In “The Haunted House in Royal Street,” Cable describes the various incarnations of a mansion in New Orleans, which was even, for a time, a school. In the section below, Cable tells of the time when the house was presided over by the notorious Madame Lalurie, a woman of uncertain background who gained admission to New Orleans society through her great beauty, wealth and charm.

She also was a secret sadist, who committed acts of brutality on her slaves. When the secrets of the house were at last revealed, the slave-owning citizens of New Orleans rioted and drove her from the city.

This story, like that of Salome Müller, was known throughout the South.

Text: George Washington Cable, Strange True Stories of Louisiana (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1889), 200–219.

THE “HAUNTED HOUSE” IN ROYAL STREET

1831–82

Madame Lalaurie

On the 30th of August, 1831, before Octave de Armas, notary, one E. Soniat Dufossat sold this property to a Madame Lalaurie. She may have dwelt in the house earlier than this, but here is where its tragic history begins. Madame Lalaurie was still a beautiful and most attractive lady, though bearing the name of a third husband. Her surname had been first McCarty,—a genuine Spanish-Creole name, although of Irish origin, of course,—then Lopez, or maybe first Lopez and then McCarty, and then Blanque. She had two daughters, the elder, at least, the issue of her first marriage.

The house is known to this day as Madame Blanque's house,—which, you notice, it never was,—so distinctly was she the notable figure in the household. Her husband was younger than she. There is strong sign of his lesser importance in the fact that he was sometimes, and only sometimes, called doctor—Dr. Louis Lalaurie. The graces and graciousness of their accomplished and entertaining mother quite outshone his stepdaughters as well as him. To the frequent and numerous guests at her sumptuous board these young girls seemed comparatively unanimated, if not actually unhappy. Not so with their mother.