It makes you How anybody can hear that and not be absolutely just [ __ ] up. >> were walking around talking like, oh
there's a shipment of slaves today. A shipment of people here. What? >> And the even this next thing, he would
either So, he would often receive the shipments of enslaved people from the Lafittes and either help to sell them
Just really really let that sit. Or put them to work on the plantation left to Delphine by her mother. So, he would he
would be snatching up enslaved people who were being shipped here like cargo and just give some of them to Delphine.
>> Yeah. >> By that By the time that he died in 1815, are you ready for this? He had
owned or traded at least 367 enslaved people. >> Holy [ __ ] >> You know that [ __ ] is burning
in the gnarliest >> right now. >> part. >> Still. Now, when he died in 1815, he left
Delphine a 28-year-old widow with five children to care for and significant debts. Rather than risk having to
forfeit the assets left by her mother, she went before the court and declared Blanc had left her, quote, "encumbered
with debt" and chose to relinquish any property and assets that they held together to pay for what he owed cuz he
was also just like a shady little [ __ ] >> Yeah. Doing weird stuff. >> roughly $160,000,
which is now 3 million today. >> Wow. >> Yeah. That's how much in debt he was. >> Damn.
>> Now, in the end, Delphine was able to keep some of the property. She would either buy it with her own money and,
you know, some of the property and assets were purchased by her brother and father, which at least kept it in the
family. >> Okay. >> She also persuaded the court to allow her to keep 15 of the people she
enslaved in her home as, quote, "payment of her matrimonial rights." >> What? >> My god.
>> Holy. >> Now, unlike her first two marriages where the husbands were at least twice
her age, Delphine's third husband, Leonard Louis Lalaurie, was 15 years younger than she was when they married.
>> Oh, honey. >> Yeah. >> I didn't know she was a cougar. >> She was. Now, upon completing his
medical studies in France in 1824, he left for Louisiana and arrived in the United States in February 1825.
>> Okay. >> Once there, he set up shop as a local physician and he was skilled in what the
local newspapers described as {quote} the means of destroying hunches. Which basically was repairing a crooked
or hunched back. >> Oh. >> with that. >> I could have used that. >> He would destroy hunches. Just the way
they have said that was like he just [ __ ] destroys hunches. >> going to survive around him.
>> No way. >> Oh, damn. What's his secret? I have that little like I have a little hump in the
back of my neck. >> Isn't it called tech neck? Yeah, it is called tech neck. >> called tech neck. I want it I just want
somebody to punch it straight. >> bra. >> Oh, god. I hate bras. >> But but this one honestly is great.
>> Yeah, but isn't it kind of like like uncomfy? >> No. I think it's super comfy.
>> Oh. >> Yeah. >> Maybe I'll get that brassiere. >> Do it. Get that brassiere. >> Get that brassiere, girl.
>> No. There are a few different ideas about how they met. Initially, mostly people believe that they met at one of
the lavish parties that they were both invited to. >> Was she going to sex parties, too?
>> no. However they met, the 38-year-old twice widowed mother of five was still considered one of the city's great
beauties. >> Wow. >> holy [ __ ] As well as the member and she was also the member of one of the most
influential families in the city. So, of course she's going to catch a lot of re
eyes. >> money to be made. >> According to Carolyn Long, by 1825, um her name began appearing in letters
written to Louis by his father. Uh they you can they I guess they never discovered Louis' part of the letters,
but so it's safe to assume that even if they were like romantic at this point, which I'm pretty sure they were,
they'd at least become friendly enough that he was talking to his father about her.
>> Right. >> Now, unfortunately, not long after he came to the US, his mother passed away.
But at this time, his father and brother insisted he close his business in New Orleans and return to France.
>> Oh. >> But by that time, Louis Louis and Delphine had already started a courtship
and they wanted to be married. So, he said no, and he temporarily signed over his portion of his mother's estate to
his father. Which this would actually cause a lot of tension among the LaLaurie family. Like
>> sense. >> Yeah. But while it's possible there are many reasons why Louis Louis decided not to
return to France, there is good reason to think that Delphine had already become pregnant by this point.
>> I was wondering that. >> And on August 13th, 1827, she gave birth to a boy, Jean Louis Leonard. So we have
another Jean. >> Another Jean. >> Despite his refusal to go back to France after his mother died, after the birth
of his son in August, he did leave the country in October and didn't return for several months.
>> That's fake. >> And no one knows why he left or where he went. >> That's weird.
>> But upon returning to New Orleans in January 1828, they appeared before a notary and were legally married.
>> And he just needed to get some [ __ ] out of his system. >> so. So his wild oats, I suppose.
In later accounts of their life together, the date of the marriage is often given as 1825,
presumably to uphold Delphine's honor since she had become >> pregnant. >> and given birth before they had married.
>> Yeah, yeah. >> Now at that at the time his assets were listed as $2,000, which he had inherited
from his mother and was still controlled by his father. Delphine, on the other hand, was worth
$67,000 at the time. So there was a big imbalance of power, but it was an unusual one cuz it was tipped in the
woman's favor for this era. >> did not happen. >> Now in the personal papers of Baron
Henry de Ste Gemme I have no idea if I said that correctly. >> I think you did. >> I loved it.
>> a business associate of Delphine's father. There are letters that provide some second-hand accounts of the
LaLaurie marriage. In one letter he wrote, "They do not have a happy marriage. They fight, often separate,
and they return to each other, which would make one believe that someday they will abandon each other completely."
>> I mean, that makes sense because he did like pre-abandon her. >> Yeah, so there's that.
>> And also, I can't imagine she was super duper fun to live with. >> She's a [ __ ] nightmare.
>> So, I can't imagine. >> Yeah, she was probably abusive. >> Yeah. Now, in the summer of 1831,
Delphine had grown tired of living in the country with Louis and started selling off her own property and
mortgaging others to raise money for what would become her final home in New Orleans. By August, she had purchased
the vacant lot at 1140 Royal Street. That's a very famous address now. And began overseeing the
construction of a lavish multi-story mansion. The first floor of this mansion would have several galleries, sitting
rooms. All were decorated in a style more American than French, which was pretty atypical at the time.
>> Boo. >> Um, I love French decor. >> The second floor had living quarters, which included a parlor, bedrooms, and a
large formal dining room. And Carolyn Long suggests the attic under the hipped roof might have had quarters for the
most favored domestic servants. The attic. >> Oh. >> However, the majority of Delphine's
servants would have been quartered in one or more of the outbuildings in the rear of the house.
>> Okay. >> Now, by early 1832, Delphine, Louis, and Jean Louis moved into the home along
with the four Blanc children. All but one of whom was an adult at the time. >> Okay.
>> Despite the new environment in the city proper at this point, Delphine and Louis' relationship continued to
deteriorate over the course of the year, and in November 1832, she filed for divorce.
>> Ooh. >> In the petition, she quoted state law almost verbatim, and she cited her
reason for seeking divorce as his having, {quote} "Treated her in such a manner as to render their living
together insupportable." >> Mm. >> She also alleged that he had been physically abusive and claimed that
Louis had been living out of the house for some time. >> Okay. >> Whatever the cause of the separation, it
doesn't appear to be permanent, at least not practically. >> It never is. >> By 1834, she was listed in the city
records as being a {quote} "wife separated in property of Lou- Louis LaLaurie," but in reality, Louis had
returned to living at the house at Royal Street, and was at least very regularly
an overnight guest, but was at home on the night of the fire in April 1834. Now, in her 1834 multi-volume account of
her travels across the United States, British writer Harriet Montin Martineau Martineau, sorry.
>> Martineau? >> Martineau presents a picture of American slavery that is very naive,
>> Yeah. >> um unsettling at times, and also like at times a little insightful. >> Okay.
>> Very strange. Um and in later assessments of her writings, scholars have noted, quote, "An inability to
sympathize with cultural others who do not conform to the formulaic and imaginatively controlled terms in which
she imagines difference." Basically, her sympathy towards enslaved people only extended to those who fit in
her very like narrow view of black people. >> Okay. >> Now, I bring this up because it's
important to talk about her view because the majority of insight into how Delphine LaLaurie treated enslaved
people in her home comes directly from Harriet Martineau's writings. >> Oh, okay.
>> Yeah, like a lot of scholars point to that. >> Interesting. >> So, while she definitely had a
complicated and very limited perspective of on plantation owners and their treatment of enslaved people, she was
able to identify cruelty and brutality when she saw it. Um about Madame LaLaurie, she said, "It had been long
observed that Madame LaLaurie's slaves looked singularly haggard and wretched. With the exception of the coachman,
whose appearance was sleek and comfortable enough." And that shows you that as long as the enslaved person was being
seen by the outside world, they were being treated okay. >> Okay. >> If you were in that house,
she was going to treat you however she wanted to, and it didn't matter if the marks were physical.
>> Wow. >> Yeah. Now, despite the obvious maltreatment of enslaved people that was occurring in
the Lalaurie house, it seems few if any locals at the time were bringing like thinking to challenge her or raise
a concern. >> One, they're all pretty racist cuz they all probably had slaves of their own.
>> At the time, yeah. >> At the time, of course. And two, she's like super powerful in the town. So
>> it is. She was still one of the wealthier and most respected members of the New Orleans society, and to speak
out against her would have had consequences. >> 100%. If only social, though. >> Oh.
>> I'm like >> Okay, well >> It could have had There could be more consequences that I'm not seeing. But
I'm like >> I think social consequences back then for I'm not saying it's a a good excuse,
but I think social con- consequences back then meant so much more than they do today.
>> You just look back and you're like You just wish people And I guess people weren't taught to
value human life and human dignity and >> not that. >> And you just wish somebody had taken it
upon themselves, which people did. I will say a couple of people obviously took some action.
>> Yeah, there's always good people to do that. >> more people valued what the [ __ ] was
going on and taking a stance over >> Yeah. >> like their social standing. Cuz I'm like
even the tide's going to turn eventually, and your social standing will be back cuz you'll be on the right
side of history. >> And it's just good to be there anyway. >> Don't worry being Why do you want to be
on the shitty side and keep that? You shouldn't. >> It's weird. And here's the other thing.
Outside of the home, Delphine was perfectly ple- pleasant to everyone she met on the street. That's the thing.
>> I didn't realize that. I thought she was a big old [ __ ] to everybody. >> sense that you would think that because
I also would have thought that. And it's like that's what makes it even harder for I think her local New Orleanians to
>> Cuz maybe people thought they were just rumors. >> Yeah, like I think they were just like
oh well, she's wealthy, she's powerful, maybe people are just making [ __ ] up about her cuz they can.
And like cuz so maybe they just were like, all right, I just don't believe that you would abuse her her servants in
her home. >> Mhm. >> But people who went to her home, like neighbors and such, did note later that
Lalaurie's servants seemed exhausted. They seemed malnourished, basically miserable and being mistreated.
>> Oh my. >> it was obvious just by looking at them. >> Malnourished is just from her.
>> feeding them. Now, whether or not the locals believed them throughout the mid to late 1830s,
rumors about Delphine's cruelty continued to circulate around the city. According to Martineau, the rumors
eventually became so widespread that a local lawyer sent a letter to Delphine reminding her, quote, "The law which
ordains that slaves can be proved to have been cruelly treated shall be taken from the owner and sold in the market
for the benefit of the state." That's the most wild statement in the entire world that they they're literally
holding that as like, well, you need to treat the people that you buy and own correctly, or else we're going to take
them from you and we're going to sell them to someone else cuz we are the morally superior people here. And
it's like >> What? Jesus Christ. >> the [ __ ] >> That's nuts. >> Martineau claims that the lawyer even
sent a younger employee to investigate the situation at the Lalaurie home. But this younger lawyer employee returned
full of indignation against all who could suspect this amiable woman was doing anything wrong.
>> Like so, did she seduce you? >> I was just going to say. Apparently she had convinced her that everything was
fine. Him that everything was fine. Now, despite how it was framed or understood
by Harriet Martineau and the American public at the time, we now know that the practice of slavery was not just morally
reprehensible, but also cruel and brutally violent on nearly every single [ __ ] level that you can imagine.
For the entirety of her life, Delphine had been raised in a family where human beings were not only owned, but also
treated badly, physically abused, and coerced into sexual relationships with the men in her family.
>> Mhm. >> So, she was like, this is just life. Deal with it. >> it is. >> And she felt entitled to this. I'm
entitled to own people and treat them how I want to. >> she's just been able to own whatever
she's wanted her whole life and that that goes to people, too. >> And people said it used to piss her off
that the people men in her family were not ashamed of having relationships with black women, even free black women.
>> Oh. >> So, she was just racist. Like, she was she had it in her DNA. Like, it was just
in there. Now, in the period between 1816 and when she left New Orleans in 1834, cuz she
eventually does, >> Unfortunately. >> Delphine uh she gets chased out of there. >> But still.
Yeah. She's free to do so. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. You wish she'd stayed and faced the consequences cuz I think
she'd be in several pieces around New Orleans. >> Uh-huh. >> Uh but Delphine owned at least 54 men,
women, and children. >> Oh, children. >> No, like men and women as well, but you
just think of children in this situation. Yeah. And whether they acknowledged it or not, the public
appeared to have at least some awareness of what went on inside that house. Not to the extent of what went on,
obviously. >> have even some awareness of what was happening in that >> To have even an ounce of awareness of
what was happening in that house. >> In an 1828 newsletter, uh Jean Boze wrote, "Finally, justice
descended on her home, and after being assured of the truth of the denunciations for barbarous treatment of
her slaves contrary to the law, the authorities found them still bloody. She had been She had them incarcerated,
letting them be given only the bare necessities." >> Oh my. >> Now, in another report from the
following year, {quote} "Her viciousness roused her neighbors in arms against her. They announced that they would no
longer hear of such actions, and in case they did, she should become amenable to
the law." So, it became a problem like pretty late in the game, where her neighbors were like, "Okay, now we know
what's going on." And they did start reporting her. Like they started seeing things and they would report them and
authorities wouldn't do anything about it. So she was just getting away with it and people were trying to report her at
this point. >> well that's good. >> Now, given what we now know about slavery in the United States during this
period, Delphine's treatment of the people she enslaved in her home and on the plantation would have had to be
particularly brutal and cruel for her neighbors to speak out against her. >> That's the thing that you really have to
think about here because people were not treating enslaved people well. >> No. They were
>> Like they literally whipped them constantly. >> her They treated them as property.
>> So it had to have been really bad. >> Like unimaginably bad. >> And for people to speak out against
somebody with such power and influence. >> You really have to think about that piece of it.
>> she was rarely held accountable for her actions. In fact, if anything, it seems
most of the locals just ended up having to turn a blind eye to it because she was keeping up appearances in public.
And so and no one was doing anything about it. So they were like, "What are we to do here?"
On one occasion, in July 1829, she was brought before the court for mistreating the enslaved people in her house, but
the charge was dismissed when her accusers failed to show up in court to testify that they'd actually seen her
abuse them. >> Right. >> So that's the only reason she got out of there. She probably threatened them.
>> Mhm. >> Now, she literally tortured these people in her house. She would beat them until
unconscious. That was her MO. Was if she was doling out a beating to you, you weren't going to end that beating until
you were out. >> That's unreal. >> Yeah. In 1833, neighbors reported her because And this is horrific. Because
it's about to get gnarly, so just be I mean, this story gets No. Neighbors reported her because they saw her
literally chase an enslaved little girl who was 12 years old off the [ __ ] roof of her home. She was chasing her
with a whip, and she was so scared she fell off the roof of the home. >> Oh my god.
>> Lalaurie hid this murder and her body by hiding her in a well. And authorities did discover this after
the reports cuz people Neighbors saw this happen and reported her immediately. >> literally chasing a child off of her
roof. >> know what they did? >> Nothing. >> They fined her. And then they forced her They told her
that she had to sell her remaining enslaved humans. But she said >> other thing. It's like to sell a human,
like that's one concept that you have to you you never can, but you have to try to wrap your brain around for this
story. And then she gets to profit. >> Yeah. >> Like the punishment is oh, sell your
slaves, but you'll make money. >> What? >> And she said okay, and her friends and
family bought those enslaved people back and then brought them back into her home.
>> Are you [ __ ] kidding me? >> Yeah. Isn't that insane? >> Wow. >> Now the full extent of Delphine's
cruelty finally came to light on the morning of Thursday, April 10th, 1834, when a fire broke out at the mansion.
What? >> It's April 9th. >> What the [ __ ] >> Elena, it is April 9th. >> happen? Every Guys, I'm not even kidding
you. We don't do this on purpose. >> Also, we were going to do this story like a couple weeks ago.
>> Literally weeks ago, and I wanted to change it a little bit, just to add some
things. And I did not And then I literally was like, you know what? I'm going to do that one
for this next episode. >> game time decision. >> Yeah. Wow. >> That's chilling. >> What the [ __ ]
>> That's chilling. >> That's wild. >> All of a sudden I was like, wait, is it I thought it was April 10th.
>> That's crazy. >> April 9th. Like what the [ __ ] >> Yeah. >> Wow. >> Yeah. >> Hello.
>> Ooh. All right. So, Thursday, April 10th, 1834, a fire broke out in the mansion on Royal Street. And according
to the local press, the fire started in the kitchen and quickly spread until the
house was quote soon wrapped in flames. Immediately the neighbors raced to the aid of the LaLaurie family with many
helping them to recover their valuables from the house. >> Nice. >> Then Judge Jacques François Canonge
asked Louis LaLaurie for permission to remove the enslaved people in the house to safety.
>> The fact that there was a possibility that he could have said no. >> Oh, yeah. He literally and he had to ask
permission cuz that's their property. >> Oh. >> Yep. >> That makes uh actually just made me
nauseous. >> Doesn't that like just make me just nauseous? >> It's like >> That's human smell.
>> Wow. >> Um LaLaurie responded quote with much rudeness. It was Delphine who said this
next part. She said there are those who would be better employed if they would attend to their own affairs instead of
officiously intermeddling with the concerns of other people. In other words, mind your own business and let
them burn. >> Wow. >> Now, horrified by that response and his refusal to unbar the door to the kitchen
where at least seven enslaved people were imprisoned and bound with chains, Judge Canonge ordered several people to
break down the doors. >> Good. >> Once they were inside, the men were shocked by what they saw. According to
the local press, upon entering one of the apartments, the most appalling spectacle met their eyes. Seven slaves,
more or less horribly mutilated, were seen suspended by the neck with their limbs apparently stretched and torn from
one extremity to the other. >> Oh. >> Yeah. They were all wearing uh metal spiked
collars. Once removed from the house and cleaned, like cleaned of like soot and ash,
the victims were found to be covered in old scars and they were weighed down by heavy chains. Most of them couldn't even
hold themselves up to walk. >> I'm sure. >> Had they not been rescued by that judge
like just going against the homeowners, they surely would have died in the fire.
>> Absolutely. >> Um one of the uh newspaper said language and this is a wild quote. Language is
powerless and inadequate to give a proper conception of the horror which a scene like this must have inspired.
>> Wow. >> That should tell you what was going on. >> That just gave me a full chill.
>> That a reporter whose words are their life >> And their job. >> language is powerless and inadequate to
fully tell you what happened here. >> That's oh my god. >> There are reports that some of them were
tortured to the point of being unrecognizable as humans. Like their faces were completely mutilated. One
woman's back was so badly cut and whipped that muscle and bones were people poking through.
>> Oh my god. >> They found one woman, and this is one that a lot of people I'm sure have heard
of, >> I know where you're going. >> that had had her bones broken and reset several times so that she resembled a
crab. Cuz they would be they would break and then reset in the broken place essentially so that they were like
bent in all crazy angles. >> How do you do that to another human being? >> Apparently her daughters, she was trying
to teach her daughters the same hate and cruelty, but they did not have that inside of them.
>> Oh. >> So they would try to feed the the enslaved people. And when she would catch them, like she
would cuz they would she wouldn't feed them. So she they would try to bring food to them. When she would catch them,
she would like beat and punish them. >> Her daughters? >> For yeah, for their kindness to these
people. >> What the [ __ ] >> And it's become and it should be it should be obvious now that you've heard
this, that everybody's heard this. Scholars believe that this is just something that Delphine enjoyed. Like
this is >> she's sadistic. >> Like this isn't punishment. This is >> No, she was getting her
>> Yeah, like because yeah, most of the enslaved people they found in her home were so badly tortured and disfigured
that they could barely walk, never mind work. >> Right. >> So she wasn't getting work out of these
people. They weren't working for her. She was just a psychopath that liked to inflict
torture and pain on people. Like she liked this. This was a thing she did. >> She's a literal psychopath.
The awful discoveries only continued after the fire was extinguished as well. It turned out the fire had been started
by the cook who was found chained to the stove. So the cook was chained to the stove.
When asked why she'd done it, the woman explained she set the house a fire with the intention of terminating the
sufferings of herself and her companions or perishing in the flames. >> So she was ready to die in a fire
>> the suffering the nightmare that she was living. It was made clear that the victims who
were discovered in the burning home, again, weren't being put to work and were not
being punished for any particular offense. They were, quote, "merely kept in existence to prolong their sufferings
and to make them taste all that was the most refined cruelty that could be inflicted."
Like that's a quote. >> Yeah. >> The victims were removed from the property and taken to a guardhouse to
protect them from Delphine and provide medical care. In one account, journalist J.C. de Saint Rome
describes one man with, quote, "a large hole in his head and his body from head to foot was covered with scars and
filled with worms." >> Oh my god. >> Yeah. >> It's like unthinkable. >> It is. And it My reactions are just the
same over and over again, but you just don't know what to say. >> No. >> After the initial reports of what was
discovered in that house, more than 2,000 locals visited the guardhouse to see the victims with their own eyes.
>> I can't imagine. >> inspired the residents of New Or- New Orleans to have such incredible outrage that
they demanded justice for the men and women taken from that plantation. >> Which is shocking.
>> A writer for the New Orleans Bee said the community shares with us our indignation and that vengeance will fall
heavily fall upon the guilty culprit. The outrage of the locals, while understandable, obviously and like good
>> Absolutely. >> is also like guys like she she was doing this. You know what I mean? Like what the [ __ ]
>> to some degree. >> Yeah, it just like she she had been hauled into court several times for
abuse. It's like this can't be that shocking. Like >> But then when you find out like exactly
what was happening and you see it with your own eyes like a woman having her bones reset as a crown.
>> actual what was like the actual stuff that happened must have been shocking. But
it's and I think it's just me being like hindsight 20/20 and being like Well, it's like I wish anybody had done
something like you know what I mean? But then I have to go back and say, well, people were trying to like you know,
report this and trying to do something and it's the authorities that really weren't
doing anything cuz I'm sitting here saying like why weren't they doing anything? I'm like what do you do?
>> Yeah, I I don't know what you do. >> out what I do in my own like >> Well, what do you do when you're going
to the authorities multiple times over and over and nothing's happening? And they're they're going out there and just
giving her tickets. >> Yeah, like >> And it's like you know what it is? I'm more angry about some of the wealthier
and well-to-do families in locals. >> and didn't say anything. >> angry at the the locals that were not of
higher social standing because they really were powerless in a lot of ways. >> Yeah.
>> I'm more angry at like the high society people who were helping to cover this up
and get mad because like during one of her court cases where she was pulled in for abusing the enslaved people in her
house. Several of the servants described scenarios where she whipped them mercilessly for supposed infractions
including trying to feed themselves or their starving children. That was a That was a punishable offense
for her. >> And they just gave her a ticket. >> And when she was feeling particularly
cruel, she would skip over the adults entirely and just beat their children as punishment in front of them.
Oh. So, she's she's a [ __ ] monster. >> She honestly, like she should have got the guillotine.
>> And honestly, I think they would have kind of let justice happen. >> Like a >> If she didn't skip out, like street
justice. >> they would cuz the people of New Orleans were ready to tear her to shreds. And I
think if she had come back there, they would have torn her >> Orleans. Torn her to shreds.
>> And I wish she had been able to get the justice because >> Isn't it like nobody really knows what
happened to her? She just kind of like faded into obscurity. >> I mean, unfortunately, justice was
denied in this situation. In the immediate aftermath of the discovery, a lot of the locals took their anger out
on the Royal Street property. They stormed the house. They destroyed everything in sight. They ripped
paintings off the walls, destroyed the furniture. They made off with anything of value, which like good for you.
>> Yeah. >> Um they called her the devil in the shape of a woman. >> Yeah. >> And they were out for blood. The crowd
was eventually dispersed by the local sheriff, but by that time the damage was done.
>> Yeah. >> Later, the extent of the destruction would be estimated to have caused
roughly $10,000 in damage. >> Good. >> Uh in a report in the New York New Orleans Bee, a reporter described the
mob as {quote} animated with the desire to punish LaLaurie in the fire because of her cruelty towards her slaves.
{quote} again. >> Yes. >> As for Delphine herself, it seems that once the discovery was made, she didn't
wait around to see how the crowd was going to react. She got the [ __ ] out of there. It's widely believed that she
fled the city that night and made her way to the water where she and her family escaped to Alabama and then to
Paris. And she lived out the rest of her life in France and died on December 7th, 1849
at the age of 62. The fact that [ __ ] got to just go to France. >> Yeah. >> It pisses me off.
>> France doesn't want you, babe. >> Yeah. In the weeks >> to live your whole life like I mean by
that I mean luckily so but by that back then she was elderly as hell. >> Yeah. Now in the weeks after the fire two of
the victims died from their injuries and upon a further search of the property the bodies of two more victims were
discovered buried on the plantation grounds one of which was the body of a child.
>> Wow. >> Yeah. Now the night after the fire and after the looting and destruction the locals
returned to the property and set the rest of the house on fire. Uh they burned much of it to the ground.
>> It shouldn't exist. >> So. It remained a burned out rubble until the property was purchased in 1838
by Pierre Tristour who built a new home on the land which remains at the corner of
Royal and Governor Nicholls Street to this day. >> Wow. >> In the decades that followed Pierre
Tristour's death the home served a lot of different functions like it was used as a school building a music
conservatory >> Not a school building. >> apartment building with the lower floors
containing retail shops or other businesses but as early as the late 1940s the LaLaurie Mansion which is it's
still known despite having been been rebuilt has been the centerpiece of the city's rumored hauntings
and has drawn tourists with an interest in all of these ghosts. >> I mean that is some
gnarly >> brain gas energy. >> According to a 1947 article on New Orleans hauntings during the
reconstruction era which is like 1865 to 1867 the house gained a reputation as a
quote haunted saloon and has maintained that reputation ever since. Over the years visitors have reported hearing
weeping maidens who leap screaming from the roof >> Oh that's horrible. >> as countless other ghostly encounters.
Over the years the reputation of the mansion has definitely only grown. Residents of the second-floor apartments
that were there once reported hearing footsteps running along dim passages, mournful sighs, and at least once a
smothered scream. Oh. The property has changed hands a lot of different times, including a recent period in which it
was owned by actor Nicolas Cage. >> Yeah, I knew that. He He doesn't own it anymore?
>> No, he doesn't anymore, I don't think. I don't think he does, at least. Um when
it was an apartment in the late 1800s, a tenant who was found murdered there and
in the weeks leading up to it, he had told acquaintances of ghostly figures, voices, and violent demonic activity in
his apartment. >> [ __ ] >> Now, when it was a school as well, this like really [ __ ] me up. It was once It
was a couple of different schools and once it was an all-girls primary school and it was um it was only for black
girls. And this is important. I only say this because there were reports of kids
who were only like 6, 7, 8 years old and didn't know the history of Madame LaLaurie
>> Yeah. >> rushing to their teachers with scratches and bruises on their arms. And the
teachers would obviously be horrified being like, "Oh my god, thinking another child had done this." But they'd be
like, "Who did this to you?" And they would always say, "That woman." >> Oh. >> Yeah.
>> No. >> Yeah. >> Nope. Ew. >> So, that place, I mean, you can still see it. >> that an all-black girls school?
>> I have no idea. Who the [ __ ] decided that? >> it's just the only the only property I
suppose if it can be >> that there's like a plaque there or something. I don't know that there is,
but like that commemorates all the lives lost in the [ __ ] >> What a gnarly The energy I'd love to
hear from people who have like been to this particular place because it's like how did that feel?
>> Yeah, I don't >> Cuz it I just feel like the energy even walking by that must feel
>> I got to say, I think that's one place I'm not interested in going. It's just
like oh, it's so sad. >> It is really sad. >> don't >> like I'm not saying like don't go there
or anything. That I just I don't know if I could. >> Yeah. I mean it's not the mansion
anymore. That's rebuilt, but >> But that land has >> a lot of >> Honey, the land.
>> Honey, the land. That's a perfect honey, the land. >> Honey, the land. >> The land does have some gnarly [ __ ]
>> I know I know that story. Like I know how bad it is, but it never gets any easier to listen to.
>> Yeah, it really doesn't. >> It was a gnarly. That's why it took me a little while to do it cuz I was like, I
don't know if I want to tell this one today. >> Yeah, no I fully understand that.
>> I wish she had got justice. >> I do, too. >> I really do. I'm just looking up a fun fact for us
right now. Okay, ready? >> I'm ready. >> There's a lot to this. >> Okay. >> So this is a this is from a TikTok I saw
last night, so I'm not sure. I got to I got to like double-check it, but okay. Abraham Lincoln elected to Congress
1846. JFK elected to Congress 1946. >> Mhm. >> Abraham Lincoln elected president 1860.
JFK elected 1960. Actually, this is perfect. Both were particularly concerned with civil
rights. >> Yep. >> Both wives unfortunately lost a child while living in the White House.
>> Mhm. >> Both were shot on Friday. >> Interesting. >> Both were shot in the head.
Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy. >> Kennedy and Kennedy's >> Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln.
Both were assassinated by Southerners. Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson. Andrew Johnson, who succeeded
Lincoln, he was born in 1808. Lyndon B. Johnson succeeded Kennedy. Lyndon B. Johnson was
born in 1908. That I think that is all true cuz I've seen that that a thing that as a thing forever.
>> That >> that's crazy. >> That's not >> Like you can't That's >> Like that's one of the biggest
>> That's a fun fact. >> Yeah, like >> That's a series of fun facts. >> I saw that last night at like midnight
as I'm doom scrolling Tik Tok and I was like, "What the fuck?" >> What the [ __ ]
>> like, "That's crazy." >> That is I remember like the Lincoln secretary was Kennedy, Kennedy's
secretary was Lincoln. >> Yeah, but then you go to the very dates and it's literally
>> It's very strange. >> perfectly a hundred years apart. >> if it's like simulation.
>> It's simulation for sure. >> Probably. >> Yeah. Well, with all of that being said,
we hope that you keep listening and we hope you keep >> it >> weird. >> But not as I can't even say what she did
was weird. It's much beyond that. So just like don't Just just keep it weird. That's all.
>> Don't be an [ __ ] >> Yeah, be nice. And when you see something, say something.
>> Yeah. >> To the authorities. >> To the authorities. >> Not just to your friend.
>> Mhm.

In April 1834, a massive fire broke out at the mansion of Delphine LaLaurie on Royal Street in New Orleans French Quarter. LaLaurie was known to have kept several slaves as servants in the home, but when bystanders attempted to enter the house to rescue those trapped inside, they found the doors barred. After forcing the doors open and making their way inside the house, the rescuers were horrified to find the “horribly mutilated” bodies of at least seven of LaLaurie’s slaves. Delphine LaLaurie was known to treat her servants very badly, including physically abusing them, but no one in New Orleans had imagined she was a sadistic murderer.

After the discovery of the horrors in the LaLaurie mansion, Delphine LaLaurie fled New Orleans, fearing mob violence, and lived the rest of her life as an exile in Paris—but that is not the end of the story. Just a few decades after LaLaurie abandoned her home and fled the country, her story and those of the men, women, and children who suffered in her home worked their way into New Orleans folklore. Today, nearly two hundred years later, the LaLaurie mansion has become known as the most haunted house in New Orleans, and the legend of Delphine LaLaurie has lived on through television, film, and books about Mad Madame LaLaurie.

Buy Tickets to our LIVE SHOW at Radio City Music Hall on June 27th!

References

Crawford, Iain. 2020. "Harriet Matineau, White Women, and Slavery in the bAntebellum South." Nineteenth-Century Prose 89-116.

Long, Carolyn Morrow. 2015. Madame Lalaurie, Mistress of the Haunted House. Gainsville, FL: University Press of Florida.

Martineau, Harriet. 1838. Retrospect of Western Travel, volume 2. London, UK: Saunders and Otley.

Masia, Ines Vila. 1947. "New Orleans puts its ghosts to work." The Times (Shreveport, LA), July 20: 21.

New Orleans Bee. 1834. "Baton Rouge news." Baton-Rouge Gazette, April 19: 2.

Pitts, Stella. 1974. "New paint, old stories stir interest in 'haunted house'." Times-Picayune, August 11: 68.

Schneider, Frank. 1969. "Sale typidies French Quarter values." Times-Picayune, February 9: 47.

Wolfe, Poet. 2024. "LaLaurie Mansion in New Orleans has a sinister history dating back to the 1830s." Times Picayune, July 11.

Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022) Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023) Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Listener Tale Theme Music licensed from https://www.purple-planet.com Main Theme: Matti Paalanen — Trick or Treat — Provided by Jamendo Ad Music: Title: Artist: BlueJay Studio — Spooky Waltz — Provided by Jamendo

Brief Summary

Madame LaLaurie's horrific treatment of enslaved people is revealed after a fire exposes her sadistic cruelty in 1834 New Orleans.

Key points

Meteorology with Ash and Elena. Ash and Elena humorously discuss the unpredictable New England weather, highlighting their confusion about dressing for it.
Live Show Excitement. The hosts encourage listeners to buy tickets for their one-night-only live show at Radio City Music Hall.
Delphine LaLaurie's Gruesome History. The episode dives into the horrifying history of Delphine LaLaurie, a notorious figure in New Orleans.
A Shocking Legacy. Delphine LaLaurie left behind a legacy of debt and cruelty.
The Mysterious Marriage. Delphine's marriage to Leonard Louis Lalaurie raised eyebrows due to their age difference.
A Complicated Relationship. Delphine and Louis's marriage was tumultuous, leading to a divorce petition.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

What the [ __ ] did she get this way?

6:21WatchApr 13, 2026

Tension

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