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Throughout history there have been countless cases of serial killers and mass murderers. Case studies and investigations have been done on many of them from the historic, such as Jack The Ripper and Peter Kurten, to the more recent, like Ted Bundy or the Boston Strangler. Whether it’s word of mouth or through media coverage, these men have become very well known and have taken a somewhat notorious place in history.
But that’s not to say that there aren’t women who have also earned this dubious honor. In fact, there are some which have proven every bit as bloodthirsty, if not moreso. Case in point, one Madame Delphine Lalaurie…
The story takes place in 1832. Delphine and her husband, Dr. Louis Lalaurie, resided in a mansion in the French Quarter of New Orleans. They were well-known for their high social status and wealth. Many social functions and lavish parties were held in their home at 1140 Royal Street and those lucky enough to attend admired Delphine for her beauty and intelligence. To the public eye, she was a charming and gracious host, but appearances can be deceiving.
At that time in history, slavery was legal, and the Lalaurie owned dozens. Slaves were viewed as property, less than human, but Delphine’s mistreatment was especially cruel. Some would go missing, with no explanation or sign of what had happened to them. Suspicions were whispered amongst their neighbors about what was really going on.
One day a neighbor heard a scream coming from the Lalaurie house and witnessed Delphine chasing a girl, her personal servant, with a whip across the roof. With nowhere left to run, the girl leapt to her death. She was later buried in a shallow grave in the yard.
Due to the family’s wealth and influence, Madame Lalaurie was let off with a “slap on the wrist”. Her slaves were impounded and sold off at auction, which she bought back secretly from relatives.
Then, in 1834, a fire broke out in the mansion. Some say it was caused by the cook. Firefighters soon arrived to put out the blaze. Once done, they found the cook, who was chained to the fireplace. She pleaded with them to look in the attic, and what they found there, behind a secret, barred door, made even men accustomed to the smell of death turn in nausea and horror.
More than a dozen naked slaves, both male and female, were chained to the walls, strapped to crude operating tables or locked in cages. Body parts were scattered everywhere and heads and organs were found in buckets. Next to them on shelves were a collection of whips and paddles and other instruments of torture.
Madame Lalaurie had been performing hideous experiments on the slaves. One woman had her mouth stuffed with animal excrement and then her lips were sewn shut. A man hung in shackles with a stick protruding from a hole that had been drilled in the top of his head which had been used to “stir” his brains. Most had suffered a slow, tortuous death, some were unconscious, and others begged for the release of death. Among the few who still clung to life were a woman whose arms and legs had been removed, and another who had been forced into a tiny cage with all of her limbs broken than set again at odd angles.
Madame Lalaurie and her family fled from New Orleans to escape a mob who wanted them hanged. Whatever became of them, nobody knows, although rumors persist, but they were never seen in the city again.
The exact number of Madame Lalaurie’s victims has never been determined, but to this day some say that their restless spirits still roam the house where the grisly murders took place.
For more information on this and other haunted houses in New Orleans visit:
http://www.haunteddoghouse.com/New_Orleans_Ha.html
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