Madame Delphine LaLaurie and Her House of Horrors.

A fire broke out at 1140 Royal Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans in 1834. Neighbors rushed out to assist, they offered to pour water onto the flames and help the family evacuate. But, when they arrived, they noticed that the woman of the house, Madame LaLaurie, seemed to be alone.

A mansion that wasn't occupied by slaves was shocking, so a group of locals took it upon themselves to search LaLaurie Mansion.

And what was discovered would change the public's perception of Madame Marie Delphine LaLaurie. She was once a respectable member of society, but now she was known as the Savage Mistress of New Orleans.

Madame LaLaurie's Crimes

Rumors have jumbled the facts throughout the years, but there are a few details that have stayed prominent throughout time.

The group of locals first discovered slaves in the attic and they noticed that they clearly had been tortured.

Witnesses reported that there were at least seven slaves that were beatened, bruised, and bloodied. Their eyes were gouged out, skin flayed, and mouths were filled with excrement and then sewed shut.

There was one particularly disturbing report that claimed there was a woman whose bones were broken and reset so she resembled a crab and another woman was wrapped up in human intestines. Witnesses also claimed there were people who had holes in their skulls and wooden spoons near them that would be used to stir their brains.

Rumors spread that there were also dead bodies in the attic, their corpses were mutilated beyond recognition, their organs were not intact or even inside their bodies.

Some others say that there were only a handful of bodies and others claimed there were over 100 victims. Which ever was true, it cemented Madame LaLaurie's reputation as one of the most brutal women in history.

But, she was not always sadistic.

Her Life Before The House of Horrors

Madame LaLaurie was born Marie Delphine McCarty in 1780 in New Orleans to an affluent white Creole family. Her family was originally from Ireland, they moved to then-Spanish-controlled Louisiana a generation before she was born. She was only the second generation to be born in America.

She married three times and had five children who she attended to lovingly. Her first husband was a Spaniard named Don Ramon de Lopez y Angulo, a Caballeo de la Royal de Carlos. He was a high ranking Spanish officer. The two had one child together, a girl, before he died in Havana while he was heading to Madrid.

Four years after her first husband's death, Delphine remarried, this time to Jean Blanque, a Frenchman who was a banker, lawyer, as well as a legislator. Together they had three daughters and one son.

And after Jean Blanque died, Delphine remarried, this time to her third and final husband. He was much younger than her and a doctor named Leonard Louis LaLaurie. He wasn't present very often in her day to day life and left her on her own.

In 1831, Madame LaLaurie purchased the three-story mansion at 1140 Royal Street in the French Quarter.

As many other society women during this time, Madame LaLaurie kept slaves. The city was shocked to see how polite she was with them, she showed them kindness in public and even manumitted two of them in 1819 and 1832. But, rumors spread that her politeness she showed in public was an act.

Behind Closed Doors

These rumors turned out to be true.

New Orleans had laws, unlike most southern states, that "protected" slaves from cruel punishment. The conditions at the mansion were far from adequate.

Rumors erupted that she kept her 70-year-old cook chained to the stove, starved. Other rumors say that she was keeping secret slaves for her husband to practice Haitian voodoo medicine on. Other reports state that her cruelty extended to her daughters who she would punish and whip if they attempted to help slaves in any way.

Two reports are on record as being truthful.

One that a man was so terrified of facing punishment from Madame LaLaurie threw himself from a third-story window, he chose death over the torture.

This third story window was then cemented shut and is still visible today.

The other report was about a 12-year-old slave girl named Lia. Lia was brushing Madame LaLaurie's hair, when she tugged a tad too hair, this caused Madame LaLaurie to go into a fit of rage and whip the girl. And like the man before her, she climbed onto the roof and jumped to her death.

Witnesses watched as LaLaurie buried the girl's corpse and police were forced to fine her $300 and to sell nine of her slaves. Of course they all looked the other way when she managed to purchase them back.

After the girl's death, locals doubted that LaLaurie, so once the fire broke out, no one was surprised that her slaves were discovered last, but there was nothing that could have prepared them for what they found.

The slaves were released from the building as it burned, a mob of 4000 angry townspeople then ransacked the home, they smashed windows and tore down doors until nothing remained but the wall outside.

After Her Crimes Were Discovered and Exposed

The house still stands on the corner of Royal Street, and the whereabouts of Madame LaLaurie were unknown, to this day. After the dust settled, the woman and her driver were missing, it is assumed that she may have fled to Paris. Her daughter even claimed to have received letters from her, but no one had ever seen these letters.

Her victims were buried on the property and are said to haunt the grounds to this day. Even after two centuries, the locals refuse to call the mansion by the name LaLaurie Mansion. They refer to it as the "Haunted House."

In the late 1930's, there was an old, cracked copper plate found in the New Orleans' Saint Louis Cemetery that bared the name "LaLaurie Madame Delphine McCarty." Madame LaLaurie's maiden name.

The inscription on the plaque was in French, it claims that Madame Lalaurie died in Paris on December 7th, 1842. However, there are other records that claim that she died in 1849.

It is widely believed that Madame LaLaurie fled to Paris then returned to New Orleans under a new name and continued her horrific acts. But, to this day, her body hadnever been found.