LaLaurie Mansion: Shocking Haunted LaLaurie House Details

Madame Delphine's House Photos

New Orleans Home

Danni Holland

Okay — this one is for all of my American Horror Story fans out there. Pretty much any and everyone who was as obsessed with season three of AHS as found themselves in complete and utter shock over the fact that Madame LaLaurie wasn’t just a figment of Ryan Murphy’s imagination, but she is, in fact, a historical figure who did indeed perpetrate such heinous crimes against her slaves. If you’re interested in knowing more about Madame LaLaurie and her insane LaLaurie Mansion that still exists to this day, then look no further than these next few lines.

LaLaurie Mansion New Orleans

Believe it or not, the haunted LaLaurie house we all became familiar with in American Horror Story season three is actually a real-life haunted mansion. The Madame LaLaurie house is located in New Orleans, Louisiana and quite the popular attraction for tourists and locals alike.

However, many of you may be surprised to find that the Delphine LaLaurie house we all know today isn’t actually the exact home that Madame LaLaurie lived in. The actual home burned down in 1834 and was rebuilt in 1838, with a 3rd story added on.

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LaLaurie Mansion Address

Thinking about getting an up-close and personal view? The 10,284 square foot LaLaurie mansion address is 1140 Royal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana.

LaLaurie Mansion Tour

Interested in checking out a Madame LaLaurie house tour? You’ll be excited to find that there are indeed a number of New Orleans haunted tours available to the public which include the LaLaurie mansion on their itinerary. If you’re interested in checking any of them out, perhaps one of the most popular of the New Orleans ghost tours is Ghost City Tours. Interested candidates can contact them on their website to hear further information or simply book a ticket to one of the many tours they offer online.

The bad news is that while you’ll indeed be able to get a close up look of the outside of the home and it’s location, you won’t be able to get any killer pics for your Instagram of the interior. This is because the current owner has absolutely zero interest in opening it up to the public. Bummer.

LaLaurie Mansion History

Haunted Mansion New Orleans

There have been various reports throughout the years that the LaLaurie mansion is in fact haunted, making it a popular attraction for ghost tours in the city. Thanks to the notorious ghost stories connected to the mansion, it’s widely considered to be one of the most popular destinations in New Orleans.

LaLaurie Mansion Ghost Pictures

To date, there haven’t been any pictures that have eluded to paranormal activity, but there have been plenty of tales. One Ghost City Tours guide recounted a time they were conducting a tour in front of a group of people when they suddenly felt a tug on their messenger bag. When the guide turned around to see who it was, no one was there.

Another tour guide recounted a separate incident where they were giving a tour and mentioned the name of the slave girl Leia who fell off the roof to her death, only to have the burnt-out street lights above them flicker on at the exact moment the name came out of their mouth. This happened despite the fact they had been burnt out for weeks. The entire tour group was apparently shocked and surprised at this. Even more interesting is the fact that when the tour guide mentioned the little girl’s name a second time, the lights reportedly blew out further surprising the crowd.

Who owns the LaLaurie Mansion in New Orleans?

In 2013 the LaLaurie Mansion was purchased by a Texas oil tycoon. The man currently resides in the home with his family and according to reports, he isn’t too fond of the fact that it’s such a popular tourist destination.

Well, too bad buddy! You’re the genius who purchased one of the most infamous homes in the world ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

LaLaurie Mansion Nicolas Cage

So, we’ve got an interesting little factoid for you that you may or may not have already been aware of. Believe it or not, actor Nicolas Cage was the owner of the LaLaurie mansion for a brief period of time.

That’s right.

He purchased the home back in 2007 for $3.45 million in a private transaction designed to keep his identity anonymous. Why did he purchase the property? What was he planning on doing with it? Who the heck knows — it’s Nick Cage. This guy is pretty much a Pandora’s box of crazy, wildly eccentric hot messiness.

But, alas, he is a Coppola.

Cage owned the place for about two years before it ended up being put up for auction due to foreclosure. It was purchased by Regions Financial Corporation for $2.3 million and is now in the hands of a Texas oil tycoon. Totally random. Totally true.

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Madame LaLaurie

Madame Delphine LaLaurie pretty much went down in history as the woman who tortured slaves in New Orleans. While it’s true that much of what we saw on AHS was embellished, the fact of the matter is that this lady was indeed one bad apple. In fact, there have been numerous collections written about her horrific acts which have circulated throughout the area since as far back as the 19th century.

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LaLaurie was born Marie Delphine Macarty on March 19, 1787, in New Orleans to a very prominent and well-known family. Her uncle was at one point Governor of the Spanish American provinces of both Louisiana and Florida and her cousin was also Mayor of Louisiana for a period of time.

Macarty married three times during her life, and boy did she marry well. The first was to a high-ranking Spanish royal officer. Their marriage didn’t last too long and just 8 years later she was remarried to a prominent banker/lawyer/merchant/legislator. The pair had four children before he passed away in 1816.

Nine years later in 1825, she was remarried to physician Leonard Louis Nicolas LaLaurie and six years after that she purchased the property at 1140 Royal Street. It was their home until she was eventually driven out of the area by an angry mob.

There have been numerous accounts as to what heinous crimes LaLaurie perpetrated against her slaves. Written reports by a woman named Harriett Martineau claimed that LaLaurie’s treatment was so horrible and well-known that she was actually visited by lawyers on multiple occasions. In one incident, bystanders saw a 12-year-old girl named Leia fall to her death from the roof of the mansion in an attempt to avoid being whipped by LaLaurie for accidentally snagging her hair while brushing it.

In 1834 a fire broke out in the home and when the police and fire marshals arrived, they found a seventy-year-old woman chained to the kitchen stove. She admitted she had set the fire as an act of suicide due to fear of being punished by LaLaurie. The lady would have literally rather died and killed everyone in the house than suffer at the hands of LaLaurie.

The local newspaper the New Orleans Bea also reported that when bystanders tried to save the slaves trapped in the home, the LaLauries refused to give them the keys to the house, forcing them to break the doors down.

When they did, they reported finding a number of slaves who were “more or less horribly mutilated… suspended by the neck, with their limbs apparently stretched and torn from one extremity to the other”. There were also reports that LaLaurie had forced some of them to wear spiked collars to keep their heads in a straight position and that the slaves were horribly emaciated and neglected behind closed doors despite the fact that LaLaurie was civil to them publicly. Upon evacuation of the slave quarters, dozens upon dozens of bodies of slaves were found to have been buried on the property.

There’s not much information on the circumstances surrounding her later life after she fled to France. It’s been reported that she died during an accident while boar hunting and was buried in St. Louis Cemetery #1.

Delphine LaLaurie American Horror Story

Delphine LaLaurie AHS is pretty much what American Horror Story season three should have been titled. I mean, my girl Kathy Bates KILLED IT. This chick plays the ruthless psychopath role so well it literally makes me question her sanity in real life. I mean, ya’ll remember the hobbling scene in Misery where she takes the sledgehammer to James Caan’s legs and all you can think is “No! Not Sonny! ANYONE but Sonny Corleone!!!!”. Poor guy just can’t get a break.

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Believe it or not, Bates wasn’t initially on the mind of the producers for American Horror Story for the role of Delphine LaLaurie.

But — she was a diehard fan.

In an interview with Rolling Stone Bates mentioned that she loved the show and used to watch it religiously while she was shooting Harry’s Law. She just so happened to be buddy-buddy with the amazing goddess that is Jessica Lange and one day decided to capitalize on that relationship by telling Lange how much of a fan she was and that she would love to be on it. Lange relayed this info to the producers. She got the role and revealed that she studied the heck out of the book Mad Madame LaLaurie as part of her preparation for the role.

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But perhaps what is most interesting about Bates’ relationship to LaLaurie is the fact that Bates’ great-great-grandfather lived right next to the LaLaurie plantation and most likely knew her back in the day. This is because Andrew Jackson lived next to the family and Bates’ great-great-grandfather just so happened to be his physician. What a coinkydink.