Dr. Louis Lalaurie and his wife
Delphine were one of the most famous and well known couples in New
Orleans society. When the two moved into their home in 1832, their
fame only grew. The two threw elaborate parties that many people only
dreamed of attending.
The Lalaurie House was almost as famous
as the family. During parties guests were greeted by furnishings and
accessories from around the world. The family also spared no expense
when it came to the food they served and they hoped that every guest
would experience the best of the best. Few people were ever
disappointed.
Though the good doctor was famous, it
was his wife who many people loved. The woman delighted and excited
people with her stories and demeanor. By all accounts she was
something special; men loved just being in her company and women
longed to be one of her close friends. Those that did know the woman
closely though, had a different impression. While Madame Lalaurie had
a gracious demeanor on the outside, on the inside she was a cruel and
sadistic woman.
At the time it wasn't unusual for an
upper class family to use a number of slaves and the Lalaurie family
was no exception. Guests knew that the elaborate dinners and well
maintained home were the result of slave labor. They may have even
suspected that the slaves were unhappy, but they had no idea exactly
what those men and women experienced.
Madame Lalaurie ran her home with an
iron fist and treated her slaves even worse that most people did. The
cook was kept inside on the kitchen, tethered to the fireplace by a
short length of chain to prevent the person from moving. Other slaves
would arrive at the home, only to mysteriously disappear a few short
weeks later. People began talking and stories slowly spread
throughout the city, but no one knew the truth.
The house of cards came collapsing down
on Madame Lalaurie quickly or at least it should have. The woman was
spotted beating one of her servants with a leather whip. The servant
ran, Lalaurie have chase, and rather than face her master, the girl
jumped off the roof. The same person who saw this happen also saw the
servant being buried.
The individual went to the authorities
and the slaves were taken from the house and supposedly sold off.
Lalaurie paid others to buy the slaves and once again she had her
"family" back in place. By then though word had already
spread and rumors swirled around the house. People slowly took a step
back from the Lalaurie family and they began to lose their place in
society.
The real breaking point came in 1834
when the truth about Madame Lalaurie came out. A huge fire spread
throughout the house and the local fire station was called in for
help. They managed to get the fire controlled, only to find a
gruesome site in the attic.
A number of slaves were kept locked
inside a small room in the attic and all were in various states of
dying. They were all chained to the floor or kept in small cramped
cages. They also found a variety of instruments used to torture the
salves and several body parts, presumably from those missing slaves.
There were a number of different
stories spreading around town about what people saw in that room and
what the slaves had experienced. Feces was placed in one slave's
mouth before someone sewed her mouth closed. There were other slaves
left chained to the wall, with their intestines still spilling out of
their body from crude incisions. Others had their genitals removed or
their eyes ripped from their face.
Those who saw the site in that room
were never the same again. They noted that this wasn't something that
Lalaurie had done in a few short hours, but something that had taken
her years. The slaves hadn't experienced quick deaths either, but
rather painful ones that lasted for days of weeks. They found a
number of dead people and others who only wished they were dead.
Doctors did what they could for those still alive, but there wasn't
much they could do.
Rumors swirled around the home and
those stories only increased when the family fled in the middle of
the night from a mob that gathered outside their home. There were
dozens of rumors and stories about where the family went and what
happened to them, but they were never seen again.
Anything of value was removed from the
house by the same mob that had waited outside the home. One family
attempted to live inside, but after they left the house ended up
sitting abandoned and neglected. That was when the stories started to
spread.
Those who ventured into the area late
at night claimed to hear the sounds of people screaming and see the
ghosts of the slaves walking around the property. Owners who tried to
use the house usually stayed only a short period of time before they
left and all had the same stories to tell. They told stories of
people crying and moaning after dark, sounds that no one should
hear.
The Lalaurie house served as a high
school for girls and a school for black children over the years as
well as a music conservatory. When the head professor was accused of
carrying on illicit relationships with students, the house was once
again closed. This time a wealthy man hid inside the room for over a
decade until his body was discovered in the basement. Locals
whispered that he had socked away his fortune in the house and once
again the building was empty.
Then the house was turned into a
boarding house and cut into smaller apartments. People living there
often heard the strange noises and even saw some disturbing specters.
These figures moved through the building late at night and were known
to chase those living there. Eventually the residents left and the
house became a saloon and a store.
The Lalaurie House was purchased yet
again in the 1960s and turned into apartments. The doctor who owned
the home didn't experience anything unusual, however he did find
something gruesome. During a renovation of the home they found dozens
of bodies buried beneath the floorboards of the house. Though
Nicholas Cage purchased the private home for his own use, he sold the
mansion in later years.
According to some the discovery of the
bodies was enough to stop the ghostly activity, but some believe it's
still there for those who look.
No comments:
Post a Comment