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The LaLaurie House is a lavish building at 1140 Royal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana. Most accounts agree that it was built in 1832 by Madame Delphine Macarty LaLaurie, a wealthy New Orleans socialite.
The ghosts in the house are of some of her many slaves. While living, these people attended to her every whim and helped to keep up her stylish lifestyle. LaLaurie's friends often joked that she had one slave for every little task.
According to Troy Taylor: "The finery of the Lalaurie house was attended to by dozens of slaves and Madame Lalaurie was brutally cruel to them ... We have to remember that, in those days, the slaves were not even regarded as being human. They were simply property and many slave owners thought of them as being lower than animals. Of course, this does not excuse the treatment of the slaves, or the institution of slavery itself, but merely serves as a reminder of just how insane Madame Lalaurie may have been.... because her mistreatment of the slaves went far beyond cruelty. It was the neighbors on Royal Street who first began to suspect something was not quite right in the Lalaurie house. There were whispered conversations about how the Lalaurie slaves seemed to come and go quite often. Parlor maids would be replaced with no explanation or the stable boy was suddenly just disappear... never to be seen again ... A law that prohibited the cruel treatment of slaves was in effect in New Orleans and the authorities who investigated the neighbor’s claims impounded the Lalaurie slaves and sold them at auction. Unfortunately for them, Madame Lalaurie coaxed some relatives into buying them and then selling them back to her in secret."*
In 1833 LaLaurie's slaves began disappearing frequently. One day a young servant girl, Lia, ran from LaLaurie up to a roof top. She was trying to escape and screamed for help. Witnesses on the street watched LaLaurie beat the girl. Then Lia plunged to her death as she jumped from the roof trying to get away. LaLaurie had the body concealed in a well, but police soon found it. She was soon forced to sell her slaves at auction, but her friends bought them and retuned them to their former life.
On April 10, 1834, a fire brigade reported to a call from 1140 Royal Street. Entering the kitchen, they found an elderly cook chained to the floor. She claimed to have lit the fire to draw attention to the goings on at the house. The woman directed them to the attic.
The fire brigade could hardly believe what they saw. The attic had been turned into a torture chamber with naked victims chained to the wall. Corpses were rotting where they had expired. Worse still were the torture victims, many of whom were still living. One woman had been gutted and tied up with her own intestines. Another woman had her mouth sewn shut. When rescuers cut the stitches, they found her mouth filled with feces. A man had a hole cut in his head with a stick inserted to "stir" his brains. Some
people had been chained up just to starve to death. Many men were missing eyes, ears, fingers, and other small parts of their bodies. Obviously, despite the rescue, these people didn't live for very long.
This time, even LaLaurie's friends turned on her. She was run out of town and she went to Paris. Some reports claim that she died after being gored by a wild bull while there. Others believe that she returned to New Orleans to covertly live under the name "Widow Blanque". Her murder count has never been accurately tabulated. During renovations, skeletons dating to LaLaurie's time have been found, and there may be more.
The house went through many functions, including a girl's school, a tenement, an antique shop, an bar, and now apartments. Many of the people living in the house over the years have witnessed apparitions, noises, and screams.
During the 19th century, a black servant was awakened by the ghost of LaLaurie choking him. She is seen in all areas of the house. A large black man in chains has confronted people on the stairs before vanishing. Some of LaLaurie's other servants have been seen. During the summer of 1999 a tourist photographed balls of light floating in the area of the roof where Lia jumped to her death.
The attic and staircase are among the most haunted. The building's ghosts are still believed to be active though the current residents don't speak about it. Ghost hunters insist that LaLaurie's spirit is evil and still dangerous. The house is a stop on several New Orleans ghost tours.
Ghostly screams have been heard by people simply walking down the street.Viewing the home from the outside seems to be the safest way for an armchair ghost hunter to experience the LaLaurie house ghosts.
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