The Horrors Hidden in the LaLaurie Mansion

What if the dark, twisted secrets of New Orleans could chill you to the bone from the comfort of your front porch? Join me, Carole Townsend, as I unravel the sinuous history of the Big Easy, starting with the notorious Madame Delphine LaLaurie. Known as one of history's most malevolent figures, LaLaurie's story is one of opulence masking unimaginable cruelty. Step into the haunted corridors of her infamous mansion, where tales of supernatural horror and unspeakable atrocities converge. Discover why her legacy remains one of the most haunting in Southern history, blending high society with horrific truths.

Curious about the spine-tingling blend of voodoo, witchcraft, and serial killers that make New Orleans a hotspot for the supernatural? This episode promises meticulously researched narratives that plunge deep into the eerie folklore and grim realities that shape this iconic city. From Delphine LaLaurie's sadistic acts to the rumored occult practices that surrounded her, we'll explore the sinister blend of privilege and madness that defined her. Subscribe and stay updated as we continue to uncover unsettling tales, like the grim fate of Corpsewood Manor's owners, that will leave you questioning the line between history and horror.

Chapters

• 0:05 Dark Secrets of New Orleans
• 19:34 Delphine LaLaurie's Dark Legacy
• 26:27 Southern History and Lore Podcast

Transcript

Carole Townsend: 0:05

New Orleans, louisiana, is a city unlike any other, draped in the mists of many rich cultures and traditions, as beautiful and as mystifying as the Spanish moss that whispers through its trees. It's precisely because of these blended cultures and mysterious nuances that New Orleans is thought by many to be the most enchanted and the most haunted place in the world. There is no doubt that jazz, music, unparalleled dining, mardi Gras, stunning architecture and colorful history bring tourists from around the world every year, but also know that voodoo, santeria, sorcery and witchcraft are woven into the very fabric of the city, and millions travel to New Orleans, especially the French Quarter, with a desire to hear, feel and see the ancient inhabitants who still reside in the city, though they've long been dead. Of course, new Orleans is known to most simply as the Big Easy. It's also called the Crescent City because the mighty Mississippi curves around the city in the shape of a crescent. But there is a dark side of this beautiful, unique city. Voodoo is still practiced here, vampires are said to come and go through the centuries. Bloody Mary herself called New Orleans home. A talented jazz musician and serial killer, the Axeman, resided here, and the list goes on. Tonight, however, I'm going to share with you the story of New Orleans' most reviled, most evil resident. She was beautiful, she was wealthy and influential and she was a sadistic serial killer skilled in the dark arts.

Carole Townsend: 2:12

Here in the South we love our stories. We begin in childhood huddled around campfires, whispering of things best spoken in the dark, confiding in our small trusting circles. Why is that, do you suppose? I have researched and investigated Southern history for more than 20 years and I believe it has to do with this region itself. There's a lot that hangs in the ether here and much that is buried deep in the soil here, and much that is buried deep in the soil. There's beauty here in the South and shame and courage and, make no mistake, there is evil. There's always been the element of the unexplained, the just out of reach that we can all feel but can never quite describe. And the best place for telling tales about such things is the comfort and safety of an old front porch. So I invite you tonight to come up here with me, settle back into a chair and get comfortable, Pour yourself a drink if you like, and I'll share with you some of the tales best told in the company of friends, tales that prove that truth really is stranger than fiction, and I'll turn on the light. You're going to want that. I'm Carole Townsend. Welcome to my front porch. The following podcast contains material that may be disturbing. Listener discretion is advised.

Carole Townsend: 3:56

There are many explanations offered up as to why New Orleans is known for being home to ghosts, spirits and wandering souls. Some believe that spirits cannot cross bodies of water. The Mississippi River hugs the city, and Lake Pontchartrain, the second largest inland body of saltwater in the United States, covers an area of 630 square miles. There are rivers and bayous throughout Louisiana. Waters, some say, trap spirits within the city. In fact, new Orleans itself sits 8 feet below sea level, so perhaps there is some truth to this theory.

Carole Townsend: 4:41

There is a mansion that sits squarely in the French Quarter, at 1140 Royal Street, and it also sits atop the list of the area's most infamous and most evil places. The LaLaurie Mansion was completed in 1832 in all of its opulent neoclassical elegance, in all of its opulent neoclassical elegance. Imposing ironwork barred all but those invited from the front entrance and it guarded every balcony. Intricate mahogany carvings, elaborate ceiling, medallions, imported chandeliers and extravagant furnishings graced every inch of this Baroque beauty. The owners of this impressive showplace, dr Leonard, louis, nicholas and Delphine Lalaurie. Dr LaLaurie was Delphine's third husband and much younger than his new bride. Delphine had been widowed by her first two husbands.

Carole Townsend: 5:48

Marie Delphine McCarthy was born in 1870 to an aristocratic white Creole family in New Orleans and raised in Spanish-controlled Louisiana in the affluent French Quarter. Delphine, as she was known, was a dark-haired beauty with a statuesque presence and porcelain skin. She was educated in the finest institutions and was carefully trained to exude graciousness and refinement. By birth and by marriages, delphine was a wealthy, privileged woman. In total, she had five children by her three husbands, four daughters and one son.

Carole Townsend: 6:35

Her marriage to Dr Louis Lollery began well enough. He was young and handsome and he was charming and well connected, as was she, and theirs seemed to be a match for the ages. Their marriage joined two wealthy and powerful dynasties, and the pair was sure to leave an indelible mark on high New Orleans society. However, a few years into their marriage, the two grew distant. Delphine, a bright woman, turned to her beloved books and her fascination with the occult to fill the growing lonely hours. She had always been a young woman who strained against the confines of her position, and these escapes and pursuits allowed her hungry mind to feed, ever aware of the importance of appearances on the social landscape, the couple purchased an unfinished house in the French Quarter.

Carole Townsend: 7:36

Delphine threw herself into the construction and furnishing of the house. She spared no expense in selecting architectural details, fine Asian fabrics and the most expensive china crystal and silver. Once the mansion was finished, the pair threw elaborate parties and balls, and an invitation to one of their exclusive soirees was a coveted one. Delphine used philanthropy and charity to further cement her place among the upper crust of New Orleans society. As is the case with most situations that seem too good to be true, a dark cloud began to form and hovered over the La Llorise, specifically over Delphine herself. As was common among the wealthy southern aristocracy, the La Llorise owned enslaved people. In fact, an entire section of the exquisite mansion was used strictly for slave quarters.

Carole Townsend: 8:45

Now, new Orleans was slightly different from other southern states with respect to its laws governing slavery. While the city was once the center of the US slave trade, its laws for the treatment of enslaved people were governed by the French Louisiana Code Noir, a book of slave ownership guidelines and laws issued by the French government. Some of the provisions of that code included mandatory instruction in the Catholic faith, and only the Catholic faith for slaves, with strict observance of Sunday as a day of rest. If a slave was found to be working on a Sunday, he was to be confiscated immediately. Families of enslaved people were not to be separated by sale. They were to be separated by sale. They were to be given food and clothing allowances and harsh disciplinary measures were absolutely forbidden.

Carole Townsend: 9:48

Imagine people shock and disbelief then when rumors began surfacing about Delphine LaLaurie's mistreatment of her charges in public. Delphine went out of her way to show kindness and concern for African slaves, even manumitting or freeing two of her own at one time. But whispers that Delphine was anything but kind to her own enslaved people began fluttering up and down Bourbon Street and throughout the French Quarter. As hypocritical as it may sound, new Orleans aristocrats prided themselves on their treatment of the human beings they had so callously purchased. Guests at dinner parties couldn't help noticing that the LaLaurie's house slaves looked haggard and exhausted all the time and that they seemed fearful and anxious in any situation. In fact, the very air inside the mansion, some said, was heavy and thick. Surely misery lived here. Neighbors said that they saw the socialite Delphine digging a grave in her garden late one night.

Carole Townsend: 11:11

Some of the enslaved people she and the doctor had purchased had gone missing without explanation. On occasion, anguished screams could be heard coming from inside the elegant mansion. A young African girl named Leah, who was about 12 years old, was tasked with brushing Delphine's hair. One day she tugged a little too hard as the brush hit a tangle. Furious Delphine snatched a whip from the bureau and chased the girl throughout the house. A whip from the bureau and chased the girl throughout the house until, in utter fear and desperation, the young girl jumped to her death to avoid the mistress's particular brand of punishment. Reportedly, delphine then dumped the child's body in a well.

Carole Townsend: 11:57

It was this horrible incident that prompted a visit to the LaLaurie mansion by officials. During that visit, their observations confirmed that the LaLauries were indeed treating their slaves cruelly. This investigation forced the couple to relinquish ownership of nine of their slaves based on the Code Noir ownership of nine of their slaves based on the code noir but relying on family connections, wealth and influence. Those same nine humans were repurchased and returned to their former place of residence, the dark Lalaurie mansion. The Lalaurie's marriage continued to decompose until Delphine filed for a legal separation from her third husband, claiming that he often beat her.

Carole Townsend: 12:46

The doctor willingly granted Delphine the separation, presumably knowing full well that the atrocities that took place in the mansion would not stay hidden forever. They never lived together again after that separation, though the doctor would return to the mansion occasionally, his purposes unknown. Still, there are those who claim that Dr Louis Lalaurie fully participated in the torture of those he had purchased and held captive in his house. The good doctor was rumored to dabble in the use of Haitian-influenced zombie drugs, drugs designed to enhance slave obedience and compliance. He was also said to have practiced experimental surgeries and sadistic torture on the slaves within the walls of the grand house, all in the name of research. While this last has never been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, the rumors and innuendos surrounding his complicity with his cruel wife have persisted for more than 150 years now. Years now.

Carole Townsend: 14:09

On April 10, 1834, the mask of social propriety and elegance was finally ripped from Delphine LaLaurie's beautiful face and from that of her husband. A fire started in the kitchen of the big house, and when firefighters arrived arrived, they were shocked by what they discovered. The lala reese, 70 year old african-american cook, was found chained to the stove where the fire had clearly started. She was emaciated and was obviously very sick. While the flames licked and devoured the floors, walls, expensive paintings, expensive paintings and silk drapes, delphine frantically tried to gather as many of her precious belongings as she could to save them. A crowd had begun gathering, many of them trying to help the Lawleries by bringing water and by hauling out paintings and other valuables. But these same onlookers and volunteers wondered aloud why the servants weren't helping the elderly woman, once freed from her chains in the kitchen, confided in firefighters that she had intentionally set the fire in order to put an end to Madame Delphine's cruel treatments.

Carole Townsend: 15:19

As the brigade worked to extinguish the flames. Put an end to Madame Delphine's cruel treatments. As the brigade worked to extinguish the flames, they eventually discovered the horrendous truth about Dr and Mrs LaLaurie. Hearing screams and following them, a group of about ten men discovered and tried to open a locked door, but Delphine and the doctor refused to give them the keys. Louis LaLaurie, in so many words, told the men that they would do well to mind their own business. Determined to rescue as many people as they could, the men kicked their way through a wall and what they found was nothing short of horrifying. I'm quoting here from April 11th 1834 article in the New Orleans Bee printed the day after the fire. Quote more or less horribly mutilated, were seen suspended by the neck, with their limbs apparently stretched and torn from one extremity to the other. They had been confined by the couple for several months and had been merely kept in existence to prolong the suffering. End quote.

Carole Townsend: 16:39

In the mansion, slave quarters, sequestered away from guests and polite society, was a true chamber of horrors. The Lalaurie's slaves were discovered in conditions too grotesque to attempt to adequately describe to you here. Bodies in various stages of decomposition littered the stone floor. Stages of decomposition littered the stone floor. Others, barely clinging to life, hung suspended in midair, gasping and swinging. Still others had been so terribly mutilated that they barely resembled human beings.

Carole Townsend: 17:25

There is the account of a woman whose limbs had been crudely broken, amputated and reattached to different areas of her body so that she resembled a crab. Several people, chained or caged, had chunks of flesh flayed from their bodies, the wounds festering. Others had their mouths stuffed with feces and sawdust, then sewn shut and, perhaps most appalling, some had holes cut in their skulls and were found with sticks protruding from the holes so that Delphine could give their brains a stir when she saw fit. The stench and the horror stunned and sickened onlookers and volunteers. The scene, the pitiful cries of desperation and horror, shocked and enraged an entire city. In no time the crowd that had gathered became incensed and they tore through the burned mansion and ashes and surrounding area demanding the life of Madame Delphine Lalaurie. The enraged onlookers destroyed what furniture, paintings and valuables the fire hadn't already consumed, determined to find and to hang the monster who had perpetuated these unspeakable deeds. But during the commotion, Delphine and her husband had summoned her carriage and had slipped away unseen. The couple made a frantic dash out the Bayou Road, boarded a schooner and crossed Lake Pontchartrain to the town of Mandeville. They remained there long enough to put their business affairs in order and to assign power of attorney to their sons-in-law. From there they traveled to Mobile, alabama, then to New York City and on June 24th they set sail for France. Once they settled in Paris, they were joined there by Delphine's unmarried adult children. Within a few years, dr LaLaurie left for Cuba. He was never reunited with his wife and son and he died in Havana in 1863.

Carole Townsend: 19:34

While living in Paris with her children, delphine frequented health spas in the Pyrenees Mountains. She rented expensive lodgings in a fashionable district and continued her lavish lifestyle. But her son-in-law in New Orleans, who had been put in full charge of her money, had stopped sending her any. He had sold the mansion for $14,000, less than half the purchase price. He had sold some of the enslaved people that had survived her treatment, but 19 of them were unaccounted for. Had they perished? Were they considered too incapacitated to work? We do not know, which is surprising, as enslaved people were considered the property of their owners. Meticulous records usually reflected their whereabouts. Delphine was not concerned with the matter at all, as she had never made provisions for their emancipation, even after her cruelty had been revealed to an entire city.

Carole Townsend: 20:40

Furious with her son-in-law, delphine threatened to return to New Orleans to see about her affairs and to get a full accounting of her money and property. Probably because of failing health, she never followed through on that threat, at least not while she was alive. No one is really sure how her life came to an end. One version of her end claimed that a wild boar gored her to death during a hunting expedition and that her body was returned to New Orleans for burial. A more likely story is that Delphine died after a long illness at her home in Paris on December 7, 1849. Her funeral took place the next day at a nearby church. She was temporarily interred in a cemetery in France, but caretakers' records show that her remains were indeed exhumed in 1851 for transportation to New Orleans. In 1873, a simple grave marker was discovered in New Orleans' St Louis Cemetery no 1. That cemetery plot is said to have belonged to Delphine's son. He is believed to have purchased this site before having his mother's body returned from Paris, and she is probably buried there. Probably.

Carole Townsend: 22:08

What happened within the walls of the mansion on Royal Street while the LaLauries lived there? What happened to the woman who was born into aristocracy and never wanted for a single thing? Some say that the doctor himself performed the twisted, cruel experiments on the captive household workers. More, however, believe that Delphine herself had developed a voracious appetite for torture and cruelty aimed at her helpless victims, even smearing their blood on her face as a youth potion. Had Delphine Lalaurie indeed entered into a pact with the devil, trading her soul and the lives of more than 100 enslaved human beings for her own beauty, wealth and amusement? Some accounts claim this to be true. Had her studies of the occult twisted her vision, or had they warped her very soul. Was she completely mad? This is another question, my friends, which will never be answered.

Carole Townsend: 23:17

While the LaLaurie Mansion, as Delphine designed it, burned to the ground in 1834, as Delphine designed it, burned to the ground in 1834, the structure has since been rebuilt and remodeled several times. It has served as a school, an apartment building and an antique store down through the years. Actor Nicolas Cage bought the house in 2006 for $3.4 million, but lost it to foreclosure just three years later. Houston millionaire Michael Whalen then purchased the 10,000-square-foot eight-bedroom, eight-bathroom home for $2.1 million in 2010, and he spared no expense in repairing and restoring the remarkable structure and elaborate details In July 2024,. Records indicate the mansion is again on the market for $10.25 million. The active real estate listing describes double parlors, a billiard room, a 2,000-bottle wine cellar and a speakeasy all for the courageous new owner.

Carole Townsend: 24:27

Though ghost tours in the Big Easy often include the LaLaurie Mansion as one of its stops, visitors cannot go inside as it remains a private residence. Even so, tales abound of the restless, tortured spirits that haunt the sprawling house and about the cruel and sadistic mistress whose ghost walks the halls and grounds of the now infamous LaLaurie Mansion and its nightmarish chamber of horrors. Madame Delphine LaLaurie was a serial killer. Of that assertion there can be no doubt. But there was something else to her gruesome legacy A level of privilege, depravity, cruelty and sadism that is difficult to imagine. Visitors gather outside the home at 1140 Royal Street in the French Quarter, frequently listening to ghosts or guides as they speak in hushed tones of Delphine's crimes. Was she insane? Was her rumored involvement with voodoo to blame for her shocking wickedness? Or was the one-time toast of high New Orleans society simply bored, frustrated and disappointed with her lot in life, choosing to fill her days not with kindness but with the misery of others who were rendered helpless by the laws of the day? Join me next time as we explore the strange story of Corpsewood Manor, located in the mountains of North Georgia. The couple who built and owned this unusual castle died horrible deaths. But what exactly led to those deaths? Theirs is indeed an unusual tale, and some say it's a tale of their own making.

Carole Townsend: 26:27

I'm Carole Townsend, veteran newspaper journalist and six-time award-winning author. You can find me on social media and check out my website at caroltownsendcom. As always, thanks for listening, and if you're enjoying these tales of Southern history and lore, I hope you'll tell your friends. Subscribe to this podcast on Spotify, apple Play, iheart and anywhere you listen. My team and I researched the Lalauries and their merciless crimes using the following works Madame Delphine Lalaurie, published by Cryptic Thriller Reads. The Dark Secrets of Madame Delphine Lalaurie by Angela Morris. Inside Lalaurie Mansion, new Orleans' famous house of torture and murder. By Kalina Fraga and the website 64parishesorg.