WARNING: Please be forewarned that some of the descriptions in this article are quite morbid.

Had it not been for the fire on April 10, 1834, during a party at 1140 Royal Street in New Orleans, the activities of Dr. Louis LaLaurie's wife, Delphine, would have probably continued in secret for many more years.

The LaLauries lived a lavish lifestyle. The most exciting social affairs were thrown at this place and frequently. Everybody knew that the most congenial hosts in town were the LaLauries - always friendly, always cheerful and always eager to hear what you had to say. Their four daughters wanted for nothing and seemed to be blessed with their mother's intellect, beauty and charm. Their mother was the most influential French-Creole lady in New Orleans.

The exterior of the home appeared to be nothing fancy, but not bad. It just looked like so many structures in the French Quarter. But, its real beauty lay just beyond the plain exterior walls. Its truth lay deeper.

The mansion was equipped with mahogany stairs that led to the upper floors. Mahogany doors, many with hand-carved flowers and faces on them, hung at each portal. Nice, ornate iron work was used extensively throughout the house and huge chandeliers were suspended from its ceilings.

Their parties were always successful affairs, catered by a cadre of well-dressed house girls, a name used to describe female slaves who worked in the master's house.

Mrs. LaLaurie was always known outwardly as such a kind, sweet person, but there was a side of her that the public had not yet seen. She was very mean to her slaves, going beyond brutal even, just downright inhumane! She kept her cook chained to the stove in the kitchen, which in those days was detached from the main house.

The neighbors were the first to suspect foul play in the LaLaurie household. One day as a neighbor was going up her stairs, she heard a scream. When she looked to see what the source of the commotion was, she saw Mrs. LaLaurie with a whip in her hand, chasing her personal maid. The little girl ran out onto the roof and jumped, rather than face Mrs. LaLaurie! A few days later, the neighbor noticed a freshly prepared grave in the yard of the LaLaurie's mansion. She instinctively knew that it was the grave of the little slave girl. She had died in her attempt to escape Mrs. LaLaurie! It was a known fact that slaves were constantly being replaced by the LaLauries. A slave would show up for a few weeks, then would never be seen again.

New Orleans had a law against harsh treatment of slaves and the neighbor went to the authorities. They investigated and impounded the LaLaurie's slaves, selling them at auction to the highest bidder. The highest bidders were all relatives of the LaLauries, who had been paid to buy the slaves and return them to the LaLaurie Mansion.

The word began to spread around New Orleans of the mistreatment of the slaves and slowly attendance at the LaLaurie's parties began to diminish. The LaLauries were being ignored by the Creole society in New Orleans.

When the firefighters put out that fire in 1834, they broke through an attic door in the process. In the attic were found over a dozen slaves and slave bodies in various states of mutilation! Some were hanging from the ceiling and some were tied to makeshift operating tables. One female had been opened up and her intestines wrapped around her waist. She died that way. One was inside a dog-size cage. Her limbs had been broken and reset at odd angles to resemble that of a crab! She was still alive when firefighters got to her, but she died shortly thereafter. One woman had her mouth stuffed full of animal excrement, then sewed shut!

Many of the men had their fingernails pulled out and their genitalia surgically removed. One man was suspended from the ceiling with a hole bored through the top of his skull! In the bore, a stick had been placed as if used to stir the brain! Many had their hands sewn to their bodies. There were heads and body parts lying all around the room. It was obvious that this had been going on for years!

It was more than the firefighters were accustomed to seeing. They immediately sought medical personnel to come to the scene. One doctor stated that the methods of killing were intented to force victims to experience very slow, very painful deaths.

In a very short time, word got out about the findings in the attic. A mob formed, but a bit late, the LaLauries left only moments before the mob arrived. Mrs. LaLaurie apparently fled New Orleans; she was never seen there again. The same cannot be said of her victims! Some claim that her victims may be seen inside the house at night, sometimes outside the house. Unusual moans and screams are also reported to be heard by late-night passersby.

Many researchers think that Mrs. LaLaurie died on December 7, 1842. The exact place of her death is still in question. Some think she lived out her life on the northern side of Lake Ponchartrain, while others think she died in Paris. One Louisiana newspaper reported that she "died among friends in Paris, France on December 7, 1842." Many think her body was secretly shipped back to New Orleans where she was quietly buried. There is good reason to believe that.

During the early part of the twentieth century, Eugene Backes served as sexton to St. Louis Cemetery #1 until 1924. He discovered an old tarnished and cracked copper plate in Alley 4 of St. Louis Cemetery. On it was the inscription, "Madame LaLaurie, nee Marie Delphine Maccarthy, decedee a Paris, le 7 decembre, 1842. Marie Delphine Maccarthy was Mrs. LaLaurie's maiden name.