00:00:00
Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is Morbid. >> This is going to be so morbid today.
00:00:19
>> You know what though? We're we're we're ready. We're ready. We can do this. >> We can get through this.
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>> Yeah, we have blankets. >> Yep, we do have blankets. >> Blankies today cuz in good old New England, I don't know
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what happened there. >> Good old New England. >> I became Erika Jayne in that moment.
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Go listen to the rewatcher. But anyway, in good old New England, we've had about
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three false starts to spring. Yeah, which we always do. >> We do. I feel like we've had more than
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usual this year. >> It always feels like that. >> And I'm cold. >> Yeah. We go we slingshot back and forth. We're
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like, "Oh my god, it's 70°." And then the next day it's like >> Oh my god, it's snowing.
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>> looked outside and we said, "Why is it snowing?" >> And then it went away and we were like,
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"That was weird." And then all of a sudden it was like and we were like, "Oh, it's sleeting."
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>> Yeah, or it was like hail. >> falling from the sky? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> I don't know. And then today it's like
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50, but I'm cold. I don't know. >> Hello? >> Yeah. We don't know how to dress. We
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don't know how to act. >> Back to you, Pete. >> Yeah. >> That was Ash and Elena with meteorology.
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>> Uh but yeah, I think the only biz nasty we really have is go buy tickets to the live show at Radio City
00:01:26
Music Hall. >> Go buy your tickets. I'm so excited for that show. >> One night only.
00:01:31
>> One night only. We're not doing another one unless it's many years from now. >> we're not doing one.
00:01:36
>> We won't. And there's merch for that >> is. >> that you can only get there. >> Go get your tickets.
00:01:42
>> And get them on Ticketmaster. >> Do it. Make it a whole thing. >> Yeah, go with your girlies.
00:01:46
>> weekend in New York. You deserve it. >> Get crazy. >> You [ __ ] deserve it. You've been
00:01:51
working hard. >> You know? It's been >> woke up today in this world, woof, you've done enough.
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>> Yeah. So go get it. >> Yeah. Go do it. >> Also, we have something fun and exciting
00:02:00
upcoming. Maybe maybe sometime next week. Not totally sure on timing, but >> Yeah, soon.
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>> Keep an eye on socials cuz we're going to be announcing something fun. >> Yeah, that you guys will be psyched
00:02:09
about. >> are going to be stoked. >> Something you've been like, "Hey, hey, can I have that?"
00:02:13
>> Hey. >> So, yeah. And also, um last little tidbit, pre-order The Butcher Legacy.
00:02:19
>> Period. >> If you haven't done it, what are you doing? Come on. It's the third in the
00:02:22
series. You can get it at the butcher at butcherlegacy.com. >> Okay. >> Anywhere you want. Go pre-order it. It's
00:02:27
coming out August 11th. And if you haven't do like taken a little little swan dive into the series, start at The
00:02:33
Butcher in the Wren. >> Yeah. >> Do it. It's It's okay. >> It's really good. >> I I feel good about it.
00:02:39
>> It's I would I would I would hype it up a bit more than that. >> Yeah, The Butcher in the Wren, then get
00:02:44
The Butcher Game, and then get The Butcher Legacy. Dive into a series. We all need it.
00:02:48
>> If not, you might be a loser. >> Maybe. I didn't say it. >> I did. >> So, don't come at me.
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>> Don't be a loser. >> Go pre-order The Butcher Legacy. My dog agrees. >> dog agrees.
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Now we'll pause. I Wow, there wasn't even a follow-up bark there. >> No, so I think she was LIKE
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>> HELL YEAH, MAMA. >> YEAH, she's just my hype girl. >> Yeah. >> That's my hype woman.
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>> Right there. Real. >> That's crazy. >> which we needed. So, this is going to be
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a rough one. >> Okay. >> Uh >> I said it like I was serious. Okay. >> Okay. >> We're finally going to be covering
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Madame >> Oh, no. >> Yeah. >> This [ __ ] >> If you don't know who I'm talking about,
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I'm sorry, but I'm the one who's going to be telling you about this because she's one of the worst people ever.
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>> Yeah, if you've seen um American Horror Story, you know about this. >> Yeah, you at least know like a
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fictionalized version of the history. Yeah. >> I love Kathy Bates. >> Love Kathy Bates. But hate Madame
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LaLaurie. >> Um And I believe that's how you pronounce That's what I I did I I looked at a lot
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of things to see how to say it cuz you hear LaLaurie. >> Um >> That's what I've always heard.
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>> I think the correct pronunciation is actually LaLaurie. >> I mean that makes sense cuz it's like
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French. >> Yeah, cuz it's like French. >> It's making me laugh because that's a French last name. It's making me laugh
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because there's a drag queen named LaLaurie. >> LaLaurie? >> Yeah. >> Oh, so it's it's not LaL
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Is it spelled the same? >> No, it's I think it's L A L A >> Oh, okay. Cuz I was like
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>> Woah. >> Like her first name LaLa, last name Ree. >> Oh, that makes sense. >> But when you say it quick it sounds the
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same. >> Yeah, that makes sense. Um so this is this is a story that is really gruesome.
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It's upsetting. It's got haunted elements at the end of it. >> Oh. >> It's got everything really.
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>> Okay. >> Um >> One potta? >> One potta. >> One potta. >> And um so here's one thing I want to say
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right up front. I refer to the victims in this case as enslaved people. >> Mhm. >> Uh because you know
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>> That's correct. >> Exactly. But some of the quotes that are going to be used in this are a little
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outdated. >> Okay. >> And they refer to them as slaves. >> Okay. >> I am going to read the quotes how they
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are just cuz they're quotes. >> Yeah. >> But just know that when I'm saying it it's enslaved people.
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Those are quotes if it is a little outdated. >> Got it. >> Just to be clear. So let's start you at
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the end to then bring you back to the beginning. >> Oh, I love a full circle. >> Love that. In April 1834,
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a huge fire broke out at the mansion of Delphine LaLaurie on Royal Street in the
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New Orleans French Quarter. LaLaurie was known to have kept several enslaved people as servants in her home,
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but when neighbors, bystanders, anyone tried to go into the house and rescue those people that were trapped inside,
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they found that the doors were barred. >> Ooh. >> After forcing them open and making their
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way into the house, the rescuers were absolutely horrified to find the quote horribly mutilated bodies of at least
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seven enslaved people. >> Oh. >> Delphine LaLaurie was known, by the way, to treat her servants, {quote} very
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badly. >> Yeah. >> Um including physically abusing them. Like there were reports of that. It
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wasn't like it was completely hidden. But no one in New Orleans had imagined that she was a sadistic torturer and
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murderer. >> Yeah, like they did not know how bad it was. >> Yeah. >> So, let's go back to who Delphine
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LaLaurie actually was. >> the [ __ ] did she get this way? >> So, her name is Marie Delphine Macarty
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originally. >> That's like such a pretty name. What are you doing being a beast?
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>> Yeah, exactly. She was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 19th, 1787. And
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the beginning of her life is obviously a little sketchy because it's so long ago.
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>> Yeah. >> Um but property records from that period do indicate that her family was one of
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the wealthiest that New Orleans had ever seen. >> Oh, wow. >> Uh in the late 18th century, letters
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written by a friend of her family said that her mother, who was also Marie Macarty, uh is was described as
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vivacious and frolicsome. >> Ooh, bet. Describe me? That's my description from this point forward.
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>> Vivacious and frolicsome. >> What is frolicsome? >> you wanted to end. The the
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similarities between you and the Macarty family. >> Yeah, definitely. For sure. >> Um but
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>> I like that. Does that just mean like >> around? Probably. >> All right. What does frolicsome mean,
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though? >> And she was known to throw lavish parties. When you look at it from here, you're
00:07:22
like, "That sounds fun." Around this time, Delphine and her brother Louis would have been about 9
00:07:27
and 13 years old. So, well, it's unlikely they participated in what was described as the bacchanalia.
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>> What? >> Basically, there was like there was some [ __ ] It was just it was a time.
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>> What does that mean? >> parties >> were a time. >> Okay. >> Watch The Re-Watcher and watch True
00:07:46
Blood and you'll get an idea >> We like Mary Ann's parties? >> Yeah. >> They were orgies?
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>> Some might say. >> [ __ ] >> Some might say. >> [ __ ] >> Not having orgies. Like fine, have an
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orgy, but you have kids home. What don't do that. >> Yeah. I mean but they definitely
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they witnessed a lot probably and it would definitely have an influence on her later in life.
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>> going to say that'll [ __ ] you up. >> Yeah. And in stark contrast to these lavish parties and the lives of luxury
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that were experienced by the McCarthy family, there was also a growing fear at this time that the enslaved people that
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they were treating so poorly and saying that they owned >> Yeah. >> were going to they were starting to
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rebel and revolt. And so a lot of white people in the region felt that that was coming which like
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>> Yeah. >> you deserved it. >> It's also like yeah, did you never think that was going to happen when you
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>> enslave a human being? >> Exactly. Um and so Delphine's uncle Jean Baptiste Labreton was reportedly
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murdered by enslaved people on his plantation in New Orleans in 1771. >> Probably had it coming.
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>> It 100% had it coming. >> Yeah, I'm not even I'm going to take away that probably. You're on a
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plantation, had it coming. >> One evening he was awoken from sleep by a fire raging in a shed just outside his
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bedroom window. And when he ran outside to direct the men to put the fire out, he was shot and killed. So it was like
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drawing him out. >> Well, well. >> An investigation conducted in the days after this concluded that two of the
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people that Jean Baptiste enslaved, Temba and Mirliton, they were responsible for the murder and were
00:09:22
brutally executed for it. Their bodies were displayed in the city square. >> Meanwhile, that's just like
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like you can't treat people. >> You can't, exactly. >> for that long. Like what I'm not saying
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murder is ever okay. >> No, but it's kind of like self-defense. >> But it's like you can't be doing this
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[ __ ] >> And this is the kind And you know what it is? It's like when you get when you
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set this precedent of like brutality and violence >> Mhm. >> and disrespecting people as human beings
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and like taking humanity out of the equation, which is what you were doing when you were enslaving people,
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>> Yep. >> how can you be surprised when people use that same precedent against you?
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>> Right. >> You set the precedent. Like it's not like you're sitting here like treating people like humans
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>> No. >> and having all this humanity and grace with people and like No, you're treating
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people like property and you're being brutal and violent to them. >> they're not just going to sit around and
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take that forever. >> back on you, you set the tone, man. Like it's not okay from the jump. Yeah. So it
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just pisses me off. But although this death occurred more than a decade before Delphine's birth,
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the effect of this death would definitely affect the family like as a whole. >> Yeah.
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>> Now life in the Macarty home was one of luxury and excess, like I said, and Delphine wanted for nothing. And her
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heritage and family name were entitled, or so she thought, to all the finest things. She would just get whatever she
00:10:44
wanted for the rest of her life. That's what she thought. But outside the home, there was the constant reminders of how
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easily those things could be lost or taken away, either by violence or simply lack of vigilance.
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And add to that the growing resentment of free and enslaved black people, whom she perceived to not only be a violent
00:11:02
threat, but also a threat to her inheritance and social status. >> Oh. >> And what results is a cruel, callous,
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horrific, self-centered person who is capable of the most terrible of acts. >> Yeah.
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>> Because she's growing up in this house of excess, never need wanting for anything, witnessing lavish parties that
00:11:21
were like not okay. >> And also like the people in her family, the men in her family especially, were
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treating black women, too, like property and they were having these like non-consensual relationships with them,
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sometimes impregnating them and then also treating them like dirt. You know what I mean? So, she's
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seeing this like that she's really seeing like throwaway people. >> Yeah. >> And it's like and then she's growing up
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to think that's that's okay to act that way. >> And then with this growing sense of fear
00:11:52
in the community and like people >> uncle murdered by the people that he treated so horribly and owned.
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>> But she doesn't see it that way. >> She saw it as their fault, not his fault. Yeah.
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>> Ooh, that's a mess. >> Yeah, so it's not a good mix to to be grown up with. Now, in the late spring
00:12:08
of 1800 when Delphine was barely 14 years old, she married Hello? Roman Lopez y Angelo de la Candelaria.
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>> Brother, what are you doing with all those names and a 14-year-old bride? >> Exactly, what's going on here?
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>> You're having too much. >> He was 35 years old. >> Get a grip. >> And he was a widower and a high-ranking
00:12:28
officer in the Spanish military. >> Find a grown woman. >> Yeah, get it together. Now, at the time
00:12:33
of their marriage, he was a serving as the second in command to the governor. He was the representative of the
00:12:38
treasury and he had jurisdiction over matters of police, the courts, and the military. So, he had a ton of power and
00:12:44
influence. >> Yeah. >> And shortly after they were married though, he was ordered to return to
00:12:48
Spain because he hadn't asked for permission to marry a child. >> Oh. >> Yep. >> It wasn't that he married the child, it
00:12:57
was just that he didn't ask nicely. >> he had to ask the government for permission.
00:13:00
>> Like the crown for permission. >> And he hadn't done that. >> Oh, he didn't >> So, Delphine went with him, but he was
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held and faced consequences in Spain for not seeking permission. >> like, "Hey, is this your child bride?"
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>> She returned home without him and on her return trip to Louisiana, she gave birth
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to their first child. >> Oh my god. >> 14. >> Oh my god. >> Borgia Delphine Lopez y Angelo de la
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Candelaria or Marie Borgia, whom she nicknamed Borquita. >> Okay. >> In March 1807, on her 20th birthday,
00:13:30
Delphine remarried. This time because she never saw him again. She remarried this time to Jean Blanc, a native
00:13:37
Frenchman and local banker who was more than twice her age. >> Sounds like a good wine.
00:13:40
>> Uh, yeah. Yeah, the Jean Blanc. >> I'll take the Jean Blanc. >> According to, um, sources, Jean Blanc
00:13:46
was, {quote} every bit Delphine's match, a ruthless wheeler-dealer who was a merchant, slave trader, and associate of
00:13:52
the pirates Jean and Pierre Lafitte. A few years earlier, Delphine's mother died from natural causes, and she left
00:14:01
her a sizeable sum of money, which was put towards her $33,000 dowry. >> Oh. >> Cuz remember dowries were a thing.
00:14:08
>> I kind of love the idea of a dowry. >> They have to pay? >> No, I just like I just like I think I
00:14:13
like the word. >> Yeah. >> You know what I mean? >> You're like, I actually don't love the
00:14:18
idea. I just love the word. >> the idea. I just like the word. >> I was like, what about the idea?
00:14:22
>> It gets you gets you going. >> No, I just like >> I like a collection. >> I don't like that you have to use it to
00:14:28
be like, marry me, I'm so good, but I like the collection, and I like the word. >> Oh, okay.
00:14:32
>> Like collecting. >> Okay. Yeah. >> And it's pretty stuff. Like, oh, these nice glasses, let's put them in your
00:14:39
dowry. These shoes, you seen these these sparkly shoes? Put them in your dowry. >> Yeah.
00:14:45
>> don't want it to go to a man, and it will. >> No, it won't. >> No, I think we should re- I think we
00:14:49
should redo it. >> Yeah. >> Let's update our dowries and just have like collections.
00:14:54
>> name the word >> dowry >> It's a great word. >> Feels nice. Yes, thank you. >> It it feels too nice for what it is.
00:15:00
>> Period. You see where I'm coming from. >> I do. Now, in addition to the money left
00:15:04
by her mother, Delphine also inherited a large number of farm animals, farming equipment, and a downtown plantation.
00:15:11
>> Uh, I was going to say, hell yeah, until you got to the >> and you said, hell no.
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>> like, farm animals, downtown, let's go. Oh. >> Now, despite that inheritance, Blanc
00:15:21
purchased a large home for them at 409 Royal Street, and he purchased that through a sheriff's auction. For the
00:15:27
duration of their marriage, they would split their time between the plantation left by Delphine's mom and the house on
00:15:33
Royal Street. Now, over the course of their 8-year marriage, Delphine gave birth to four
00:15:38
children. Are you ready for their names? >> I'm so ready. >> Marie Louise Pauline,
00:15:43
Louise Marie Laure, Marie Louise Jean, and Jean-Pierre Pauline. So, she was just
00:15:50
>> Trying to do riddles? >> She just She was like >> She was like, "Which one is which?"
00:15:53
>> She just >> She just like presented them to groups and was like, "Who do you think is who?"
00:15:56
>> I guess it's good cuz you can be like, "Louise!" And three of them are like, "Yep." Yeah. And you can always get
00:16:01
someone. >> And Marie? >> Mhm. >> Wow. >> Marie, you can always get >> Marie Louise Louise Marie Schmureesh
00:16:06
Madub Schmish Mab. >> Yeah, cuz it's Marie Louise, Louise Marie, and Marie Louise.
00:16:14
So, she just switched the different third name. >> Reverse, reverse. >> Marie Louise Pauline, Louise Marie
00:16:19
Laure, and Marie Louise Jean. Now, while little is known about their private lives, there's a lot that's
00:16:26
known about their public affairs during this time. >> I need to go back for just 1 second. So,
00:16:30
there's all the Marie Louises, and then there's Borgita? >> Uh Bor- yeah, Borgita is from uh
00:16:36
the other marriage. >> But I'm just like, how do we go from Borgita to Marie Louise?
00:16:40
>> And actually, Borgita, her her name >> is Marie. >> is uh Borja Delphine Lopez y Angelo de la
00:16:49
Candelaria or Marie Borja. >> Yeah. So, there's another Marie. >> So, like, hello.
00:16:54
>> Yeah. >> Anyway, sorry. >> is known about their public affairs. Um they were very local and very active in
00:17:00
local real estate, and even more active in local politics. Uh Blanque was very outspoken and often ruthless when it
00:17:08
came to getting what he wanted. >> Yeah. >> According to Carolyn Long, Blanque was quote much disliked by most
00:17:14
of the Native Americans residing in or near New Orleans. Not only because his ways were entirely foreign to them, but
00:17:21
also because quote they considered him a dangerous man. I'm sure. Another account
00:17:25
of him written by a representative of the Spanish Crown describes him in like only slightly kinder terms. It said this
00:17:32
clever and daring man is persuasive persuasive of tongue, whereby he sways the crowd. Blanque is regarded as one of
00:17:39
the persons financially interested in the piracies of Barataria, which he openly protects. Basically, he was not
00:17:46
only despised by the native population, but also by the Spanish >> Okay. >> who identified him as one of those
00:17:51
financially backing local pirates. >> Awesome. >> Yeah. So, his financial support of the
00:17:57
pirates essentially, it was basically because he had relationships with pirates. He was friends with Jean and
00:18:04
Pierre Lafitte, who were very famous >> infamous, I should say. At the dawn of the 19th century, as the agriculture
00:18:11
business in Louisiana was like really booming, the Lafittes were among the many who
00:18:16
were importing the labor of enslaved people from Africa and Caribbean nations. >> Okay.
00:18:21
>> Um but they were known to also be among the more unscrupulous of people doing
00:18:26
that. Not that any of them were scrupulous, but meaning they didn't abide by any laws.
00:18:30
>> Right. >> Uh Jean Blanque would often receive these shipments of enslaved people from
00:18:36
the Lafittes and either help to and speaking in these terms really makes you >> Shipments of people. That just
00:18:44
>> It makes you How anybody can hear that and not be absolutely just [ __ ] up. >> were walking around talking like, oh
00:18:52
there's a shipment of slaves today. A shipment of people here. What? >> And the even this next thing, he would
00:18:58
either So, he would often receive the shipments of enslaved people from the Lafittes and either help to sell them
00:19:06
Just really really let that sit. Or put them to work on the plantation left to Delphine by her mother. So, he would he
00:19:14
would be snatching up enslaved people who were being shipped here like cargo and just give some of them to Delphine.
00:19:22
>> Yeah. >> By that By the time that he died in 1815, are you ready for this? He had
00:19:28
owned or traded at least 367 enslaved people. >> Holy [ __ ] >> You know that [ __ ] is burning
00:19:38
in the gnarliest >> right now. >> part. >> Still. Now, when he died in 1815, he left
00:19:45
Delphine a 28-year-old widow with five children to care for and significant debts. Rather than risk having to
00:19:52
forfeit the assets left by her mother, she went before the court and declared Blanc had left her, quote, "encumbered
00:19:58
with debt" and chose to relinquish any property and assets that they held together to pay for what he owed cuz he
00:20:05
was also just like a shady little [ __ ] >> Yeah. Doing weird stuff. >> roughly $160,000,
00:20:12
which is now 3 million today. >> Wow. >> Yeah. That's how much in debt he was. >> Damn.
00:20:17
>> Now, in the end, Delphine was able to keep some of the property. She would either buy it with her own money and,
00:20:23
you know, some of the property and assets were purchased by her brother and father, which at least kept it in the
00:20:28
family. >> Okay. >> She also persuaded the court to allow her to keep 15 of the people she
00:20:33
enslaved in her home as, quote, "payment of her matrimonial rights." >> What? >> My god.
00:20:40
>> Holy. >> Now, unlike her first two marriages where the husbands were at least twice
00:20:44
her age, Delphine's third husband, Leonard Louis Lalaurie, was 15 years younger than she was when they married.
00:20:51
>> Oh, honey. >> Yeah. >> I didn't know she was a cougar. >> She was. Now, upon completing his
00:20:55
medical studies in France in 1824, he left for Louisiana and arrived in the United States in February 1825.
00:21:03
>> Okay. >> Once there, he set up shop as a local physician and he was skilled in what the
00:21:08
local newspapers described as {quote} the means of destroying hunches. Which basically was repairing a crooked
00:21:15
or hunched back. >> Oh. >> with that. >> I could have used that. >> He would destroy hunches. Just the way
00:21:21
they have said that was like he just [ __ ] destroys hunches. >> going to survive around him.
00:21:26
>> No way. >> Oh, damn. What's his secret? I have that little like I have a little hump in the
00:21:31
back of my neck. >> Isn't it called tech neck? Yeah, it is called tech neck. >> called tech neck. I want it I just want
00:21:35
somebody to punch it straight. >> bra. >> Oh, god. I hate bras. >> But but this one honestly is great.
00:21:41
>> Yeah, but isn't it kind of like like uncomfy? >> No. I think it's super comfy.
00:21:45
>> Oh. >> Yeah. >> Maybe I'll get that brassiere. >> Do it. Get that brassiere. >> Get that brassiere, girl.
00:21:50
>> No. There are a few different ideas about how they met. Initially, mostly people believe that they met at one of
00:21:56
the lavish parties that they were both invited to. >> Was she going to sex parties, too?
00:22:00
>> no. However they met, the 38-year-old twice widowed mother of five was still considered one of the city's great
00:22:06
beauties. >> Wow. >> holy [ __ ] As well as the member and she was also the member of one of the most
00:22:12
influential families in the city. So, of course she's going to catch a lot of re
00:22:16
eyes. >> money to be made. >> According to Carolyn Long, by 1825, um her name began appearing in letters
00:22:23
written to Louis by his father. Uh they you can they I guess they never discovered Louis' part of the letters,
00:22:28
but so it's safe to assume that even if they were like romantic at this point, which I'm pretty sure they were,
00:22:35
they'd at least become friendly enough that he was talking to his father about her.
00:22:38
>> Right. >> Now, unfortunately, not long after he came to the US, his mother passed away.
00:22:43
But at this time, his father and brother insisted he close his business in New Orleans and return to France.
00:22:49
>> Oh. >> But by that time, Louis Louis and Delphine had already started a courtship
00:22:53
and they wanted to be married. So, he said no, and he temporarily signed over his portion of his mother's estate to
00:22:59
his father. Which this would actually cause a lot of tension among the LaLaurie family. Like
00:23:06
>> sense. >> Yeah. But while it's possible there are many reasons why Louis Louis decided not to
00:23:11
return to France, there is good reason to think that Delphine had already become pregnant by this point.
00:23:15
>> I was wondering that. >> And on August 13th, 1827, she gave birth to a boy, Jean Louis Leonard. So we have
00:23:21
another Jean. >> Another Jean. >> Despite his refusal to go back to France after his mother died, after the birth
00:23:28
of his son in August, he did leave the country in October and didn't return for several months.
00:23:33
>> That's fake. >> And no one knows why he left or where he went. >> That's weird.
00:23:39
>> But upon returning to New Orleans in January 1828, they appeared before a notary and were legally married.
00:23:45
>> And he just needed to get some [ __ ] out of his system. >> so. So his wild oats, I suppose.
00:23:51
In later accounts of their life together, the date of the marriage is often given as 1825,
00:23:56
presumably to uphold Delphine's honor since she had become >> pregnant. >> and given birth before they had married.
00:24:02
>> Yeah, yeah. >> Now at that at the time his assets were listed as $2,000, which he had inherited
00:24:07
from his mother and was still controlled by his father. Delphine, on the other hand, was worth
00:24:12
$67,000 at the time. So there was a big imbalance of power, but it was an unusual one cuz it was tipped in the
00:24:20
woman's favor for this era. >> did not happen. >> Now in the personal papers of Baron
00:24:26
Henry de Ste Gemme I have no idea if I said that correctly. >> I think you did. >> I loved it.
00:24:32
>> a business associate of Delphine's father. There are letters that provide some second-hand accounts of the
00:24:38
LaLaurie marriage. In one letter he wrote, "They do not have a happy marriage. They fight, often separate,
00:24:44
and they return to each other, which would make one believe that someday they will abandon each other completely."
00:24:49
>> I mean, that makes sense because he did like pre-abandon her. >> Yeah, so there's that.
00:24:53
>> And also, I can't imagine she was super duper fun to live with. >> She's a [ __ ] nightmare.
00:24:57
>> So, I can't imagine. >> Yeah, she was probably abusive. >> Yeah. Now, in the summer of 1831,
00:25:02
Delphine had grown tired of living in the country with Louis and started selling off her own property and
00:25:06
mortgaging others to raise money for what would become her final home in New Orleans. By August, she had purchased
00:25:13
the vacant lot at 1140 Royal Street. That's a very famous address now. And began overseeing the
00:25:20
construction of a lavish multi-story mansion. The first floor of this mansion would have several galleries, sitting
00:25:26
rooms. All were decorated in a style more American than French, which was pretty atypical at the time.
00:25:32
>> Boo. >> Um, I love French decor. >> The second floor had living quarters, which included a parlor, bedrooms, and a
00:25:39
large formal dining room. And Carolyn Long suggests the attic under the hipped roof might have had quarters for the
00:25:45
most favored domestic servants. The attic. >> Oh. >> However, the majority of Delphine's
00:25:51
servants would have been quartered in one or more of the outbuildings in the rear of the house.
00:25:56
>> Okay. >> Now, by early 1832, Delphine, Louis, and Jean Louis moved into the home along
00:26:02
with the four Blanc children. All but one of whom was an adult at the time. >> Okay.
00:26:07
>> Despite the new environment in the city proper at this point, Delphine and Louis' relationship continued to
00:26:13
deteriorate over the course of the year, and in November 1832, she filed for divorce.
00:26:17
>> Ooh. >> In the petition, she quoted state law almost verbatim, and she cited her
00:26:22
reason for seeking divorce as his having, {quote} "Treated her in such a manner as to render their living
00:26:27
together insupportable." >> Mm. >> She also alleged that he had been physically abusive and claimed that
00:26:32
Louis had been living out of the house for some time. >> Okay. >> Whatever the cause of the separation, it
00:26:37
doesn't appear to be permanent, at least not practically. >> It never is. >> By 1834, she was listed in the city
00:26:44
records as being a {quote} "wife separated in property of Lou- Louis LaLaurie," but in reality, Louis had
00:26:50
returned to living at the house at Royal Street, and was at least very regularly
00:26:54
an overnight guest, but was at home on the night of the fire in April 1834. Now, in her 1834 multi-volume account of
00:27:03
her travels across the United States, British writer Harriet Montin Martineau Martineau, sorry.
00:27:10
>> Martineau? >> Martineau presents a picture of American slavery that is very naive,
00:27:18
>> Yeah. >> um unsettling at times, and also like at times a little insightful. >> Okay.
00:27:25
>> Very strange. Um and in later assessments of her writings, scholars have noted, quote, "An inability to
00:27:31
sympathize with cultural others who do not conform to the formulaic and imaginatively controlled terms in which
00:27:38
she imagines difference." Basically, her sympathy towards enslaved people only extended to those who fit in
00:27:45
her very like narrow view of black people. >> Okay. >> Now, I bring this up because it's
00:27:49
important to talk about her view because the majority of insight into how Delphine LaLaurie treated enslaved
00:27:58
people in her home comes directly from Harriet Martineau's writings. >> Oh, okay.
00:28:02
>> Yeah, like a lot of scholars point to that. >> Interesting. >> So, while she definitely had a
00:28:06
complicated and very limited perspective of on plantation owners and their treatment of enslaved people, she was
00:28:12
able to identify cruelty and brutality when she saw it. Um about Madame LaLaurie, she said, "It had been long
00:28:18
observed that Madame LaLaurie's slaves looked singularly haggard and wretched. With the exception of the coachman,
00:28:25
whose appearance was sleek and comfortable enough." And that shows you that as long as the enslaved person was being
00:28:32
seen by the outside world, they were being treated okay. >> Okay. >> If you were in that house,
00:28:38
she was going to treat you however she wanted to, and it didn't matter if the marks were physical.
00:28:43
>> Wow. >> Yeah. Now, despite the obvious maltreatment of enslaved people that was occurring in
00:28:48
the Lalaurie house, it seems few if any locals at the time were bringing like thinking to challenge her or raise
00:28:55
a concern. >> One, they're all pretty racist cuz they all probably had slaves of their own.
00:29:01
>> At the time, yeah. >> At the time, of course. And two, she's like super powerful in the town. So
00:29:06
>> it is. She was still one of the wealthier and most respected members of the New Orleans society, and to speak
00:29:11
out against her would have had consequences. >> 100%. If only social, though. >> Oh.
00:29:17
>> I'm like >> Okay, well >> It could have had There could be more consequences that I'm not seeing. But
00:29:23
I'm like >> I think social consequences back then for I'm not saying it's a a good excuse,
00:29:27
but I think social con- consequences back then meant so much more than they do today.
00:29:31
>> You just look back and you're like You just wish people And I guess people weren't taught to
00:29:37
value human life and human dignity and >> not that. >> And you just wish somebody had taken it
00:29:44
upon themselves, which people did. I will say a couple of people obviously took some action.
00:29:48
>> Yeah, there's always good people to do that. >> more people valued what the [ __ ] was
00:29:53
going on and taking a stance over >> Yeah. >> like their social standing. Cuz I'm like
00:29:59
even the tide's going to turn eventually, and your social standing will be back cuz you'll be on the right
00:30:04
side of history. >> And it's just good to be there anyway. >> Don't worry being Why do you want to be
00:30:09
on the shitty side and keep that? You shouldn't. >> It's weird. And here's the other thing.
00:30:14
Outside of the home, Delphine was perfectly ple- pleasant to everyone she met on the street. That's the thing.
00:30:20
>> I didn't realize that. I thought she was a big old [ __ ] to everybody. >> sense that you would think that because
00:30:25
I also would have thought that. And it's like that's what makes it even harder for I think her local New Orleanians to
00:30:32
>> Cuz maybe people thought they were just rumors. >> Yeah, like I think they were just like
00:30:35
oh well, she's wealthy, she's powerful, maybe people are just making [ __ ] up about her cuz they can.
00:30:40
And like cuz so maybe they just were like, all right, I just don't believe that you would abuse her her servants in
00:30:47
her home. >> Mhm. >> But people who went to her home, like neighbors and such, did note later that
00:30:53
Lalaurie's servants seemed exhausted. They seemed malnourished, basically miserable and being mistreated.
00:30:59
>> Oh my. >> it was obvious just by looking at them. >> Malnourished is just from her.
00:31:04
>> feeding them. Now, whether or not the locals believed them throughout the mid to late 1830s,
00:31:10
rumors about Delphine's cruelty continued to circulate around the city. According to Martineau, the rumors
00:31:16
eventually became so widespread that a local lawyer sent a letter to Delphine reminding her, quote, "The law which
00:31:23
ordains that slaves can be proved to have been cruelly treated shall be taken from the owner and sold in the market
00:31:30
for the benefit of the state." That's the most wild statement in the entire world that they they're literally
00:31:36
holding that as like, well, you need to treat the people that you buy and own correctly, or else we're going to take
00:31:43
them from you and we're going to sell them to someone else cuz we are the morally superior people here. And
00:31:49
it's like >> What? Jesus Christ. >> the [ __ ] >> That's nuts. >> Martineau claims that the lawyer even
00:31:56
sent a younger employee to investigate the situation at the Lalaurie home. But this younger lawyer employee returned
00:32:04
full of indignation against all who could suspect this amiable woman was doing anything wrong.
00:32:09
>> Like so, did she seduce you? >> I was just going to say. Apparently she had convinced her that everything was
00:32:14
fine. Him that everything was fine. Now, despite how it was framed or understood
00:32:18
by Harriet Martineau and the American public at the time, we now know that the practice of slavery was not just morally
00:32:25
reprehensible, but also cruel and brutally violent on nearly every single [ __ ] level that you can imagine.
00:32:33
For the entirety of her life, Delphine had been raised in a family where human beings were not only owned, but also
00:32:39
treated badly, physically abused, and coerced into sexual relationships with the men in her family.
00:32:45
>> Mhm. >> So, she was like, this is just life. Deal with it. >> it is. >> And she felt entitled to this. I'm
00:32:52
entitled to own people and treat them how I want to. >> she's just been able to own whatever
00:32:56
she's wanted her whole life and that that goes to people, too. >> And people said it used to piss her off
00:33:01
that the people men in her family were not ashamed of having relationships with black women, even free black women.
00:33:08
>> Oh. >> So, she was just racist. Like, she was she had it in her DNA. Like, it was just
00:33:12
in there. Now, in the period between 1816 and when she left New Orleans in 1834, cuz she
00:33:19
eventually does, >> Unfortunately. >> Delphine uh she gets chased out of there. >> But still.
00:33:25
Yeah. She's free to do so. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. You wish she'd stayed and faced the consequences cuz I think
00:33:31
she'd be in several pieces around New Orleans. >> Uh-huh. >> Uh but Delphine owned at least 54 men,
00:33:36
women, and children. >> Oh, children. >> No, like men and women as well, but you
00:33:40
just think of children in this situation. Yeah. And whether they acknowledged it or not, the public
00:33:44
appeared to have at least some awareness of what went on inside that house. Not to the extent of what went on,
00:33:49
obviously. >> have even some awareness of what was happening in that >> To have even an ounce of awareness of
00:33:54
what was happening in that house. >> In an 1828 newsletter, uh Jean Boze wrote, "Finally, justice
00:34:00
descended on her home, and after being assured of the truth of the denunciations for barbarous treatment of
00:34:05
her slaves contrary to the law, the authorities found them still bloody. She had been She had them incarcerated,
00:34:12
letting them be given only the bare necessities." >> Oh my. >> Now, in another report from the
00:34:17
following year, {quote} "Her viciousness roused her neighbors in arms against her. They announced that they would no
00:34:23
longer hear of such actions, and in case they did, she should become amenable to
00:34:27
the law." So, it became a problem like pretty late in the game, where her neighbors were like, "Okay, now we know
00:34:34
what's going on." And they did start reporting her. Like they started seeing things and they would report them and
00:34:40
authorities wouldn't do anything about it. So she was just getting away with it and people were trying to report her at
00:34:45
this point. >> well that's good. >> Now, given what we now know about slavery in the United States during this
00:34:50
period, Delphine's treatment of the people she enslaved in her home and on the plantation would have had to be
00:34:56
particularly brutal and cruel for her neighbors to speak out against her. >> That's the thing that you really have to
00:35:01
think about here because people were not treating enslaved people well. >> No. They were
00:35:07
>> Like they literally whipped them constantly. >> her They treated them as property.
00:35:13
>> So it had to have been really bad. >> Like unimaginably bad. >> And for people to speak out against
00:35:20
somebody with such power and influence. >> You really have to think about that piece of it.
00:35:24
>> she was rarely held accountable for her actions. In fact, if anything, it seems
00:35:29
most of the locals just ended up having to turn a blind eye to it because she was keeping up appearances in public.
00:35:35
And so and no one was doing anything about it. So they were like, "What are we to do here?"
00:35:40
On one occasion, in July 1829, she was brought before the court for mistreating the enslaved people in her house, but
00:35:47
the charge was dismissed when her accusers failed to show up in court to testify that they'd actually seen her
00:35:54
abuse them. >> Right. >> So that's the only reason she got out of there. She probably threatened them.
00:35:57
>> Mhm. >> Now, she literally tortured these people in her house. She would beat them until
00:36:02
unconscious. That was her MO. Was if she was doling out a beating to you, you weren't going to end that beating until
00:36:09
you were out. >> That's unreal. >> Yeah. In 1833, neighbors reported her because And this is horrific. Because
00:36:17
it's about to get gnarly, so just be I mean, this story gets No. Neighbors reported her because they saw her
00:36:23
literally chase an enslaved little girl who was 12 years old off the [ __ ] roof of her home. She was chasing her
00:36:30
with a whip, and she was so scared she fell off the roof of the home. >> Oh my god.
00:36:35
>> Lalaurie hid this murder and her body by hiding her in a well. And authorities did discover this after
00:36:42
the reports cuz people Neighbors saw this happen and reported her immediately. >> literally chasing a child off of her
00:36:48
roof. >> know what they did? >> Nothing. >> They fined her. And then they forced her They told her
00:36:53
that she had to sell her remaining enslaved humans. But she said >> other thing. It's like to sell a human,
00:37:00
like that's one concept that you have to you you never can, but you have to try to wrap your brain around for this
00:37:05
story. And then she gets to profit. >> Yeah. >> Like the punishment is oh, sell your
00:37:09
slaves, but you'll make money. >> What? >> And she said okay, and her friends and
00:37:15
family bought those enslaved people back and then brought them back into her home.
00:37:20
>> Are you [ __ ] kidding me? >> Yeah. Isn't that insane? >> Wow. >> Now the full extent of Delphine's
00:37:27
cruelty finally came to light on the morning of Thursday, April 10th, 1834, when a fire broke out at the mansion.
00:37:34
What? >> It's April 9th. >> What the [ __ ] >> Elena, it is April 9th. >> happen? Every Guys, I'm not even kidding
00:37:40
you. We don't do this on purpose. >> Also, we were going to do this story like a couple weeks ago.
00:37:45
>> Literally weeks ago, and I wanted to change it a little bit, just to add some
00:37:48
things. And I did not And then I literally was like, you know what? I'm going to do that one
00:37:53
for this next episode. >> game time decision. >> Yeah. Wow. >> That's chilling. >> What the [ __ ]
00:37:59
>> That's chilling. >> That's wild. >> All of a sudden I was like, wait, is it I thought it was April 10th.
00:38:04
>> That's crazy. >> April 9th. Like what the [ __ ] >> Yeah. >> Wow. >> Yeah. >> Hello.
00:38:09
>> Ooh. All right. So, Thursday, April 10th, 1834, a fire broke out in the mansion on Royal Street. And according
00:38:16
to the local press, the fire started in the kitchen and quickly spread until the
00:38:20
house was quote soon wrapped in flames. Immediately the neighbors raced to the aid of the LaLaurie family with many
00:38:26
helping them to recover their valuables from the house. >> Nice. >> Then Judge Jacques François Canonge
00:38:32
asked Louis LaLaurie for permission to remove the enslaved people in the house to safety.
00:38:38
>> The fact that there was a possibility that he could have said no. >> Oh, yeah. He literally and he had to ask
00:38:42
permission cuz that's their property. >> Oh. >> Yep. >> That makes uh actually just made me
00:38:47
nauseous. >> Doesn't that like just make me just nauseous? >> It's like >> That's human smell.
00:38:53
>> Wow. >> Um LaLaurie responded quote with much rudeness. It was Delphine who said this
00:38:58
next part. She said there are those who would be better employed if they would attend to their own affairs instead of
00:39:03
officiously intermeddling with the concerns of other people. In other words, mind your own business and let
00:39:08
them burn. >> Wow. >> Now, horrified by that response and his refusal to unbar the door to the kitchen
00:39:16
where at least seven enslaved people were imprisoned and bound with chains, Judge Canonge ordered several people to
00:39:24
break down the doors. >> Good. >> Once they were inside, the men were shocked by what they saw. According to
00:39:29
the local press, upon entering one of the apartments, the most appalling spectacle met their eyes. Seven slaves,
00:39:35
more or less horribly mutilated, were seen suspended by the neck with their limbs apparently stretched and torn from
00:39:42
one extremity to the other. >> Oh. >> Yeah. They were all wearing uh metal spiked
00:39:48
collars. Once removed from the house and cleaned, like cleaned of like soot and ash,
00:39:54
the victims were found to be covered in old scars and they were weighed down by heavy chains. Most of them couldn't even
00:40:00
hold themselves up to walk. >> I'm sure. >> Had they not been rescued by that judge
00:40:04
like just going against the homeowners, they surely would have died in the fire.
00:40:09
>> Absolutely. >> Um one of the uh newspaper said language and this is a wild quote. Language is
00:40:15
powerless and inadequate to give a proper conception of the horror which a scene like this must have inspired.
00:40:21
>> Wow. >> That should tell you what was going on. >> That just gave me a full chill.
00:40:25
>> That a reporter whose words are their life >> And their job. >> language is powerless and inadequate to
00:40:32
fully tell you what happened here. >> That's oh my god. >> There are reports that some of them were
00:40:37
tortured to the point of being unrecognizable as humans. Like their faces were completely mutilated. One
00:40:43
woman's back was so badly cut and whipped that muscle and bones were people poking through.
00:40:47
>> Oh my god. >> They found one woman, and this is one that a lot of people I'm sure have heard
00:40:52
of, >> I know where you're going. >> that had had her bones broken and reset several times so that she resembled a
00:40:57
crab. Cuz they would be they would break and then reset in the broken place essentially so that they were like
00:41:06
bent in all crazy angles. >> How do you do that to another human being? >> Apparently her daughters, she was trying
00:41:14
to teach her daughters the same hate and cruelty, but they did not have that inside of them.
00:41:22
>> Oh. >> So they would try to feed the the enslaved people. And when she would catch them, like she
00:41:29
would cuz they would she wouldn't feed them. So she they would try to bring food to them. When she would catch them,
00:41:34
she would like beat and punish them. >> Her daughters? >> For yeah, for their kindness to these
00:41:39
people. >> What the [ __ ] >> And it's become and it should be it should be obvious now that you've heard
00:41:45
this, that everybody's heard this. Scholars believe that this is just something that Delphine enjoyed. Like
00:41:51
this is >> she's sadistic. >> Like this isn't punishment. This is >> No, she was getting her
00:41:56
>> Yeah, like because yeah, most of the enslaved people they found in her home were so badly tortured and disfigured
00:42:02
that they could barely walk, never mind work. >> Right. >> So she wasn't getting work out of these
00:42:08
people. They weren't working for her. She was just a psychopath that liked to inflict
00:42:14
torture and pain on people. Like she liked this. This was a thing she did. >> She's a literal psychopath.
00:42:22
The awful discoveries only continued after the fire was extinguished as well. It turned out the fire had been started
00:42:28
by the cook who was found chained to the stove. So the cook was chained to the stove.
00:42:36
When asked why she'd done it, the woman explained she set the house a fire with the intention of terminating the
00:42:42
sufferings of herself and her companions or perishing in the flames. >> So she was ready to die in a fire
00:42:50
>> the suffering the nightmare that she was living. It was made clear that the victims who
00:42:55
were discovered in the burning home, again, weren't being put to work and were not
00:43:02
being punished for any particular offense. They were, quote, "merely kept in existence to prolong their sufferings
00:43:09
and to make them taste all that was the most refined cruelty that could be inflicted."
00:43:14
Like that's a quote. >> Yeah. >> The victims were removed from the property and taken to a guardhouse to
00:43:19
protect them from Delphine and provide medical care. In one account, journalist J.C. de Saint Rome
00:43:27
describes one man with, quote, "a large hole in his head and his body from head to foot was covered with scars and
00:43:33
filled with worms." >> Oh my god. >> Yeah. >> It's like unthinkable. >> It is. And it My reactions are just the
00:43:45
same over and over again, but you just don't know what to say. >> No. >> After the initial reports of what was
00:43:49
discovered in that house, more than 2,000 locals visited the guardhouse to see the victims with their own eyes.
00:43:56
>> I can't imagine. >> inspired the residents of New Or- New Orleans to have such incredible outrage that
00:44:02
they demanded justice for the men and women taken from that plantation. >> Which is shocking.
00:44:07
>> A writer for the New Orleans Bee said the community shares with us our indignation and that vengeance will fall
00:44:13
heavily fall upon the guilty culprit. The outrage of the locals, while understandable, obviously and like good
00:44:20
>> Absolutely. >> is also like guys like she she was doing this. You know what I mean? Like what the [ __ ]
00:44:27
>> to some degree. >> Yeah, it just like she she had been hauled into court several times for
00:44:32
abuse. It's like this can't be that shocking. Like >> But then when you find out like exactly
00:44:37
what was happening and you see it with your own eyes like a woman having her bones reset as a crown.
00:44:42
>> actual what was like the actual stuff that happened must have been shocking. But
00:44:49
it's and I think it's just me being like hindsight 20/20 and being like Well, it's like I wish anybody had done
00:44:56
something like you know what I mean? But then I have to go back and say, well, people were trying to like you know,
00:45:02
report this and trying to do something and it's the authorities that really weren't
00:45:07
doing anything cuz I'm sitting here saying like why weren't they doing anything? I'm like what do you do?
00:45:11
>> Yeah, I I don't know what you do. >> out what I do in my own like >> Well, what do you do when you're going
00:45:16
to the authorities multiple times over and over and nothing's happening? And they're they're going out there and just
00:45:20
giving her tickets. >> Yeah, like >> And it's like you know what it is? I'm more angry about some of the wealthier
00:45:26
and well-to-do families in locals. >> and didn't say anything. >> angry at the the locals that were not of
00:45:33
higher social standing because they really were powerless in a lot of ways. >> Yeah.
00:45:37
>> I'm more angry at like the high society people who were helping to cover this up
00:45:43
and get mad because like during one of her court cases where she was pulled in for abusing the enslaved people in her
00:45:50
house. Several of the servants described scenarios where she whipped them mercilessly for supposed infractions
00:45:57
including trying to feed themselves or their starving children. That was a That was a punishable offense
00:46:04
for her. >> And they just gave her a ticket. >> And when she was feeling particularly
00:46:07
cruel, she would skip over the adults entirely and just beat their children as punishment in front of them.
00:46:14
Oh. So, she's she's a [ __ ] monster. >> She honestly, like she should have got the guillotine.
00:46:22
>> And honestly, I think they would have kind of let justice happen. >> Like a >> If she didn't skip out, like street
00:46:31
justice. >> they would cuz the people of New Orleans were ready to tear her to shreds. And I
00:46:38
think if she had come back there, they would have torn her >> Orleans. Torn her to shreds.
00:46:42
>> And I wish she had been able to get the justice because >> Isn't it like nobody really knows what
00:46:46
happened to her? She just kind of like faded into obscurity. >> I mean, unfortunately, justice was
00:46:52
denied in this situation. In the immediate aftermath of the discovery, a lot of the locals took their anger out
00:46:58
on the Royal Street property. They stormed the house. They destroyed everything in sight. They ripped
00:47:03
paintings off the walls, destroyed the furniture. They made off with anything of value, which like good for you.
00:47:08
>> Yeah. >> Um they called her the devil in the shape of a woman. >> Yeah. >> And they were out for blood. The crowd
00:47:15
was eventually dispersed by the local sheriff, but by that time the damage was done.
00:47:19
>> Yeah. >> Later, the extent of the destruction would be estimated to have caused
00:47:23
roughly $10,000 in damage. >> Good. >> Uh in a report in the New York New Orleans Bee, a reporter described the
00:47:29
mob as {quote} animated with the desire to punish LaLaurie in the fire because of her cruelty towards her slaves.
00:47:36
{quote} again. >> Yes. >> As for Delphine herself, it seems that once the discovery was made, she didn't
00:47:42
wait around to see how the crowd was going to react. She got the [ __ ] out of there. It's widely believed that she
00:47:47
fled the city that night and made her way to the water where she and her family escaped to Alabama and then to
00:47:52
Paris. And she lived out the rest of her life in France and died on December 7th, 1849
00:47:58
at the age of 62. The fact that [ __ ] got to just go to France. >> Yeah. >> It pisses me off.
00:48:04
>> France doesn't want you, babe. >> Yeah. In the weeks >> to live your whole life like I mean by
00:48:09
that I mean luckily so but by that back then she was elderly as hell. >> Yeah. Now in the weeks after the fire two of
00:48:16
the victims died from their injuries and upon a further search of the property the bodies of two more victims were
00:48:22
discovered buried on the plantation grounds one of which was the body of a child.
00:48:26
>> Wow. >> Yeah. Now the night after the fire and after the looting and destruction the locals
00:48:32
returned to the property and set the rest of the house on fire. Uh they burned much of it to the ground.
00:48:38
>> It shouldn't exist. >> So. It remained a burned out rubble until the property was purchased in 1838
00:48:43
by Pierre Tristour who built a new home on the land which remains at the corner of
00:48:49
Royal and Governor Nicholls Street to this day. >> Wow. >> In the decades that followed Pierre
00:48:53
Tristour's death the home served a lot of different functions like it was used as a school building a music
00:48:58
conservatory >> Not a school building. >> apartment building with the lower floors
00:49:03
containing retail shops or other businesses but as early as the late 1940s the LaLaurie Mansion which is it's
00:49:10
still known despite having been been rebuilt has been the centerpiece of the city's rumored hauntings
00:49:18
and has drawn tourists with an interest in all of these ghosts. >> I mean that is some
00:49:23
gnarly >> brain gas energy. >> According to a 1947 article on New Orleans hauntings during the
00:49:29
reconstruction era which is like 1865 to 1867 the house gained a reputation as a
00:49:34
quote haunted saloon and has maintained that reputation ever since. Over the years visitors have reported hearing
00:49:41
weeping maidens who leap screaming from the roof >> Oh that's horrible. >> as countless other ghostly encounters.
00:49:47
Over the years the reputation of the mansion has definitely only grown. Residents of the second-floor apartments
00:49:54
that were there once reported hearing footsteps running along dim passages, mournful sighs, and at least once a
00:50:01
smothered scream. Oh. The property has changed hands a lot of different times, including a recent period in which it
00:50:08
was owned by actor Nicolas Cage. >> Yeah, I knew that. He He doesn't own it anymore?
00:50:12
>> No, he doesn't anymore, I don't think. I don't think he does, at least. Um when
00:50:16
it was an apartment in the late 1800s, a tenant who was found murdered there and
00:50:21
in the weeks leading up to it, he had told acquaintances of ghostly figures, voices, and violent demonic activity in
00:50:28
his apartment. >> [ __ ] >> Now, when it was a school as well, this like really [ __ ] me up. It was once It
00:50:33
was a couple of different schools and once it was an all-girls primary school and it was um it was only for black
00:50:39
girls. And this is important. I only say this because there were reports of kids
00:50:45
who were only like 6, 7, 8 years old and didn't know the history of Madame LaLaurie
00:50:49
>> Yeah. >> rushing to their teachers with scratches and bruises on their arms. And the
00:50:54
teachers would obviously be horrified being like, "Oh my god, thinking another child had done this." But they'd be
00:50:58
like, "Who did this to you?" And they would always say, "That woman." >> Oh. >> Yeah.
00:51:05
>> No. >> Yeah. >> Nope. Ew. >> So, that place, I mean, you can still see it. >> that an all-black girls school?
00:51:13
>> I have no idea. Who the [ __ ] decided that? >> it's just the only the only property I
00:51:18
suppose if it can be >> that there's like a plaque there or something. I don't know that there is,
00:51:22
but like that commemorates all the lives lost in the [ __ ] >> What a gnarly The energy I'd love to
00:51:29
hear from people who have like been to this particular place because it's like how did that feel?
00:51:34
>> Yeah, I don't >> Cuz it I just feel like the energy even walking by that must feel
00:51:39
>> I got to say, I think that's one place I'm not interested in going. It's just
00:51:43
like oh, it's so sad. >> It is really sad. >> don't >> like I'm not saying like don't go there
00:51:48
or anything. That I just I don't know if I could. >> Yeah. I mean it's not the mansion
00:51:52
anymore. That's rebuilt, but >> But that land has >> a lot of >> Honey, the land.
00:51:58
>> Honey, the land. That's a perfect honey, the land. >> Honey, the land. >> The land does have some gnarly [ __ ]
00:52:04
>> I know I know that story. Like I know how bad it is, but it never gets any easier to listen to.
00:52:10
>> Yeah, it really doesn't. >> It was a gnarly. That's why it took me a little while to do it cuz I was like, I
00:52:15
don't know if I want to tell this one today. >> Yeah, no I fully understand that.
00:52:20
>> I wish she had got justice. >> I do, too. >> I really do. I'm just looking up a fun fact for us
00:52:26
right now. Okay, ready? >> I'm ready. >> There's a lot to this. >> Okay. >> So this is a this is from a TikTok I saw
00:52:32
last night, so I'm not sure. I got to I got to like double-check it, but okay. Abraham Lincoln elected to Congress
00:52:38
1846. JFK elected to Congress 1946. >> Mhm. >> Abraham Lincoln elected president 1860.
00:52:49
JFK elected 1960. Actually, this is perfect. Both were particularly concerned with civil
00:52:56
rights. >> Yep. >> Both wives unfortunately lost a child while living in the White House.
00:53:01
>> Mhm. >> Both were shot on Friday. >> Interesting. >> Both were shot in the head.
00:53:06
Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy. >> Kennedy and Kennedy's >> Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln.
00:53:11
Both were assassinated by Southerners. Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson. Andrew Johnson, who succeeded
00:53:19
Lincoln, he was born in 1808. Lyndon B. Johnson succeeded Kennedy. Lyndon B. Johnson was
00:53:27
born in 1908. That I think that is all true cuz I've seen that that a thing that as a thing forever.
00:53:35
>> That >> that's crazy. >> That's not >> Like you can't That's >> Like that's one of the biggest
00:53:41
>> That's a fun fact. >> Yeah, like >> That's a series of fun facts. >> I saw that last night at like midnight
00:53:47
as I'm doom scrolling Tik Tok and I was like, "What the fuck?" >> What the [ __ ]
00:53:52
>> like, "That's crazy." >> That is I remember like the Lincoln secretary was Kennedy, Kennedy's
00:53:57
secretary was Lincoln. >> Yeah, but then you go to the very dates and it's literally
00:54:00
>> It's very strange. >> perfectly a hundred years apart. >> if it's like simulation.
00:54:04
>> It's simulation for sure. >> Probably. >> Yeah. Well, with all of that being said,
00:54:09
we hope that you keep listening and we hope you keep >> it >> weird. >> But not as I can't even say what she did
00:54:17
was weird. It's much beyond that. So just like don't Just just keep it weird. That's all.
00:54:22
>> Don't be an [ __ ] >> Yeah, be nice. And when you see something, say something.
00:54:26
>> Yeah. >> To the authorities. >> To the authorities. >> Not just to your friend.
00:55:53
>> Mhm.