Delphine LaLaurie

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Delphine LaLaurie
Birth name: Marie Delphine Macarty
Alias(es): Madame LaLaurie
Born: Unknown possibly 1775
Louisiana
Died: Unknown but widely accepted as December 7, 1842
Paris
Cause of death: unknown
Penalty: non
Killings
Number of victims: Slaves; men, women and children; 12 found at the time, 75 later found; 87 in total.
Country: United States
State(s): Louisiana
The LaLaurie Mansion. From a postcard 1906
The LaLaurie Mansion. From a postcard 1906

Delphine LaLaurie, also known as Madame LaLaurie (born Marie Delphine Macarty), was a socialite and sadist in New Orleans in the 1800s.

Contents

[edit] Background

Delphine Macarty was born circa 1775 to Barthelmy Louis Macarty and Vevue Lecomte, prominent members of the New Orleans community.[1] Macarty's parents were allegedly killed in a slave uprising. Delphine Macarty's cousin, Augustin de Macarty was elected mayor of New Orleans in 1815, which possibly helped elevate Delphine LaLaurie's eventual rise to prominence in the New Orleans community. Augustin de Macarty stepped down in 1820.

She was first married to Don Ramon de Lopez y Angulo in 1800, who died in Havana, Cuba on March 26, 1804. In 1808, she married the slave trader Jean Blanque, who died in 1816. Twice widowed, she married physician Dr. Louis LaLaurie on June 25, 1825. The couple bought a mansion at 1140 Royal Street in 1831, where Delphine LaLaurie maintained a central position in the social circles of New Orleans. Although she would throw lavish parties with guest lists consisting of some of the most prominent people in the city, the heinous manner in which Delphine LaLaurie tortured her slaves is probably the most widely known of the French Quarter’s macabre tales.

[edit] Rumors

In 1833, after several neighbors allegedly saw her cowhiding a young servant girl in the mansion's courtyard, rumors began to spread around town that Mme. LaLaurie treated her servants viciously. According to one tale, a young slave girl had been brushing Mme. LaLaurie's hair in the upstairs bedroom when the young servant hit a snag in her mistress's hair, causing LaLaurie to become enraged. Mme. LaLaurie whipped the twelve year old slave girl, who tried to escape but fell off a balcony overlooking the courtyard, ending her life. The girl was quickly brought into the LaLaurie Mansion, but not before being observed by neighbors, who would file a complaint. The neighbors would later assert that the young girl was buried under a tree in the yard.

The legalities of the situation were handled by Judge Jean Francois Canonge, a friend of the LaLauries, who had visited the house on a previous occasion concerning the welfare of the LaLaurie servants. The LaLaurie slaves were confiscated to be auctioned off, with the LaLauries fined a mere $300. Some of the LaLaurie relatives arranged to buy the slaves back and quickly returned them to her.

On April 10, 1834, during another party, a fire broke out in the kitchen of the mansion. The kitchen, as was the norm in Spanish mansions, was separate from the home and located over the carriageway building across the courtyard. The firemen entered the building through the courtyard. To their surprise, there were two slaves chained to the stove in the kitchen. It appeared as though the slaves had set the fire themselves in order to attract attention. The fire itself was soon subdued.

However, the biggest surprise was to be found in the attic, where the fire brigade was directed by the other slaves. The door was bolted, forcing the fire brigade had to use a battering ram to open the door. Inside the crawlspace attic was the stench of death. According to contemporary accounts, over a dozen disfigured and maimed slaves were manacled to the walls or floor. Several had allegedly been the subject of gruesome medical experiments.

The exact details are unclear; owing to the horrific nature of the crime, many details were either swept under the rug or embellished. One man looked as though he had been victim of some bizarre makeshift sex change. Another one had a hole in his head with where a stick had been inserted to "stir his brains". A woman was trapped inside a small cage where her arms and legs had been badly broken and then reset at odd angles, making her appear as some sort of "human crab." Another woman had her arms and legs removed and patches of her flesh had been sliced off in a circular motion to make her appear as a giant caterpillar. Some had their mouths sewn shut and had then starved to death. Others had their hands sewn to different parts of their bodies. One woman had her entrails pulled out of her stomach and was secured to the floor by her own intestines. A small boy of about twelve had the flesh on half of his face peeled back, revealing muscle, veins, and so forth. The wound had since been infested with disease and insects. Most of the victims were found dead. Those who were still alive, begged to be put out of their misery and died shortly after.

Also discovered in the attic were teacups and saucers, encrusted with a "red substance." There were several bottles lying about with what was assumed to be the same red substance. The substance in the bottles was later identified as blood.

The discoveries were reported and described in the papers the next day, and a mob gathered outside of the LaLaurie Mansion, demanding justice. Mme. LaLaurie escaped by horse and carriage to Bayou St. John, where she allegedly paid the captain of a schooner to carry her across to Mandeville or Covington. Many claimed they escaped to Paris. Others say they remained on the outskirts of New Orleans.

Rumor had it that when the mob rushed after the carriage, they heard screams from the house. They thought the screams came from ghosts, which led to the rumors of the haunted house. A hundred years later, the skeletons of 75 people were found during a renovation.

[edit] Death

Several different accounts of the death of Delphine LaLaurie are given. One report said she was killed by a wild boar in a hunting accident in France. Another story, in The Daily Picayune of March 1892, insisted she died among friends and family in Paris. Other accounts say that Delphine LaLaurie never left Louisiana and dwelled on the Northshore of Lake Ponchartrain for the remainder of her days.

LaLaurie was believed to have died on December 7, 1842, and her body secretly returned to New Orleans. In the early 1900s, Eugene Backes, who served as sexton to St. Louis Cemetery #1 until 1924, discovered an old cracked, copper plate in Alley 4 of the cemetery. The inscription on the plate read: "Madame LaLaurie, née Marie Delphine Macarty, decedée a Paris, le 7 decembre, 1842, a l'age de 6 --."

[edit] History of the house

The LaLaurie house, called The Haunted House, was sold by an agent of the family in 1837 but was avoided for decades by the local superstitious New Orleanians and remained vacant for thirty years. During Reconstruction following the Civil War, the house became a girl's public high school, open to both white and black children. When the New Orleans school system was segregated in 1878, the school became a high school for black girls only for one year.

In 1882, the house became a conservatory of music and dancing school. The school was a failure when rumors spread about the owner of school and no one attended planned soiree and concert. The owner closed the school and rumor had it that the spirits of the LaLaurie house held a wild carnival to celebrate their triumph.

An apartment in the house was occupied by Joseph Edouard Vigne, thought to be a pauper, for a little more than 3 years. In 1892, Vigne was found dead upstairs, after black crepe was seen on the doors. An inspection of his apartment revealed over $10,000 in cash and family heirlooms stashed in various places around the dwelling. The contents of house auctioned off.

The house had become a tenement by 1920, with many reports of ghosts. In 1923, the house was sold to William Warrington, who established the Warrington House, a refuge for young delinquents. In 1932, the house was sold to the Grand Consistory of Louisiana, an organization that confers the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. The Consistory sold the house in 1942. It was turned into a bar, and taking advantage of the building's history, was called "Haunted Saloon". The owner knew many of the building's ghost stories and kept a record of strange things allegedly experienced by his patrons. It did relatively well with tourists, but locals eventually refused to patronize the place.

In 1949, the house became a furniture store, which did not do as well at that location. The owner allegedly discovered his merchandise was ruined on several occasions, covered with a foul liquid filth. Suspecting vandals, the owner claimed to have waited one night with a shotgun, hoping to catch the vandals in the act, only to discover at dawn that the furniture was once again ruined. He closed the place down shortly thereafter.

In 1969, the house was purchased by a retired New Orleans physician and renovated into apartments. Much of the house was in serious disrepair. When floorboards were replaced in the third floor slave quarters, the bodies of 75 people, who were though to have been buried alive, were found. The owner restored the home to its original state with a living area in the front portion and five apartments to the rear of the building. He had no paranormal experiences while living in the house. In 2007, actor Nicolas Cage bought the LaLaurie House through his Hancock Park Real Estate Company LLC.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ King, Grace. Creole Families of New Orleans. New York: MacMillan & Co., 1921, p. 373. ISBN 0-87511-142-4.
  2. ^ Nicolas Cage buys house in New Orleans’ French Quarter for $3,450,000. Big Time Listings. 24 April 2007.

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