How then did a New Orleans high society socialite maintain her anonymity as a serial killer and torturer of slaves for years?
Madam LaLaurie married three times and lived with her third husband a physician, and her daughters in the Royal Street mansion in 1832.
Madam LaLaurie’s Torture Chamber
Inside of her two story mansion was an area specifically built for housing the family’s slaves.
These are the quarters the Madam kept locked up and off limits to her daughters and husband.
Once inside the torture chamber slaves were found chained, stretched, whipped, and barely surviving or dead.
What really shocked the crowd who later sought justice against the LaLaurie family was the diabolical abuse visible on the slaves.
She had placed spiked iron neck collars around some keeping their head from moving forward.
Others were imprisoned in small boxes their suffering had increased over a period of months and years.
Chained to the stove so as to enforce perpetual cooking duty, Madam’s slave set the mansion ablaze.
It is believed that the behavior of the escaping slaves from the LaLaurie mansion did so most of the time out fear.
There were so many cruelties by Madam LaLaurie to be afraid of, but one of the them above all else.
Found in the highest point of the house was an attic space designated for the most cruel debaucheries by the Madam.
Slaves who were sent to this spot were believed to never come back. This may be due to prolonged imprisonment or by design of their torture method selected by the evil woman.
The slave woman is believed to have revealed the unusual behavior of LaLaurie to law enforcement.
Madam LaLaurie’s Daughters
The common thread in the story is fear. Not just by the slaves at what horrible indignity the Madam may visit upon them. Her daughters also were deadly afraid of her.
The Madam maintained a constant state of fear so as to dissuade anyone from speaking to the authorities about her cruel intentions.
It is perhaps the reason why it took over 4 years for her torture chambers to be found out.
The Madam treated her daughters terribly. If they fed the slaves of the home the daughters were whipped for disobedience.
The Fire
In April 1834 a sudden fire consumed the LaLaurie’s mansion and this was the beginning of the end for her evil scheme.
The slave woman chained to her stove in the kitchen started the fire.
It’s believed to have been the bravery of this woman that many credit with the ultimate discovery by the town of the Madam’s torture chambers for her slaves.
News about the depravity carried out by Madam LaLaurie spread quickly leading to the formation of an angry mob.
The mob descended on the mansion and set it on fire in a surge of vengeance.
Slavery was lawful at this time and while some surely believed the Madam was allowed to do what she wished with her legal property the sheer inhumanity overwhelmed the town into a rage.
It is believed Madam LaLaurie escaped the mob in 1834 and fled. There is a tombstone indicating that she died in Paris allegedly in 1842.
After the mob incited a fire on the mansion the house laid in disrepair for some time before being rebuilt by new owners.
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