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2:35

Cop of murder. When

2:37

a true story reaches the level of

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what is headline grabbing fiction.

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Today's story is one such

2:49

tale on April

2:51

10th, 1834. The victims of a

2:53

famed serial killer were found in

2:55

a story that is still incredibly

2:58

popular today. So

3:00

if you like your coffee hot, but your

3:02

bones chilled, sit back and start your day

3:04

with a morning cup of murder. Marie

3:07

Delphine McCarty or McCarthy, depending on the

3:09

sources, was born on March 19th, 1787

3:12

to a wealthy family

3:15

living in New Orleans with

3:17

a family background in the military and with many

3:20

of the men owning land by 1794. Delphine family

3:22

owned a large 1344 acre plantation in a premier

3:29

location with famously wealthy

3:31

neighbors and had a

3:33

father who was negative as a Chevelier of

3:36

the Royal and military order of St. Louis

3:38

had an uncle by marriage who was the

3:41

governor of the Spanish American provinces of Louisiana

3:43

and Florida and a cousin

3:45

who would serve as the mayor of New

3:47

Orleans. It's safe to

3:50

say that with all of this young

3:52

Delphine from birth lived a

3:54

charmed and extravagant life. Now

3:56

in 1791, when Delphine was only four years old,

4:00

something called the Haitian Revolution happened,

4:03

and when it did, it made slaveholders

4:05

in the southern US and Caribbean

4:08

extremely worried that resistance and rebellion

4:10

would happen in their homes next.

4:14

In fact, a few decades before, one

4:16

of Delphine's own uncles was murdered by

4:18

his slaves, and the Revolution

4:20

inspired quite a few conspiracies and coups

4:23

all around the country. But

4:25

instead of treating their slaves more

4:27

kindly, even if it was

4:30

only to try and save their own skin, many

4:32

began treating them more harshly out

4:34

of the sphere of insurrection, and

4:38

began abusing these men, women,

4:40

and children more than ever

4:42

before. All the while, as

4:44

was unfortunately all too common,

4:47

white men in power, like those living

4:49

under Delphine's own roof, had

4:51

relations with free women of color

4:54

or women of mixed race, and fathered

4:57

quite a few children along the way.

4:59

In fact, according to the sources, Delphine's

5:02

father, uncle, cousins, and

5:04

many other associates contributed greatly to

5:06

the development of biracial free people

5:09

of color, adding to

5:11

the population with women who, though

5:13

referred to as free, were

5:15

called concubines by the legal

5:17

system. While Delphine,

5:20

at her young age, did not

5:22

directly contribute to either the abuse

5:24

or the relations, this

5:26

was the background with which she was raised,

5:28

and, as the

5:30

world soon found out, might have

5:32

been what helped shape her into the monster

5:34

that she became. In

5:37

the year 1800, Marie Delphine McCarty, just 14

5:39

years old, married

5:43

what would be her first husband.

5:45

Having just recently lost his own wife, 35-year-old

5:49

Ramon Lopez E. Angulo de

5:51

la Condalaria married

5:53

the much younger Delphine in a

5:56

private ceremony, and, less than

5:58

five years later, made her both a mother

6:00

and a widow. In

6:03

1804, Don Ramon appointed the position

6:06

of Counsel General for Spain in

6:08

the territory of Orleans, was

6:10

called to appear in the Corps of Spain. But

6:13

while en route with his young pregnant

6:15

wife, he suddenly died

6:17

while in Havana. Just

6:20

a few days later, Delphine gave birth to

6:22

their daughter and the pair returned to New

6:24

Orleans on their own. Then

6:27

in June of 1808, now around the age of 21, Delphine

6:32

married Jean Blanc, a prominent

6:34

banker, merchant, lawyer, and legislator,

6:37

and together the pair would have four

6:39

children. Now around the time

6:41

that she entered her second marriage, Delphine's

6:43

mother passed away and divided her

6:46

estate between her three children, meaning

6:48

Delphine walked away with a little over

6:50

$33,000 and

6:53

a downtown plantation on the bank of the

6:56

Mississippi River that came with 52 slaves, livestock,

6:59

and equipment. With

7:02

some sources claiming Jean Blanc entered the

7:04

relationship with dollar signs in his eyes,

7:07

seeing Delphine as more of a cash

7:09

cow than a wife, his

7:12

new father-in-law gifted the young couple

7:14

with yet another plantation and additional

7:16

slave. Meaning Delphine,

7:18

in a world where women often weren't

7:20

worth much, was now worth

7:22

well over $2 million in

7:25

today's money. Splitting

7:27

their time between the townhouse and

7:30

their plantation, Delphine and her husband made

7:32

quite the lives of themselves and

7:34

became prominent members of New Orleans

7:36

society. But less

7:38

than a year after the Battle of New Orleans,

7:41

Delphine lost her 50-year-old

7:43

husband and at the age of

7:45

just 28, became a single

7:47

mother of five and a

7:49

widow twice over. She

7:52

was also a woman left to settle her husband's

7:54

estate, which at the time of his death, consisted

7:57

of debts that totaled over $100. $60,000.

8:00

That's over $2.5 million in today's

8:02

money. Forcing

8:07

her to renounce their community property to

8:09

the courts and forfeit all their mutual

8:11

assets in order to protect her personal

8:14

ones, over the next 10 years,

8:16

Delcine was forced to auction off most of

8:18

her husband's properties, including

8:20

her enslaved persons, in

8:22

an effort to dig herself out of his

8:24

debts. The wealth she

8:27

came into the marriage with was now

8:29

incredibly depleted, but before she

8:31

could get herself into any more trouble,

8:33

her father passed away in 1824 and left his children

8:38

with quite the substantial inheritance. With

8:41

that, Delcine was back in business,

8:43

just in time to meet 25-year-old

8:45

physician Leonard Louis

8:48

Nicholas LaLaurie. So

8:50

she was considered a, quote, older woman at

8:52

the age of 38, was twice

8:55

widowed and had five children to care for.

8:58

She and Leonard began a relationship, and

9:01

at some point she found herself pregnant with

9:03

his child outside of wedlock. A

9:06

scandal, to be sure, Dr.

9:08

LaLaurie and Delcine sat down

9:10

with a notary and negotiated

9:12

their marriage contract. Worth

9:14

over $66,000 and not wanting to see

9:16

herself in a similar position as she

9:18

was after the death of her second

9:20

husband, the pair sorted out

9:22

their finances and properties, and

9:25

when finished, headed over to the cathedral to make

9:27

it legal in the eyes of the Catholic Church.

9:30

A wedding date that was on paper

9:32

rolled back six months to try and

9:34

avoid the scrutiny of having their child

9:36

before marriage. The union,

9:38

however, was not a happy one,

9:41

and according to letters written by

9:43

friends, the pair were known to,

9:45

quote, fight, often separate, then return

9:47

to each other. Some

9:50

of these letters, according to the sources,

9:53

even included some of the

9:55

first mentions of Madame LaLaurie's

9:57

treatment of her many slaves.

10:00

a cruelty that has gone on

10:02

to last much longer than the

10:04

lives of anyone involved. Having

10:06

purchased a property at 1140 Royal Street, in 1832,

10:09

Madame L'Allerie built an opulent

10:13

two-story mansion there, complete with

10:16

an attached slave quarters where

10:18

she, her husband, and two of

10:20

her daughters lived and maintained their

10:22

position in upper New Orleans society.

10:26

Then, in November of 1832,

10:28

Delphine had enough of her most

10:30

recent marriage and petitioned the first

10:32

judicial district court for a separation

10:34

from bed and board from her

10:37

husband. Claiming he quote

10:39

treated her in such a manner as

10:41

to render their living together unsupportable, which

10:44

her children corroborated, though

10:46

it seems like her request was granted,

10:49

Dr. L'Allerie was present inside

10:51

their Royal Street home on

10:53

April 10th 1834, when

10:56

a fire blew the lid off

10:58

of Madame L'Allerie's many horrors.

11:01

On that day, a fire began inside

11:04

of the home and those sources each

11:06

report different versions of the discovery. One

11:09

thing was absolutely sure. The slaves

11:12

that were able to leave the home

11:14

with their lives were each scarred and

11:16

marked in ways that went beyond what

11:18

was typically seen during this time period.

11:21

Seven in total were rescued from

11:24

what was described as truly deplorable

11:26

conditions, taken out in stretchers

11:28

and delivered to safety. And though accounts

11:31

have been embellished over time, most say

11:33

that their bodies were covered in scars

11:36

and quote loaded with chains.

11:40

According to a local judge, neighbor, and one of

11:42

the first to arrive at the fire, when

11:44

most first gathered at the L'Allerie home,

11:46

they began work trying to rescue the

11:49

family's many valuables from the fire. However,

11:52

all of that changed when the

11:54

fire, which originated in the kitchen

11:56

slash outbuilding, began to spread and

11:58

a few concerned citizens went to

12:00

check on the slaves' quarters and

12:02

told the judge that they were in danger.

12:06

Asking Madame Lallérie's permission to remove

12:08

her slaves and take them

12:10

to safety, the woman

12:12

reportedly responded, quote, there

12:15

are those who would be better employed

12:17

if they would attend to their own

12:19

affairs instead of officiously intermeddling with the

12:22

concerns of other people. Before

12:24

he could ponder her words, the fire

12:26

spread and he gave the orders to

12:28

break down the doors. While

12:31

the level of depravity depends on the source,

12:34

with even the tamest story being gruesome

12:36

in its own right, when

12:38

those citizens walked past the threshold and

12:40

saw what was inside, their

12:42

focus shifted from helping the Lallérie

12:44

family save their valuables to

12:47

a mob forming to destroy the

12:49

contents of their mansion in retaliation.

12:52

What exactly inspired their anger? Well,

12:55

inside the room were, quote,

12:57

horribly mutilated individuals. Some

12:59

of which were, quote, suspended by

13:02

the neck and their extremities stretched

13:04

and torn, with the

13:06

judge himself saying that the slaves were

13:08

chained and, quote, exposed to

13:11

parish in conflagration. One woman

13:13

was even allegedly found wearing an

13:16

iron collar and others chained

13:18

by heavy irons and forced to walk

13:20

around with the weight. Days

13:23

after the fire, it was reported that

13:25

one of the slaves who had been

13:27

removed from the home did not survive

13:29

all that they were forced to endure

13:31

and that bones of other victims were

13:33

excavated from the family's courtyard, one

13:36

of which allegedly belonged to a

13:38

young girl who Madame Lallérie chased

13:40

straight out a window and let

13:42

fall to her death. Allegedly,

13:45

the girl's only crime against her mistress

13:47

was snagging a knot while brushing

13:50

her hair. There were also

13:52

accounts of Madame Lallérie chaining her cooks

13:54

to the stove, and some

13:56

sources say that when police and fire

13:58

marshals arrived, and found this

14:01

70-year-old woman chained there, she

14:03

said she started the fire as a suicide

14:05

attempt because she feared that she

14:07

was going to be punished. She

14:10

also said that the slaves who were

14:12

taken to the uppermost room never made

14:14

it back down. And

14:17

it appears that her own daughters were not

14:19

immune to her wrath, often

14:21

beaten when they made attempts to free the

14:23

slaves in their mother's control. With

14:26

tales of drilled holes in skulls,

14:29

unnatural bone-breaking positions, men

14:31

stripped of their clothing and chained to

14:33

walls, eyes gouged out,

14:36

fingernails pulled from the roots, festering

14:39

wounds, sliced skin, lips

14:41

sewn together, intestines pulled

14:44

out and knotted around the waist,

14:47

and some of the most unthinkable

14:49

torture ever heard. Again,

14:51

it's difficult to truly

14:53

know what happened inside of that home.

14:56

Though some of the claims have

14:58

been discredited and some elaborated upon

15:01

and made even more gruesome than before, it

15:04

is difficult to suss out what is fact in

15:06

fiction, especially considering that

15:08

Madame Delphine Lalléry still

15:11

appears in modern works of

15:13

fiction, which effectively can rewrite

15:15

pieces of history. Regardless,

15:17

though, it was clear that this

15:19

woman treated her slaves in such

15:22

a horrific way that it completely

15:24

stunned an entire community who realized

15:26

that there was a serial killer

15:29

masking herself and living amongst their

15:31

highest society. In

15:33

total, 12 deaths were documented at

15:35

the Royal Street Mansion, so

15:38

the causes of deaths were not mentioned

15:40

and in some cases impossible

15:42

to discern. These deaths

15:44

include that of a woman named Bon,

15:46

a cook and laundress, and

15:49

her four children, Juliet, who

15:51

died at 13, Florence,

15:53

who died at 10, Jules,

15:56

who died at just six,

15:59

and Leon, too. who was

16:01

just four years old. According

16:04

to the sources, at some point, the rumors

16:06

about the treatment of her slaves, though they

16:08

had no clue what was truly going on,

16:11

spread enough that a local lawyer was

16:13

dispatched to remind the madam of the

16:15

laws for the upkeep of slaves. During

16:18

his visit, though, the lawyer found

16:21

no evidence of wrongdoing or mistreatment,

16:23

meaning the true scope of her crimes may have

16:26

never been revealed, if not for

16:28

that fire. Wanting

16:30

justice for those she tortured and killed, when

16:33

the officials went looking for madam lollery,

16:36

she was nowhere to be found.

16:38

That's because with one loyal servant

16:41

still on her side, either loyal

16:43

or completely terrified of her, the

16:46

guilty woman managed to slip through the mayhem, get

16:49

into her carriage, and ride off with

16:51

stunned citizens trying desperately

16:53

to hold onto the horse and snatch

16:55

her from the inside. The coachman

16:57

used his whip to fend them off, escaped

17:00

with his mistress, and took her to a schooner that was waiting

17:02

at the docks. While

17:05

she sailed off to some unknown

17:07

location, he arrived back at the

17:09

home, where the angry mob

17:11

destroyed the carriage and stabbed the horse

17:13

to death. Rumor and

17:16

speculation about her whereabouts spread throughout the

17:18

city, and eventually she managed

17:20

to settle in Paris and

17:22

was later joined by the rest of her

17:24

family. It was here that

17:26

on December 7, 1849, the

17:29

woman who caused so much pain and suffering

17:33

quietly passed away inside of her

17:35

home. There are some differing accounts

17:37

on what exactly happened to her body, and

17:40

to this day, there is argument

17:42

amongst some claiming that

17:44

we don't really know the true

17:46

location of her remains. The

17:49

house of horrors on Royal Street was burned

17:51

down by a mob in 1834 and

17:54

remained in ruins for the next four years

17:56

before being rebuilt into what you see today

17:58

on Ghost of the stores throughout the

18:01

city. In a

18:03

place where the supernatural and paranormal

18:05

have become their bread and butter,

18:07

the story of Madame Lallérie remains

18:09

New Orleans most famous ghost story.

18:13

Thank you for joining me in my morning cup

18:15

of murder. Please join me again tomorrow to

18:17

a terrible thing happened on April 11th.

18:20

Don't forget to rate and subscribe and let me know how you

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