The enchanting LaLaurie Mansion has been a staple of the historic French Quarter in New Orleans for centuries. This lavish, grandiose mansion located at the corner of Royal and Governor Nicholls Streets is a baroque-style beauty featuring wrought-iron balconies all around the second story.
It was and still is the largest home in the French Quarter, and even though it has been fully reconstructed, the location still maintains a lot of history, most of which was not pleasant.
The LaLaurie Mansion – Copyright US Ghost Adventures
Let’s take a deep dive into the dark and unsettling past of one of the oldest mansions in New Orleans and its devious owner, Madame LaLaurie. Unfortunately, you cannot go inside the LaLaurie Mansion today, as it’s currently privately owned, but most ghost tours in New Orleans make a stop in front of it, and lucky (or unlucky) guests may spot an apparition or two in the windows.
Who Was Madame LaLaurie?
Madame Delphine Macarty LaLaurie was born into an elite Creole family in New Orleans on March 19th, 1787. Her father, Louis Bartelemy Macarty, was a highly influential figure among the rich in 18th-century NOLA, and her mother, Marie Jeanne L’Erable, was extremely respected within the town’s affluent social circles. With the Macartys being such an influential family in town, Delphine’s childhood was characterized by her wealth, privilege, and social standing.
But as Delphine grew up, her life became filled with immense tragedy and heartbreak. Her first husband, Don Ramon de Lopez y Angulo, who was a high-ranking Spanish officer, died under mysterious circumstances while traveling to Spain in 1804. At the time of his death, Delphine was pregnant with their daughter, Marie Borgia Delphine Lopez y Angulo de la Candelaria.
After giving birth to Marie, Delphine moved to New Orleans, where she married her second husband, a prominent banker, lawyer, and merchant named Jean Blanque, with whom she had four children. Blanque also died mysteriously in 1816.
Delphine Marries Dr. LaLaurie
In 1825, Delphine married her third husband, Dr. Leonard Louis Nicolas LaLaurie, who was significantly younger than her. Together, they built the original LaLaurie mansion in 1832. Although the couple was the subject of local gossip because of their age difference and rumors of marital woes, the LaLauries maintained a respectable social presence in New Orleans and would regularly host lavish parties for the local elite class.
Delphine was a delightful hostess and was well-known by all for her beauty, charm, and refined manners. She took part in all socialite activities in town and was seen by all as the epitome of grace and elegance.
But there was a disturbing side to Madame LaLaurie that her wealthy friends were, at first, unaware of. And once the people of New Orleans learned about the horrid things that took place at the mansion, no one saw Delphine in the same light ever again.
The Truth is Revealed As the Smoke Clears
On April 10th, 1834, a devastating fire at the mansion led to the discovery of the atrocious double life Delphine was living. In front of the social elite of New Orleans, Delphine and her husband were kind, fun-loving individuals who enjoyed throwing parties and socializing with their neighbors. But once the flames from the fire were extinguished, the truth about Madame LaLaurie and her unthinkable deeds was brought to light.
As firefighters worked to put out the fire throughout the mansion, they discovered what would later be revealed as a torture chamber where Delphine would repeatedly demoralize and impose brutal punishment on her slaves.
While searching the mansion, rescuers found a 70-year-old black woman trapped in the kitchen. Delphine had left her there, bound by chains, to die in the fire. Later, the woman confessed that she was the one responsible for the fire. She started it in hopes of escaping the torture of being the LaLaurie’s slave. Following her confession, she led the authorities upstairs to the attic, where they found seven enslaved men bound with spiked iron collars.
The descriptions of the condition firefighters and other authorities found the LaLaurie’s slaves in after the fire are what true horror stories are made of. Some had their limbs broken so horribly that they could only walk in a type of shuffle, similar to a crab’s walk. There was another report of a slave who had a wooden spoon jammed into a hole that had been drilled into his skull. The gruesome and nightmarish tales go on to reveal just how sadistic Madame LaLaurie was, earning her the appropriate title of the “Cruel Mistress of the Haunted House.”
The Downfall of Madame Delphine LaLaurie
The grotesque and inhumane conditions that Madame LaLaurie subjected her slaves to cast a harrowing shadow over her prestigious image among the elite class of New Orleans. The revelation of her sinister deeds sent shockwaves through the city, which linger still within the historic district of the French Quarter to this day.
Following the fire, Delphine, Louis, and their children fled their home in New Orleans and traveled from Mobile, Alabama, to New York and later to France. They initially took refuge with Louis’ family in Villeneuve-sur-Lot but had settled in Paris by 1835. A few years later, Louis left his family and relocated to Havana; it’s been said that he never reunited with Delphine or their son again.
Delphine lived out her days in Paris and died on December 7th, 1849. She was interred in the Cimetière de Montmartre at the time, and then later, in 1851, her body was exhumed for reinterment in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 in New Orleans.
The Reconstruction of the LaLaurie Mansion
In 1838, four years after the fire, the once-elaborate mansion was described as being “in its ruined state.” A new three-story Empire-style residential home was built in its place by Pierre Trastour for Charles Caffin, who used the house as his primary residence for several years. Afterward, it was used for several purposes, including an integrated schoolhouse, a conservatory of music, and also as the Warrington House to assist indigent men.
The LaLaurie Mansion has had several owners over the decades, with one of the most famous being actor Nicholas Cage, who purchased the property for $3.4 million in 2006. However, Cage later faced some financial hardships and lost the house to foreclosure in 2009.
More Tales of Torture and Death at the LaLaurie Mansion
The LaLaurie Mansion has been called the most haunted house in New Orleans, and that may very well be true. Ask anyone involved in the paranormal community, and they will tell you that places where brutal torture and death once occurred have a sort of gravitational pull when it comes to spirits, ghosts, and entities.
Based on the true stories from the history of the property, it is safe to say that ghosts looking for a place to haunt would have no problem making themselves at home at the LaLaurie Mansion.
Looking deeper into the history of the property, it seems that the newly reconstructed LaLaurie mansion also had some strange and horrific occurrences that could trigger a visit from the supernatural. While the building was used as an apartment complex in the 1890s, one of the tenants was murdered.
When authorities found him, his apartment appeared to be ransacked by an intruder, but oddly enough, nothing had been taken from the home. After interviewing some of his friends and family, the police learned that the tenant shared with a friend that he’d been having issues with “a sprite,” or a spirit, who told him that they would not rest until the tenant was dead.
Years later, the house was converted into an all-girls school for African American students, which wasn’t in operation long until the girls began reporting assaults from someone they referred to as “that lady.” Their arms would be covered in bruises and scratches. Some believe these assaults were from the ghost of Madame LaLaurie; however, there haven’t been any claims of Delphine’s ghost appearing at the mansion.
Hauntings at the LaLaurie Mansion
According to local lore, the hauntings at the LaLaurie mansion began soon after Delphine and her family fled from New Orleans. Locals claimed to hear the phantom screams from victims of the fire and the torture all throughout the night. Similar stories continued over time, describing the property as being haunted by the ghosts of Delphine’s victims.
There are tales of the agonizing screams coming from various rooms, doors slamming, the faucets turning on and off, and furniture moving around on its own. Former residents have mentioned seeing imprints of bodies on beds that no one had slept on in years. They also saw the apparitions of slaves, some of them still wearing the chains that Delphine bound them with.
There are many who expect to see the ghost of Madame LaLaurie herself within the walls of the mansion, but she has never been spotted there. However, there are rumors that she has been seen nearby in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, where she is buried.
Today, the LaLaurie Mansion remains one of the most popular landmarks of the French Quarter, and even though no one is allowed to enter the building, the site is visited often by paranormal experts, ghost tour companies, and those who are intrigued by the location’s dark and grisly history. The mansion will forever be associated with the horrors of slavery in the South and the eerie gothic ambience of New Orleans.
If you’d like to experience New Orleans’ haunted side, make sure to join a local New Orleans ghost tour that stops not only at the LaLaurie Mansion but at other haunted locations in the Big Easy, like the Old Ursuline Convent.
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