text: delphine lalaurie born marie delphine macarty or maccarthy , ( c . 1780 – 1849 ) , more commonly known as madame lalaurie , was a new orleans creole socialite and alleged serial killer , infamous for torturing and likely murdering her household slaves . born during the spanish colonial period , delphine macarty married three times in louisiana , having twice been widowed . she maintained her position in new orleans society until april 10 , 1834 , when rescuers responded to a fire at her royal street mansion and discovered bound slaves in her attic who showed evidence of cruel , violent treatment over a long period . lalaurie 's house was subsequently sacked by an outraged mob of new orleans citizens . she escaped to france with her family . the mansion where lalaurie lived is a landmark in the french quarter , in part because of its history and in part because there were relatively few homes of such massive size in the quarter . early life and family history marie delphine macarty was born 1780 , one of five children . her father was louis barthelemy macarty , originally chevalier de maccarthy ) whose father barthelemy ( de ) maccarthy brought the family to new orleans from ireland around 1730 , during the french colonial period . ( the irish surname maccarthy was shortened to macarty or de macarty . ) her mother was marie jeanne lovable , also known as " the widow lecomte " , whose marriage to louis b. macarty was her second . both were prominent in the town 's white creole community . delphine 's cousin , augustin de macarty , was mayor of new orleans from 1815 to 1820 . first marriage and death of husband on june 11 , 1800 , mlle. marie delphine macarty married don ramón de lopez y angulo , a caballero de la royal de carlos , a high - ranking spanish royal officer , at the saint louis cathedral in new orleans . luisiana , as it was spelled in spanish , had become a spanish colony in the 1760s . in 1804 , after the american acquisition , don ramón had been appointed to the position of consul general for spain in the territory of orleans . also , in 1804 , delphine and ramón lopez traveled to spain . accounts of the trip vary . grace king wrote in 1921 that the trip was lopez 's " military punishment " and that señora delphine lopez met the queen , who was impressed with mrs. lopez 's beauty . stanley arthur 's 1936 report differed ; he stated that on march 26 , 1804 , don ramón lopez was recalled to spain " to take his place at court as befitting his new position , " but that lopez never arrived in madrid because he died in en route , in havana . during the voyage , delphine gave birth to a daughter , named marie - borja / borgia delphine lopez y angulo de la candelaria , nicknamed . delphine and her daughter returned to new orleans afterwards . second marriage and death of husband in june 1808 , delphine married jean blanque , a prominent banker , merchant , lawyer , and legislator . at the time of the marriage , blanque purchased a house at 409 royal street in new orleans for the family , which became known later as the villa blanque . delphine had four more children by blanque , named marie louise pauline , louise marie laure , marie louise jeanne , and jeanne pierre paulin died in 1816 . third marriage delphine married her third husband , physician leonard louis nicolas lalaurie , who was much younger than she , on june 25 , 1825 . in 1831 , she bought property at 1140 royal street , which she managed in her own name with little involvement of her husband , and in 1832 had built a three - story mansion there , complete with attached slave quarters . she lived there with her third husband and two of her daughters , and maintained a central position in new orleans society . torture and murder of slaves and 1834 lalaurie mansion fire the maintained several black slaves in slave quarters , attached to the royal street mansion . accounts of delphine lalaurie 's treatment of her slaves between 1831 and 1834 are mixed . harriet martineau , writing in 1838 and recounting tales told to her by new orleans residents during her 1836 visit , claimed lalaurie 's slaves were observed to be " singularly haggard and wretched ; " however , in public appearances lalaurie was seen to be generally polite to black people and solicitous of her slaves ' health , and court records of the time showed that lalaurie manumitted two of her own slaves ( jean louis in 1819 and in 1832 ) . nevertheless , martineau reported that public rumors about lalaurie 's mistreatment of her slaves were sufficiently widespread that a local lawyer was dispatched to royal street to remind lalaurie of the laws relevant to the upkeep of slaves . during this visit , the lawyer found no evidence of wrongdoing or mistreatment of slaves by lalaurie . martineau also recounted other tales of lalaurie 's cruelty that were current among new orleans residents in about 1836 . she claimed that , subsequent to the visit of the local lawyer , one of lalaurie 's neighbors saw one of the lalaurie 's slaves , a twelve - year - old girl named lia ( or leah ) , fall to her death from the roof of the royal street mansion while trying to avoid punishment from a whip - wielding delphine lalaurie . lia had been brushing delphine 's hair when she hit a snag , causing delphine to grab a whip and chase her . the body was subsequently buried on the mansion grounds . according to martineau , this incident led to an investigation of the lalauries , in which they were found guilty of illegal cruelty and forced to forfeit nine slaves . these nine slaves were then bought back by the lalauries through the intermediary of one of their relatives , and returned to the royal street residences . similarly , martineau reported stories that lalaurie kept her cook chained to the kitchen stove , and beat her daughters when they attempted to feed the slaves . on april 10 , 1834 , a fire broke out in the lalaurie residence on royal street , starting in the kitchen . when the police and fire marshals got there , they found a seventy - year - old woman , the cook , chained to the stove by her ankle . she later confessed to them that she had set the fire as a suicide attempt for fear of her punishment , being taken to the uppermost room , because she said that anyone who was taken there never came back . as reported in the new orleans bee of april 11 , 1834 , bystanders responding to the fire attempted to enter the slave quarters to ensure that everyone had been evacuated . upon being refused the keys by the lalauries , the bystanders broke down the doors to the slave quarters and found " seven slaves , more or less horribly mutilated ... suspended by the neck , with their limbs apparently stretched and torn from one extremity to the other " , who claimed to have been imprisoned there for some months . one of those who entered the premises was judge jean - francois canonge , who subsequently deposed to having found in the lalaurie mansion , among others , a " ... wearing an iron collar " and " an old negro woman who had received a very deep wound on her head [ who was ] too weak to be able to walk . " canonge claimed , that when he questioned madame lalaurie 's husband about the slaves , he was told in an insolent manner that " some people had better stay at home rather than come to others ' houses to dictate laws and meddle with other people 's business . " a version of this story circulating in 1836 , recounted by martineau , added that the slaves were emaciated , showed signs of being flayed with a whip , were bound in restrictive postures , and wore spiked iron collars which kept their heads in static positions . when the discovery of the tortured slaves became widely known , a mob of local citizens attacked the lalaurie residence and " demolished and destroyed everything upon which they could lay their hands " . a sheriff and his officers were called upon to disperse the crowd , but by the time the mob left , the royal street property had sustained major damage , with " scarcely any thing [ remaining ] but the walls . " the tortured slaves were taken to a local jail , where they were available for public viewing . the new orleans bee reported that by april 12 up to 4 , 000 people had attended to view the tortured slaves " to convince themselves of their sufferings . " the pittsfield sun , citing the new orleans advertiser and writing several weeks after the evacuation of lalaurie 's slave quarters , claimed that two of the slaves found in the lalaurie mansion had died since their rescue , and added , " we understand ... that in digging the yard , bodies have been disinterred , and the condemned well [ in the grounds of the mansion ] having been uncovered , others , particularly that of a child , were found . " these claims were repeated by martineau in her 1838 book retrospect of western travel , where she placed the number of unearthed bodies at two , including the child . escape from justice and self - imposed , exile in france delphine lalaurie 's life after the 1834 fire is not well documented . martineau wrote in 1838 , that lalaurie fled new orleans during the mob violence that followed the fire , taking a coach to the waterfront and travelling , by schooner , from there to mobile , alabama and then on to paris . certainly by the time martineau personally visited the royal street mansion in 1836 it was still unoccupied and badly damaged , with " gaping windows and empty walls " . later life and death the circumstances of her death are also unclear . george washington cable recounted in 1888 , a then - popular but unsubstantiated story , that lalaurie had died in france , in a boar - hunting accident . whatever the truth , in the late 1930s , eugene backes , who served as sexton to st. louis cemetery # 1 until 1924 , discovered an old cracked , copper plate in alley 4 of the cemetery . the inscription on the plate read " madame lalaurie , née marie delphine maccarthy , à paris , le 7 décembre , 1842 , à l de . " according to the french archives of paris , however , marie delphine maccarthy died on december 7 , 1849 . lalaurie mansion the new orleans house occupied by delphine lalaurie at the time of the 1834 fires stands today at 1140 royal street , on the corner of royal street and governor nicholls street ( formerly known as hospital street ) . at three stories high , it was described in 1928 as " the highest building for squares around " , with the result that " from the cupola on the roof one may look out over the vieux carré and see the mississippi in its crescent before jackson square " . the entrance to the building bears iron grillwork , and the door is carved with an image of " phoebus in his chariot , and with wreaths of flowers and depending garlands in bas - relief " . inside , the vestibule is floored in black and white marble , and a curved mahogany - railed staircase runs the full three stories of the building . the second floor holds three large drawing rooms connected by ornamented sliding doors , whose walls are decorated with plaster rosettes , carved woodwork , black marble mantle pieces and fluted pilasters . subsequent to lalaurie 's departure from america , the house remained ruined at least until 1836 , but at some point prior to 1888 it was " restored " , and over the following decades was used as a public high school , a conservatory of music , a tenement , a refuge for young delinquents , a bar , a furniture store , and a luxury apartment building . in april 2007 , nicolas cage bought the lalaurie house through hancock park real estate company , llc , for a sum of $ 3 . 45 million . the mortgage documents were arranged in such a way that cage 's name did not appear on them . on november 13 , 2009 , the property , then valued at $ 3 . 5 million , was listed for auction as a result of bank foreclosure and purchased by regions financial corporation for $ 2 . 3 million . lalaurie in folklore folk histories of lalaurie 's poor treatment of her slaves circulated in louisiana during the nineteenth century , and were reprinted in collections of stories by henry castellanos and george washington cable . cable 's account ( not to be confused with his unrelated 1881 novel madame delphine ) was based on contemporary stories in newspapers such as the new orleans bee and the advertiser , and upon martineau 's 1838 account , retrospect of western travel , but mixed in some synthesis , dialogue and supposition entirely of his own creation . after 1945 , stories of the lalaurie slaves became considerably more explicit . jeanne delavigne , writing in ghost stories of old new orleans ( 1946 ) , alleged that lalaurie had a " sadistic appetite [ that ] seemed never appeased until she had inflicted on one or more of her black servitors some hideous form of torture " and claimed that those who responded to the 1834 fire had found " male slaves , stark naked , chained to the wall , their eyes gouged out , their fingernails pulled off by the roots ; others had their joints skinned and festering , great holes in their buttocks where the flesh had been sliced away , their ears hanging by shreds , their lips sewn together ... intestines were pulled out and knotted around naked waists . there were holes in skulls , where a rough stick had been inserted to stir the brains . " delavigne did not directly cite any sources for these claims , and they were not supported by the primary sources . the story was further popularized and embellished in journey into darkness : ghosts and vampires of new orleans ( 1998 ) by kalila katherina smith , the operator of a new orleans ghost tour business . smith 's book added several more explicit details to the discoveries allegedly made by rescuers during the 1834 fire , including a " victim [ who ] obviously had her arms amputated and her skin peeled off in a circular pattern , making her look like a human caterpillar , " and another who had had her limbs broken and reset " at odd angles so she resembled a human crab " . many of the new details in smith 's book were unsourced , while others were not supported by the sources given . today , modern re - tellings of the lalaurie legend often use delavigne and smith 's versions of the tale to found claims of explicit tortures , and to place the number of slaves who died under lalaurie 's care at as many as one hundred . in popular culture the former , now defunct , historically - themed wax museum in the french quarter , the musée conti wax museum , on conti street , traditionally included a scene depicting abused slaves in madame lalaurie 's attic . poet jennifer reeser has written a poem in terza rima titled " the lalaurie horror " , chronicling the mansion 's history and folklore , done as a poetic " ghost tour " . in 2000 , ted nicolaou directed a found footage movie called the st. francisville experiment about people who spend the night in a disused louisiana plantation house and encounter hostile ghosts . while not the lalaurie house in new orleans , the plantation house is one location lalaurie is alleged to have fled to after the 1834 fire incident . the fictional camera crew finds physical and supernatural evidence suggesting , that lalaurie did indeed flee to the house and continue her cruelty there . in 2004 , james directed " trespassing , " aka " evil remains , " about a grad student of folklore leading his friends on a research expedition to an old plantation estate near new orleans . the site , once the home of a woman whose backstory is directly taken from the bio of lalaurie , is reputed to mysteriously cause madness and death to all who enter it . kathy bates portrays a heavily fictionalized delphine lalaurie in the 2014 third season of the american anthology horror television series american horror story . delphine lalaurie is a character in the board game evil baby orphanage . delphine lalaurie appears as a character in deadtime stories , a pc game , ( deadtime stories ; developed by i - play and distributed by big fish games ) , as a voodoo queen , named jessie bodeen , tells you her story of her commission by delphine lalaurie to drive away another socialite who was new in town and already more popular than delphine lalaurie , only for delphine lalaurie to renege on the deal when jessie bodeen had kept up her end of it . jessie bodeen seeks revenge on delphine lalaurie by invoking the loa , ( who punish delphine lalaurie , and then jessie bodeen , 10 - years - later , for having taken on delphine lalaurie 's commission ) . delphine lalaurie appears in the second of barbara hambly 's benjamin january mysteries , fever season . the story of the lalaurie house is told and fictionally expanded on in issues 13 - 18 of serena valentino 's nightmares & fairy tales . books arthur , stanley clisby ( 1936 ) . old new orleans : a history of the vieux carré , its ancient and historical buildings . new orleans , la : . isbn . oclc . cable , george washington ( 1888 ) . strange true stories of louisiana . new york : the century co . isbn 0 - 559 - - 2 . castellanos , henry c ; kelleher schafer , judith ; reinecke , george f ( 1895 ) . new orleans as it was : episodes of louisiana life . baton rouge : louisiana state university press . isbn 0 - 8071 - - 8 . love , victoria ; shannon , lorelei ( 2011 ) . mad madame lalaurie . charleston , sc : the history press . isbn 978 - . de , herman boehm ( 1941 ) . old louisiana plantation homes and family trees . gretna , la : pelican publishing . isbn 1 - - 263 - 2 . delavigne , jeanne ( 1946 ) . ghost stories of old new orleans . new york ; toronto : rinehart & co . oclc . , timothy ( 2012 ) . l : madame lalaurie and the voodoo queen . bellevue , wa : on demand publishing , llc - create space . isbn 978 - . king , grace elizabeth ( 1921 ) . creole families of new orleans . new york : macmillan & co . isbn 0 - - 142 - 4 . ol . martineau , harriet ( 1838 ) . retrospect of western travel 2 . london : saunders & otley . oclc . morrow long , carolyn ( 2012 ) . madame lalaurie mistress of the haunted house . gainesville , fl : university press of florida . isbn 978 - . saxon , lyle ( 1928 ) . fabulous new orleans . new york , london : the century co . isbn . oclc . smith , kalila katherina ( 1998 ) . haunted history tours presents ... journey into darkness : ghosts & vampires of new orleans . new orleans , la : de publications . isbn 1 - - 04 - 6 . academic papers , katy francis ( 2005 ) . la madame et la mademoiselle : creole women in louisiana , 1718 – 1865 ( pdf ) ( master of arts thesis ) . louisiana state university . baker , courtney r ( 2008 ) . : looking at images of black suffering and death ( phd thesis ) . duke university . periodicals " the conflagration at the house occupied by the woman lalaurie .. " ( pdf ) . new orleans bee . april 11 , 1834 . – the relevant text appears at the top - left of the linked scan . a transcript of this article can be found here for ease of reading . " the popular fury which we briefly to in our paper of yesterday .. " ( pdf ) . new orleans bee . april 12 , 1834 . – the relevant text appears at the top - left of the linked scan . a transcript of this article can be found here for ease of reading . pittsfield sun . may 8 , 1834 . " epitaph - plate of ' haunted ' house owner found here " . the times - picayune . january 28 , 1941 . – a transcript of this article can be found here for ease of reading . " history of delphine macarty lalaurie and the haunted house on royal street " updated on 27 sept 2013 at the times - picayune 's ; retrieved 31 oct 2015 . web content goldsborough , bob ( april 24 , 2007 ) . " nicolas cage buys house in new orleans ' french quarter for $ 3 , 450 , 000 " . big time listings . celebrity real estate homes big time listings . retrieved november 26 , 2010 . taylor , troy ( 2000 ) . " the legacy of madame delphine lalaurie " . denise 's dreams . strange nation . retrieved january 10 , 2011 . yousuf , ( november 16 , 2009 ) . " nicolas cage loses 2 homes in foreclosure auction " . cable news network . retrieved december 30 , 2010 .