French Quarter Horror Story: Madame LaLaurie (1830s)
The house on the corner of Royal and Governor Nicholls Street is legendary. To this day, there is an air of horror about it, and it is a popular stopping point for French Quarter house tours. The source of this horror was a prominent Quarter woman, Delphine LaLaurie. Despite the stoic image in her portrait, Delphine LaLaurie was sadistic, torturing her slaves with spiked iron collars and even mutilated some of them. Delphine beat her daughters when they dared give the slaves food. In one incident, she chased a young slave girl around the house with a whip. The girl climbed on the roof to escape, fell, and died. After this crime, Madame LaLaurie tried to cover up her crime by throwing the girl’s body down a well. Despite being forced to sell her slaves after this incident was discovered, LaLaurie purchased more under assumed identities and the torture resumed.