Is the LaLaurie Mansion Haunted?
Content advisory: This episode discusses the torture and deaths of enslaved people in 1830s New Orleans. Some of the language is graphic, though never explicit. It may not be suitable for all listeners.
This episode of Ghostly visits the LaLaurie Mansion. Every night in the French Quarter, people gather on the corner of Royal and Governor Nicholls and tilt their phones up at a three-story gray house that nobody is allowed to enter. In 1834, a kitchen fire exposed what Delphine LaLaurie had been doing to the people she enslaved. A mob tore the house apart, and Madame escaped, never to face trial. This week, Haunted Murder Houses heads to New Orleans. Rebecca follows the little girl on the roof and the man in chains, while Pat separates what the 1834 record actually shows from almost two centuries of legend. You decide: genuine haunting, or entirely senseless talk?
The History
Delphine LaLaurie was a wealthy New Orleans socialite famous for her lavish parties at 1140 Royal Street. Rumors about how she treated the people she enslaved circulated for years. Then, on April 10, 1834, a kitchen fire broke out. Bystanders broke down the doors to the slave quarters and found seven people in restraints, and the cook, chained to the stove, said she set the fire herself. A mob wrecked the house, and Delphine fled to Paris, never to face trial. The house standing today was rebuilt after 1838, and the most gruesome versions of the story first appeared in books written more than a century later. Nicolas Cage bought the house in 2007 and lost it to foreclosure two years later.
The Hauntings
Leah, the little girl on the roof: According to the lore, an enslaved child fled Madame’s whip and fell from the roof. Since the 1800s, passersby have reported a ghost child on the rooftop. One guide’s dead streetlamps flickered on the moment she said the girl’s name.
The man in chains: The house’s most-reported ghost. Tenement tenants in the 1890s said he attacked them and then vanished. A housekeeper who didn’t know the house’s history saw “a tall dark man with chains around his neck” and never went back.
Madame never left: After the Civil War, when the house was a girls’ school, students showed up with scratched arms and blamed “that woman.” Visitors still report a woman watching from the upper windows.
Screams, moans, and the smell of smoke: The cook chained to the stove is said to remain. A stench of burnt, rotting meat comes and goes with no source.
The house that won’t keep an owner: The 1837 buyer lasted three months. A boarding house opened in 1884 and closed soon after. Jules Vignie was found dead in the attic in 1892. A tenant who complained of “sprites” was murdered in 1894. Nicolas Cage reportedly never spent a single night there.
Rebecca also has a first-person story from the sidewalk on Royal Street. Tune in for that one.
Music & Sound Credits
Music performed by Michael Rivers. “Pat Facts” and “Ghost Story” themes by Mondo. “Time for a Debate” theme by Gail Gallagher — gailgallaghermusic.com
Weigh In
Got a ghost story? Call or text us (hear the number in the episode). You might hear it on the show! To vote, text the episode title with YES (believer) or NO (skeptic), plus a haunting score from 1–10.
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Next Time on Ghostly
Haunted Murder Houses wraps up with the Lizzie Borden House. The new episode airs 10/28/2026. Stay Ghostly.
Tags: #GhostlyPodcast #LaLaurieMansion #MadameLaLaurie #HauntedNewOrleans #FrenchQuarter #HauntedLouisiana #HauntedMurderHouses #ParanormalPodcast #TrueHauntings #HauntedHistory #GhostStories
Sources
Delphine LaLaurie — 64 Parishes (Carolyn Morrow Long)
Mistress of the Haunted House — 64 Parishes
What Really Happened at the LaLaurie House? — Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans
1889: Lalaurie Mansion — New Orleans Magazine
The LaLaurie Mansion 1832 — BlackPast
Delphine LaLaurie and Her Haunted Mansion — Legends of America
LaLaurie Mansion — Atlas Obscura
Madame Delphine LaLaurie: The True Story — Ghost City Tours
Can I Go Inside the LaLaurie Mansion? — Ghost City Tours
Nicolas Cage: Movie Star, Foreclosure Victim — CNN Money
Haunted French Quarter Mansion Once Owned by Nicolas Cage for Sale — WWL-TV
The Ghosts of the Haunted LaLaurie Mansion — Ghost City Tours
Working at the LaLaurie House — Reddit r/Paranormal
The Most Haunted Places in Each State — Ranker
MARDI-GRAve: The LaLaurie House — Dread Central
The Ghosts of LaLaurie Mansion — Marlene Pardo Pellicer
Haunted Crime Scenes: The City That Loves the Dead — Crime Library
The Most Haunted Place in Louisiana: The LaLaurie Mansion — The Advocate
Goth Chick News: Mad Madame LaLaurie — Black Gate
Beyond Depraved: LaLaurie Mansion’s Death Attic — Vocal Media
Inside Madame LaLaurie’s House of Horrors — Urban Legends, Mystery & Myth
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