The LaLaurie House

The LaLaurie House is located at 1140 Rue Royale on the corner of the end of the 1100 block of Royale and Govener Nichols. The House is a three story creole townhouse built in 1831. Today it is painted gun metal grey with black and white trim. If you pass the house you will see a marker for the restored houses of the Vieux Carre but nothing will tell you of its past or hauntings. The reason if probably because the house currently functions as an apartment building.
On April 10, 1834 while Madame Delphine LaLaurie, the houses origenal owner, was hosting a formal dinner a fire broke out. The fire was set by a cook that was chained to the stove in the kitchen. When friends and neighbors arrived to help men broke down the doors of the slave quarters. They found slaves in chains who had undergone unspeakable treatment. A room on the third floor had been a torture chamber. Some acused Madame LaLaurie of abusing her slaves while others thought it was her husband Dr. Louis LaLaurie who was practicing gross and inhumane medical experiments. The slaves were taken to a hospital to be treated. The events shocked the comunity as a whole. The Creoles were especially angry because it made them look bad to Americans. The Creoles were decended from the original French settlers of the colony. This had been there land since 1718. They prided themselves on their manners,customs and their humane treatment of slaves.
The Code Noir stated that slaves had certain rights. Slave owners must provide proper clothing and shoes for slaves, the must be fed well and they must be allowed at least one day off a week. If slaves were mistreated or abused they would be taken away from their owners. If a slave felt he had been treated unfairly he/she had a right to take their owner to court and ask for damages. There are cases on record of this happening.
There had been rumors about the LaLaurie House and it's proprietor. One neighbor was said to have heard screams at night. Another saw Madame LaLaurie chase a slave girl through the house and said she heard the girl fall when she jumped from the roof. On another occasion when the LaLauries where suspected of mistreating their slaves the authorities took them away. Madame LaLaurie convenced some of her relatives to purchase them and sell them back to her.
When a mob formed outside the house Madame LaLaurie and her husband excaped in their waiting carraige. That was the last New Orleans residents ever saw of Madame LaLaurie she suposibly escaped to France.
The crowd turned on the house. Reports say it took an hour to gut it. The crowd burned the furnishings. Stole the jewelery, smashed the china, threw table linnen, wall hanging and beding into the street. Feathers from the slashed feather beds remained in the streets for several days after. The crowd distroyed the inner walls, the wainscoting, floors and even balconies were damaged. The roof was distroyed. Well after dark the crowd was in the process of tearing down the outer walls when the sheriff arrived to put an end to the distruction.
The LaLaurie house has severed for many purposes in its history.
The House was the Union Headquarters for Benjamen " The Beast" Bulter.
The LaLaurie house became a girls school in the 1870s.
A conservitory of music.
Later a shelter for homeless men.
A furniture store in the early 1900s. But the owner had to close because each morning he would come in to find all of the furniture distroyed and a substance like blood. The thought it was vandals until one night he spent the night there himself.
A Bar called The Haunted House Saloon.
And finally the modern use of apartments.

There have been reports of a blue light appearing in the window.
Screams late at night
A 19th century report from a slave who saw a skeliton hand on the gate and saw eyes without sockets
Some have claimed to have seen aparitions
The furniture salesman had his store wrecked
There are debates over who the ghosts are. Some claim they are the ghosts of slaves unable to rest, others say it it Madame LaLaurie herself. Today there are ghost tours that will take you through the LaLaurie Mansion in the day or at night.

I have never been in the LaLaurie house. However I have passed by it so many times I can't count. If you go by the house you will think it is perhaps the most lovely house in the French Quarter. This house is not in the least bit run down. In fact it hardly shows any signs of wear. The exterior is very impressive. It is a fine example of architecture of the early 1800s. I have walked past the house during the as as well as at sunset and after dark even at such times as 12:00 AM, 2:00 AM, and 3:00 Am. I have walked right under the balcony on the same side of the street. I have also stood cross the street on both sides of the house and taken pictures. My mother and I once stood beside the courtyard area on the Govenor Nichols side and looked up at the balconies of the courtyard. We were right under the old bedroom window under the attic torcher room. This was at dusk just after sunset last spring. We were examining the architecture. As many times I have gone there I have never felt uneasy of any strange presence. Once I sat in a car with my friend and my mother between 10:00 PM and 12:00 PM parked across the street on Royale looking at the house and the gate. The first floor of the house under neath the balcony is lit up at night. I did not see anything or feel anything. I thought this was odd because I am sensitive to paranormal phenomina and I have lived with ghosts in my own home. No one I was with felt anything either. I did decide perhaps this is because the house hides things well. You might not see or feel anything until you get inside the house although I have heard stories of people who claimed to just standing on the street or walking by. After taking pictures I have seen people come out and sit on the balcony in lawn chairs and drink lemonade. They only looked at me weird as if to ask " Why are you standing there gawking?" I am not saying there are no ghosts. There is a very great possibility that there are. It would be surprising if there weren't any ghosts after everything the house has been through. I heard the house had an exorcism a long time ago when it was made for appartments. Maybe that took care of things. It doesn't really seem like it would unless they had a true professional. This has been my experiance with the LaLaurie House.

�copyright 1997,1998,1999,2000,2001 by Germaine. I wrote all of the text. DO NOT borrow or steal anything on this page.
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