Have you ever been chased around the house with a whip? Or chained to a stove? 

Well, maybe you haven’t but the slaves in the LaLaurie Mansion were. 

According to the website for Ghost City Tours,  a ghost tour company that tours Savannah, New Orleans, San Antonio, Charleston, or Chattanooga and that tells all about different paranormal stories in these areas, the LaLaurie Mansion is the most haunted house in New Orleans, Louisiana. The LaLaurie Mansion is a 12,000 square foot mansion that was built in 1831 for Marie Delphine Macarty LaLaurie. 

According to a website called Nola Ghost,  Macarty was born March 19, 1787 to Louis Chevalier Barthelemy de Macarty and Marie Jeanne Lerable. Large, wealthy, and politically powerful was the Macarty clan.  

Her family was composed of many professions including police and military officers, planters, and merchants. Also according to Nola Ghost,  many of her relatives owned slaves and managed substantial parts of different estates. Her family originated in Ireland. But some say that the family fled Ireland to France to escape the political and religious despotism of England’s monarch.

Macarty had three marriages that produced 5 children, but two of her husbands died and the final one left her. In 1831, Delphine purchased the mansion property at 1140 Royal Street, which included slaves. Delphine lived alone with two of her children on the property, but she did much more there than just raise her kids. Apparently losing her husband drove Delphine mad, and she became perhaps the cruelest slave owner that history has ever known.   

Madame Delphine threw many parties where she would have large groups of her neighbors, friends and family attend. During these parties there were rumors that her slaves looked a little disfigured. Most of them appeared to be lifeless and tired. They were dirty and some had missing body parts and walked very weakly. But since Madame Delphine seemed to treat them nicely and they were slaves, many people just brushed it off.

One rumor that existed at the time was that a lady next door saw and heard something terrifying one day. According to ThoughtCo author Patti Wigington, the neighbor saw a little girl running up the stairs and behind her was Delphine chasing after her with a whip. Reportedly, the lady said that she saw the little girl reach the rooftop and with no other location to go to, she jumped and fell to her death. Another rumor was that Delphine was mistreating her slaves and torturing them. It wasn’t until Delphine threw a party on April 10, 1834 that everything started to make sense. 

It was in the morning when a fire broke out on that day. Many guests were screaming and running for their lives. The fire not only destroyed part of the house but gave away many of its secrets. On the second floor of the building, a room that contained many slaves in it, was burned down. 

From a website called Vice, when the townspeople and authorities investigated the room, the slaves in the room appeared to be tortured. One of the slaves had their bones broken numerous times, and set in unnatural positions. Another slave had a hole drilled into his head, with a wooden spoon sticking out which was used, reportedly, to stir his brains. Another slave had their flesh ripped off on their back so that tissue and muscle could be seen, and another slave had their intestines removed and wrapped around their naked waist. Others were covered in honey and black ants.

The fire was reportedly started by a slave woman who had been chained to a stove as punishment for a misdeed by Delphine.. After the fire and the tremendous secrets being revealed, people responded with rage. People from her neighborhood and others who had heard of the discovery of what Macarty had done started to go to her house and destroy the property. Sadly, Delphine was nowhere to be found. Legend has it that she fled from Louisiana all the way to France. 

To this day people still talk about the LaLaurie Mansion. According to a website called Atlas Obscura, many people visit the house and have said that the house appears to be haunted. People claim that they hear voices coming from the house that sound like people wailing and moaning, or they have seen figures running inside. The house today is owned by a private oil tycoon from Texas who doesn’t allow visitors inside but still allows visitors to look at the house. Despite all the stories and rumours, would you ever step into the LaLaurie Mansion if you could?