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11 Gruesome & Tragic Facts About the Most Haunted Mansion in New Orleans


A Place Where Inhuman Horrors Took Place

Walk to Royal and Governor Nicholls streets in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter, and you’ll eventually find yourself in front of the LaLaurie Mansion.

Built in 1831 for Marie Delphine Macarty LaLaurie and her husband Dr. Louis LaLaurie, this beautiful three-story building covers 12,000 square feet of dark history. Here are some of the most tragic and terrifying events that happened inside the infamous home.

The LaLaurie Mansion

You’ll find the LaLaurie Mansion at 1140 Royal Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter. This big three-story building, built in 1831, shows off Federal-style design with its fancy iron balconies and curved windows.

The mansion spreads across 12,000 square feet and joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Though rebuilt in 1837 after a bad fire and attack by an angry mob, the building still looks much like it did back then.

The Cruel and Murderous Socialite

Inside the mansion’s big walls lived one of history’s cruelest people.

Madame Delphine LaLaurie. She was born Marie Delphine Macarty in 1787 to an important New Orleans family. She married three times by age 38 and kept her high social status while doing terrible things to enslaved people.

From 1830 to 1834, records show twelve people died at her mansion. After the famous 1834 fire showed her crimes, she ran to Paris, where she died in 1849 at age 62.

An 1834 Fire Revealed Torture in the Attic

On April 10, 1834, a terrible fire at the LaLaurie mansion showed the horrible torture that would haunt New Orleans forever. The fire started when a 70-year-old enslaved cook, chained to the stove, tried to kill herself rather than face more punishment.

When people broke down doors after the LaLauries wouldn’t let them in, they found seven badly hurt slaves hanging by their necks in the attic. The victims wore spiked iron collars and showed signs of terrible abuse.

Up to 4,000 people came to see the rescued slaves at the jail, while an angry crowd destroyed most of the mansion, leaving only its walls standing.

The Fire Didn’t Stop Madame LaLaurie’s Party That Night

Fancy parties filled the LaLaurie mansion’s grand halls while terrible things happened in hidden rooms above. The 12,000-square-foot home often held New Orleans’ rich people, who danced away ignorant to the suffering behind the heavy oak door.

Even as the fire burned the slave quarters during the 1834 fire, the party kept going with musicians playing in the street. Only when worried guests forced their way upstairs did people learn what the LaLauries really did.

The Tragic End of 12-Year-Old Leah at the LaLaurie Mansion

A young girl’s hairbrush led to one of the mansion’s saddest events. In 1833, twelve-year-old Leah, an enslaved girl who served Madame LaLaurie, accidentally pulled her mistress’s hair while combing it.

LaLaurie got angry and chased the scared child with a whip through the mansion. Trying to escape punishment, Leah ran to the roof. In her final desperate act, she jumped to her death. LaLaurie buried her body on the mansion grounds.

This led to an official investigation, and LaLaurie was found guilty of cruel abuse and had to give up nine enslaved people.

Mutilations and Surgical Horrors

The LaLaurie mansion also held victims of Dr. Louis LaLaurie’s awful medical experiments. One person had been turned into a human “caterpillar” by removing limbs and skin, while others suffered crude sex change operations.

The torture room had proof of regular cruelty: bottles of blood, victims with holes drilled in their skulls left for maggots, and people whose faces were cut to look like gargoyles. Many had broken bones that were reset at the wrong angles.

One of the Most Haunted Places in America

Since its dark past came out in 1834, the LaLaurie Mansion has become known as one of America’s most haunted buildings, with ghost stories told for almost 200 years.

People often see a red-haired woman, thought to be Madame LaLaurie herself, and the ghost of a chained Black man from the windows.

Ghost hunters have caught weird voices on tape and ghostly figures in photos, while people inside feel sudden cold spots and invisible hands touching them while walking near the mansion.

Nicolas Cage’s Cursed Ownership

Movie star Nicolas Cage bought the LaLaurie Mansion in 2007 for $3.4 million because he loved its haunted history and wanted to write “the great American horror novel.”

The actor barely stayed there. He spent just one night in the mansion before moving to a rental house across the street, scared by strange sounds and spooky events.

Money problems followed, and by 2009, Cage lost the mansion because he couldn’t pay his debts. Regions Bank bought the property at auction for $2.3 million, and many locals say Cage’s bad luck came from the mansion’s curse.

LaLaurie Mansion is Off Limits to the Public

The grand LaLaurie Mansion has been closed to visitors since 1932.

A private Texas oil tycoon has owned it since 2013. While housekeepers take care of the mansion’s eight bedrooms and fancy rooms, including double parlors and a wine cellar.

Even ghost hunters can’t go inside. Visitors can only take pictures from outside and listen to stories from tour guides who gather at Royal and Governor Nicholls Streets.

LaLaurie Mansion is Part of Many Ghost Tours in the French Quarter

Every night, ghost tours meet at Royal and Governor Nicholls Streets, where guides tell scary stories about the LaLaurie Mansion’s dark past.

These popular tours, which got even bigger after “American Horror Story: Coven” showed the mansion, mixing history with ghost stories. Tours often visit other haunted French Quarter places too, helping you experience New Orleans’ spooky history.

Iconic Attractions Near LaLaurie Mansion

Around the infamous LaLaurie Mansion, you’ll find some of New Orleans’ most loved historic places within walking distance.

Royal Street itself draws people in with its antique shops, art galleries, and beautiful 1800s buildings with iron balconies. Just blocks away, you’ll see Jackson Square, a National Historic Landmark, with the famous St. Louis Cathedral and local artists.

Music fans can hear real New Orleans jazz at Preservation Hall on St. Peter Street, while the famous Bourbon Street offers jazz clubs, historic buildings, and Creole restaurants.

The post 11 Gruesome & Tragic Facts About the Most Haunted Mansion in New Orleans appeared first on When In Your State.



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