Mad Madame Lalaurie by Victoria Cosner Love and Lorelei Shannon
In the television series 'American Horror Story,' Kathy Bates played a sadistic southern belle named Delphine Lalaurie who took delight in the torture of slaves. What I didn't know then was that this character was based upon an actual person, and certain events in the show mirrored at least the legend of Madame Lalaurie. But who was the real Madame Lalaurie, and could she really have committed such unspeakable acts? These questions and much more are answered perhaps as well as they could be (record keeping wasn't so exact in 1834, and myths and legends tend to alter and obfuscate) in the book Mad Madame Lalaurie by Victoria Cosner Love and Lorelei Shannon.
Delphine Lalaurie no doubt would have been forgotten in time if not for a horrific fire at her New Orleans mansion on April 10th, 1834. Delphine and her family escaped unharmed. But later on, as firefighters searched for survivors, they discovered an attic full of chained slaves badly in need of rescue and medical attention. Madame Lalaurie fled to France, but the questions had already begun. Was she the one who chained her slaves only to abandon them as flames consumed the mansion? Or perhaps it was her husband, a doctor with a shady reputation? And then years went by and stories sprung up on their own. Soon there was talk of sexual mutilation and experimentation, a Devil baby, voodoo, portraits of the Madame falling from walls without provocation, and unnerving moaning and groaning in the hallways. Maybe the mansion really is haunted, and what the heck does the actor Nicolas Cage have to do with any of this? If you're ever down in the French Quarter of New Orleans, stop by and investigate for yourself. But in this case, I believe human beings were much more cruel than any ghost going bump in the night.
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