#st. louis of the vieux carré

[pinkpendulum]

hematophagia

st. louis of the vieux carré day 5 : hunger | feeding habits

[blacclotusss]

Happy Birthday, Louis de Pointe du Lac 🖤🥀

[iwtvfanevents]

St. Louis 2024 —an LDPDL fan event

This October, we are celebrating our titular vampire's 147th birthday with a month-long creative challenge. This is the second edition of this event, and you can see the fan creations shared last year in the tag, here ►

How does this event work?

Louis's birthday is October 4th, so we have four broad prompts, and ten prompt quotes. Prompts have no assigned date, and they are meant to be interpreted freely. 

Prompts

Love / Family 

Memory / Art

Gender / Sexuality

Vampirism / Power

Quotes

"For the first time in my life, I was seen."

"I had powers now, and decades of rage to process…"

"Allow me my odyssey."

"The absence of metaphor is striking."

"Are we the sum of our worst moments?"

"She called me an angel."

"But the suit changes nothing."

"My rage had risen, followed closely behind by my madness."

"I’m companion enough for myself now." 

"I didn't know it was a gift."

Louis's character exists in relation with others —his human family, his vampire family, his love interests, his interviewer, his employees— and your contribution can be about any and all of those relationships, or about Louis alone.

POV isn't a given either: you could write about Louis from another character's perspective but, if it's focused on Louis, then it's still in the spirit of this event.

And, if you end up creating something that doesn't quite respond to any prompt, you're still participating, as long as your creation is about Jacob Anderson's Louis de Pointe du Lac.

Some ways in which you can participate include:

fanfiction,

fanart,

fanmixes,

moodboards,

gifsets,

photomanips,

graphics,

video edits and AMVs,

meta and analysis in written, audio or video form,

poetry,

music,

headcanons,

fanworks and meta recommendations...

...and anything else you can think of!

Please take a look at our participation guidelines, and don't forget to tag your posts with #IWTVfanevents or tag @iwtvfanevents so we can share them on the blog. You can also add them to the collection on AO3: Happy birthday LDPDL!

If you’re on Twitter, we’re over there too!

And, as always, we encourage you to use the #vampterview tag for your posts about the show. Learn more about this fandom tag here ►

[probablymoons]

i only started this collage last night but am super busy so thought i’d post for his bday. it fits the prompt of Memory & Art for the St. Louis event over at @iwtvfanevents

[edit] As promised, all of the image sources:

The picture of him is from the s2 finale, the frame under him is a stock asset by audiaudi. To his left is Nocturne in Black and Gold, the Falling Rocket (1875) by James Whistler. Above that (graveyard) is from the comic Raptor by Dave McKean, the end paper next to it is from here. Blue stars are by Kiki Smith and that star with the script is by Dina Wakley. Those are the legs of Venus de Milo, the stripes by Sølve Sundsbø, and the “Rock-crystal” is from plate 11 of Chambers Mineralogical Dictionary. Keys are from Handbook of Ornament, 1900. Foil star from Rose Mille, checkers by Harmony Korine, and boy by Ray Turner.

[weather-mood]

Strange house we must keep and fill. House that eats and pleads and kills.

For the last day of Louis’s birthday event and for the prompt ‘Haunted Houses,’ my fellow co-authors and I would like to invite you to the House at 1132 Rue Royale.

By @nlbv @vampdf @baberainbowao3 @dlsintegration @knifeeater and weathermood. And with art by @gayvampiredivorce.

[officialjimmybuffett]

LIAR, LIAR

amc's interview with the vampire "cover story" by richard siken isaiah 59: 2-3 the stanley parable by davey wreden and william pugh black sails kieran culkin for vulture

a web weave for @iwtvfanevents saint louis of the vieux carré event: day 7 — memory

[louisdulacblog]

First of October and the first day of st. louis of the vieux carré event. I'll be combining last year's and this year's prompts for Louis B-Day Event hosted by @iwtvfanevents on AO3.

I'm excited to participate in this month-long challenge! Though I've put a hold on some of my Fics to participate in Oneshots (which aren't my forte). May luck and Saint Louis be on my side. Onwards!

October '24 | Louis Bday Event | Oneshots

All oneshots will be posted under this series on my AO3 account.

Format:

Day (no.) | 2023 event theme (no.) | 2024 prompt (no.) | 2024 quote (no.)

How it works: Link on Number of day. Each day of the month goes with a theme prompt from 2023 that correlates with it's day. Every week goes with it's 2024 prompt and each ten days there will be a rotation of 2024 quotes given to each theme and prompt.

Day 1 | Humanity/Human Life | Love/Family | "For the first time in my life, I was seen."

Day 2 | Crossover | Love/Family | "I had powers now, and decades of rage to process…"

Day 3 | Confession/penance | Love/Family | "Allow me my odyssey."

Day 4 | Through the decades | Love/Family | "The absence of metaphor is striking."

Day 5 | Hunger/Feeding habits | Love/Family | "Are we the sum of our worst moments?"

Day 6 | Canon divergence | Love/Family | "She called me an angel."

Day 7 | Memory/Keepsake | Love/Family | "But the suit changes nothing."

Day 8 | Fashion | Memory/Art | "My rage had risen, followed closely behind by my madness."

Day 9 | Epistolary/Handwritten | Memory/Art | "I’m companion enough for myself now."

Day 10 | Missing scene | Memory/Art | "I didn't know it was a gift."

Day 11 | Literature/Intertext | Memory/Art | "For the first time in my life, I was seen."

Day 12 | Intoxication | Memory/Art | "I had powers now, and decades of rage to process…"

Day 13 | Floral/The last bouquet | Memory/Art | "Allow me my odyssey."

Day 14 | Dubai | Memory/Art | "The absence of metaphor is striking."

Day 15 | Love/Lust | Gender/Sexuality | "Are we the sum of our worst moments?"

Day 16 | Parenthood | Gender/Sexuality | "She called me an angel."

Day 17 | Canvas/Visual arts | Gender/Sexuality | "But the suit changes nothing."

Day 18 | Storytelling | Gender/Sexuality | "My rage had risen, followed closely behind by my madness."

Day 19 | Marriage/Relationships | Gender/Sexuality | "I’m companion enough for myself now."

Day 20 | New Orleans | Gender/Sexuality | "I didn't know it was a gift."

Day 21 | Performance/Gender | Gender/Sexuality | "Allow me my odyssey."

Day 22 | Family | Vampirism/Power | "I had powers now, and decades of rage to process…"

Day 23 | Fairy tales/Monsters | Vampirism/Power | "Allow me my odyssey."

Day 24 | Photography | Vampirism/Power | "The absence of metaphor is striking."

Day 25 | Faith/Purpose | Vampirism/Power | "Are we the sum of our worst moments?"

Day 26 | Alternative Universe | Vampirism/Power | "She called me an angel."

Day 27 | Grief/Ghosts | Vampirism/Power | "But the suit changes nothing."

Day 28 | Paris | Vampirism/Power | "My rage had risen, followed closely behind by my madness."

Day 29 | Childhood/Innocence | Memory | "Don't steal the sweets."

Day 30 | Music | Humanity | "Lestat wrote the wolverine blues?"

Day 31 | Halloween/Haunted houses | Sweet | "Happy Birthday."

[portraitoflestatonfire]

Faces, dir. John Cassavetes (1968) // Interview with the Vampire 1.05, dir. Levan Akin (2022)

[blacclotusss]

In Fashion: Louis de Pointe du Lac 🥀

@iwtvfanevents

[iwtvfanevents]

St. Louis 2024 —an LDPDL fan event

This October, we are celebrating our titular vampire's 147th birthday with a month-long creative challenge. This is the second edition of this event, and you can see the fan creations shared last year in the tag, here ►

How does this event work?

Louis's birthday is October 4th, so we have four broad prompts, and ten prompt quotes. Prompts have no assigned date, and they are meant to be interpreted freely. 

Prompts

Love / Family 

Memory / Art

Gender / Sexuality

Vampirism / Power

Quotes

"For the first time in my life, I was seen."

"I had powers now, and decades of rage to process…"

"Allow me my odyssey."

"The absence of metaphor is striking."

"Are we the sum of our worst moments?"

"She called me an angel."

"But the suit changes nothing."

"My rage had risen, followed closely behind by my madness."

"I’m companion enough for myself now." 

"I didn't know it was a gift."

Louis's character exists in relation with others —his human family, his vampire family, his love interests, his interviewer, his employees— and your contribution can be about any and all of those relationships, or about Louis alone.

POV isn't a given either: you could write about Louis from another character's perspective but, if it's focused on Louis, then it's still in the spirit of this event.

And, if you end up creating something that doesn't quite respond to any prompt, you're still participating, as long as your creation is about Jacob Anderson's Louis de Pointe du Lac.

Some ways in which you can participate include:

fanfiction,

fanart,

fanmixes,

moodboards,

gifsets,

photomanips,

graphics,

video edits and AMVs,

meta and analysis in written, audio or video form,

poetry,

music,

headcanons,

fanworks and meta recommendations...

...and anything else you can think of!

Please take a look at our participation guidelines, and don't forget to tag your posts with #IWTVfanevents or tag @iwtvfanevents so we can share them on the blog. You can also add them to the collection on AO3: Happy birthday LDPDL!

If you’re on Twitter, we’re over there too!

And, as always, we encourage you to use the #vampterview tag for your posts about the show. Learn more about this fandom tag here ►

[amvguy]

st. louis of the vieux carré day 25: faith

What would Christ need have done to make me follow him like Matthew or Peter? Dress well, to begin with. And have a luxurious head of pampered yellow hair. — Interview With The Vampire

louis de pointe du lac ⁠— heaven is here by florence and the machine

[signipotens]

Map of some important locations in AMC IWTV (no spoilers)

Orientation

Lakeside (towards Lake Pontchartrain) is towards the top of the map; riverside (towards the Mississippi River) is towards the bottom of the map. Upriver (“above”) is to the left; downriver (“below”) is to the right. North is in the top right.

Locations

Vieux Carré / French Quarter: Historic centre of New Orleans. Limits at Rampart, Canal, the river, Esplanade. Unmarked.

1132 Royal Street: The Gallier House, an eclectic 1857 townhouse (now a museum operated by Tulane University) that Lestat, Louis, and Claudia live in. Marked in red.

Jackson Square: The park by St Louis Cathedral where Louis and the gang like to sit on that one bench. Marked in lavender.

French Opera House: Foremost opera house in NO until it burned down in 1919. Uptown lakeside corner of Toulouse and Bourbon. Marked in magenta.

Fauborg Tremé: Prominent then-middle-class integrated neighbourhood lakeside of the Vieux Carré (French Quarter). From the 1840s on it was mostly populated by free, mixed-race Creoles. Limits at Canal, Rampart, and Esplanade; continues north above the map. Outlined in green.

St Augustine Church: The first Catholic church in the US built to serve a predominantly POC (though ultimately integrated) congregation, founded for the free Creole population of Tremé in 1842. (Fun fact: the fairly wealthy free mixed-race population got together and bought pews on either side of the aisles for Catholic slaves to sit in.) Uptown lakeside corner of St Claude (now Henriette Delille) and Hospital (now Governor Nicholls). Marked in orange.

De Pointe du Lac family home: Probably near the church, riverside of Marais. The house itself is the Derbès mansion, which is a fair bit further north, but Louis says they live about half a mile away from him and Lestat, which places them around the 3rd precinct of the 6th Ward. (Fun fact: this is also where Homer Plessy lived in the 1890s). Unmarked.

St Louis Cemetery: Where the de Pointe du Lac family tomb is. The family has been in the city long enough that they’re probably buried in the old cemetery on Basin and St Louis. (My headcanon is that the Louis of the books, born in the 1760s, is AMC Louis’ great-great-grandfather, probably by Yvette, in a different timeline where Lestat futzes about in Europe for 150 years longer.) Unmarked, but labelled.

Saenger Theatre: Popular cinema and stage theatre built in 1927 (it’s also where the opera scenes in episode 2 were filmed, though they were set at the French Opera House). Downtown lakeside corner of Rampart and Canal. Marked in cyan.

Storyville: NO’s red-light district from 1897 to 1917. Limits at Robertson, Customhouse (now Iberville), Basin, St Louis. Outlined in a yellow box.

Frontages on Liberty Street: Where most of Louis’s Storyville businesses are. Marked in blue.

Frontages on Basin Street: Where the most profitable Storyville businesses are. (The most profitable block is labelled 124 here. Thomas Anderson owned the saloon on the corner of Basin and Customhouse; Lulu White, a mixed-race madam who should have been in the show, owned the brothel on the corner of Basin and Bienville.) Marked in red.

Azalea Hall: 202 Villere Street (if I’m not mistaken). Approximate location marked in violet.

Black Storyville: Segregated Colored red-light district that would have been created by Ordinance 4118 in March 1917. Limits at Robertson, Cleveland, Liberty, Canal. Outlined in a red box.

Ward boundaries: They don’t come up in the show, but they’re a fairly important part of NO culturally and geographically, so I’ve included them.

3rd Ward: Predominantly Anglo and White. Now the central business district. Upriver of Canal Street.

4th Ward: Upper part of French Quarter. Limits at Canal and St Louis.

5th Ward: Central part of French Quarter. Limits at St Louis and St Philippe.

6th Ward: Lower part of French Quarter. Limits at St Philippe and Esplanade.

7th Ward: Predominantly Anglo and Black. Downriver of Esplanade.

If anyone is interested to know where anything else is (or might be) or has any corrections, please let me know!

If you need floor plans or anything for Louis and Lestat’s townhouse, the Gallier house is extensively documented. I’ve included the floor plans below (the approximate location of the incinerator is marked in red; toilets are on the other side of that gate in the privy), but much more can be found here.

[louisdulacblog]

𝔻𝕒𝕪 𝕆𝕟𝕖 of LDPDL BirthMonth celebration!

Prompt: Day 1 | Humanity/Human Life | Love/Family | "For the first time in my life, I was seen."

Oneshot | Gen | Family Feels

Blurb: At the time it had felt like curiosity, that is what he had told Armand. But now, looking around him, feeling the warmth of those around him, maybe it had been longing. To belong again. Somewhere. Somewhere other than his and Armand's world. Somewhere that felt bigger than his own life.

Or

Louis gets invited to a cookout.

Back to prompt/fic list...

[pastellguts]

Alright can everyone do me a solid and let's all pretend I uploaded this today (prompt fairytale) for the St Louis of Vieux Carré event? Thanks

I feel like I should get a medal, for the amount of restraint it took just giving older siren Louis a crown and bigger hair. Those who know me, know I love full glam.

Siren/Merfolk AU by @weather-mood

was gonna have some baby Claudia, but I realized I didn't know what type of eel she's gonna be. So I'm gonna give her her own dedicated page.

[de-gueules-au-lion-d-or]

Louis Victor Baillot,le dernier de Waterloo 

Chaque jour, les habitants de Carisey (1), dans le département de l’Yonne, voyaient passer dans leurs rues, presque aux mêmes heures, un brave gaillard qu’ils saluaient respectueusement et amicalement. De grande taille, très droit malgré son grand âge, marchant encore d’un pas alerte et militaire, tenant dans la main une canne avec laquelle, parfois, il décrivait d’impressionnants moulinets, revêtu d’une ample redingote sombre, taillée dans ce drap inusable des manteaux d’infanterie d’autrefois, à la boutonnière, deux larges carrés de rubans :un rouge, indiquant la légion d’honneur, un autre à raie rouges et vertes, celui de la médaille de Sainte-Hélène ; le visage balafré d’une large cicatrice qui lui zébrait le front et le crâne. Menant une vie simple et tranquille comme fût celle des populations rurales de cette époque, il gardait religieusement dans ses pensées le souvenir de l’empereur et resta jusqu’à l’aube de notre siècle le vivant témoignage de la grande épopée impériale. Cet homme se nommait Louis Victor Baillot, né à Percey, le 9 Avril 1793. L’histoire de Louis Victor Baillot commence, en juillet 1812, lorsque faisant partie de la seconde levée en masse, il fut dirigé au dépôt de Neuf-Brisach, en Alsace où il fut incorporé au 3e bataillon de la 105e demi-brigade (?) d’infanterie de ligne. A peine équipé, le bataillon quitte Neuf-Brisach pour Mayence et cantonne pendant deux mois à Erfurt avant de rejoindre au printemps, sur la Vistule, les débris de la Grande Armée. Louis Victor Baillot reçoit le baptême du feu à Wittenberg, le 17 avril 1813 et assiste aux opérations militaires qui eurent lieu dans le Mecklemboug, soutint, de septembre 1813 à août 1814, sous les ordres du maréchal Davout, duc d’Auerstaedt, prince d’Eckmühl, le long et honorable siège de Hambourg. Revenu en France, licencié par les Bourbons, le 13 août 1814, Louis Victor Baillot est rappelé en avril 1815. Réintégré dans le 105e régiment d’infanterie de ligne et employé à l’armée du Nord, il fait mouvement vers la Belgique. Le 14 juin 1815, à Beaumont, Napoléon, contraint d’entrer de nouveau en campagne, appelle au dévouement de l’armée et galvanise les énergies. Louis Victor Baillot, qui assiste à la proclamation, voit l’empereur pour la première fois. Venant de Marchiennes puis de Gosselies, le 105e se porte le 16 juin, aux Quatre Bras où la position vient d’être enlevée par le maréchal Ney. Le 17 juin 1815, le ciel couvert de sombres nuages, laissa éclater un orage d’une violence inouïe. Malgré la pluie diluvienne, les canonnades et les charges se poursuivaient sans arrêt. La plaine devint bientôt un immense bourbier. Louis Victor Baillot s’enfonçait dans la boue jusqu’aux genoux. A la tombée de la nuit, il parvint difficilement sur le plateau du Mont St Jean. Obligé de camper sur les seigles mouillés, dans l’impossibilité d’allumer un feu sur le terrain détrempé, il dut se contenter des maigres provisions dont il disposait et passa la nuit dans des conditions très pénibles. Le 18 juin, la pluie ayant cessé de tomber, peu à peu, la ligne des combattants est éclairée par le soleil. A 11 heures et demie, de son observatoire de Rossomme, l’empereur ordonne l’ouverture du feu. Le 105e, placé en seconde ligne, avance avec succès, malgré le feu meurtrier de l’ennemi et enlève à la baïonnette une position tenue par les anglais. Mais, quelques instants après, les écossais couchés dans les blés se levèrent et tirèrent à bout portant sur les français, lesquels surpris par cette attaque imprévisible durent reculer. Se ressaisissant, les hommes du 105e, s’avancent à nouveau, lorsque soudain, surgissent les redoutables dragons gris écossais lancés par Wellington . La charge, d’une rare violence, fauche des rangs entiers. Louis Victor reçoit un violent coup de sabre sur la tête, mais grâce à sa gamelle déposée sous sa coiffure, il échappe miraculeusement à la mort. Blessé d’une large plaie, assommé et couvert de sang, il est laissé pour mort sur le champ de bataille. Ramassé par les anglais, le lendemain, il sera emmené en captivité sur les pontons de Plymouth. Libéré à la fin de1816, il débarque à Boulogne-sur-Mer, rejoint Auxerre à pied, où il est réformé comme phtisique au deuxième degré. Chassé par son père, refoulé par sa mère et son frère, effrayés de voir surgir un revenant, il devra insister encore longtemps pour convaincre sa famille qu’il est vivant. Plus tard, il évoquera avec passion ses campagnes napoléoniennes. Louis Victor raffolait de musique et de parade militaire. Pendant longtemps, il ne manqua jamais une occasion d’assister au défilé annuel de la garnison d’Auxerre, où s’était fixée sa fille, épouse du maréchal des logis de gendarmerie Charles Jolly. Il ne tarda pas à constater que l’infanterie n’était plus celle de son époque. Le pantalon garance avait fait son apparition en 1829, la tunique bleu foncé avait remplacé l’habit ; on portait le shako;le fusil Gribeauval « modèle 1777 », encore en service aux Cent-Jours, avait été, hélas, remplacé par le fusil « Chassepot ». Mr Grolleron, de Seignelay(Yonne ),peintre militaire, s’est vu le soin de faire un portrait de Baillot, en avril 1897. Louis Victor est décédé à Carisey dans la maison habitée aujourd’hui par Mr Gilbert Kerne, ancien maire, le 3 Février 1898, à 2 heures du matin. Il était alors âgé de 104 ans, 9 mois et 24 jours . Sa longue existence qui avait commencée 2 mois et 19 jours après la mort de Louis XVI, et en a fait un témoin des plus nombreux changements de l’histoire de France, s’est terminée à la troisième année du mandat de Félix Faure, sixième Président de la république française. Au cours de cette froide matinée du 5 février 1898, une foule innombrable était rassemblée autour du maire, Mr Alexandre Millot, et les personnalités du département, venus rendre hommage au dernier survivant de la morne plaine. Photographié peu de temps avant, le vénérable vieillard hante paisiblement la salle du conseil de la mairie de Carisey. Son doux sourire comme un regret brisé ressurgit, laissant place aux souvenirs de la saga révolutionnaire et impériale qui enfièvrent notre imagination et suscitent sympathie et admiration. Alors sortent des brumes du passé ces vieux soldats, ces hommes de bronze qui revivent un instant avant d’aller flotter à la dérive du temps, tandis que parvient l’écho de leurs vivats, le cri répété des victoires et des mourants sous l’aigle agonisant de : « Vive l’Empereur  

[kemetic-dreams]

Marie Delphine Macarty or MacCarthy (March 19, 1787 – December 7, 1849), more commonly known as Madame Blanque or, after her third marriage, as Madame LaLaurie, was a New Orleans Creole socialite and serial killer who tortured and murdered slaves in her household.

Born during the Spanish colonial period, LaLaurie married three times in Louisiana and was twice widowed. She maintained her position in New Orleans society until April 10, 1834, when rescuers responded to a fire at her Royal Street mansion. They discovered bound slaves in her attic who showed evidence of cruel, violent abuse over a long period. LaLaurie's house was subsequently sacked by an outraged mob of New Orleans citizens. She escaped to France with her family.

The mansion traditionally held to be LaLaurie's is a landmark in the French Quarter, in part because of its history and for its architectural significance. However, her house was burned by the mob, and the "LaLaurie Mansion" at 1140 Royal Street was in fact rebuilt after her departure from New Orleans.

Torture and murder of slaves and 1834 LaLaurie mansion fire

An artist's depiction of the entryway to 1140 Royal Street, c. 1888

Accounts of Delphine LaLaurie's treatment of her slaves between 1831 and 1834 are mixed. Harriet Martineau, writing in 1838 and recounting tales told to her by New Orleans residents during her 1836 visit, claimed LaLaurie's slaves were observed to be "singularly haggard and wretched;" however, in public appearances LaLaurie was seen to be generally polite to black people and solicitous of her slaves' health.

Court records of the time showed that LaLaurie freed two of her slaves (Jean Louis in 1819 and Devince in 1832). Martineau wrote that public rumors about LaLaurie's mistreatment of her slaves were sufficiently widespread that a local lawyer was dispatched to Royal Street to remind LaLaurie of the laws for the upkeep of slaves. During this visit, the lawyer found no evidence of wrongdoing or mistreatment of slaves by LaLaurie.

Martineau also recounted other tales of LaLaurie's cruelty that were current among New Orleans residents in about 1836. She said that, subsequent to the visit of the lawyer, one of LaLaurie's neighbors saw one of the her slaves, a twelve-year-old girl named Lia (or Leah), fall to her death from the roof of the Royal Street mansion while trying to avoid punishment from a whip-wielding LaLaurie. Lia had been brushing Delphine's hair when she hit a snag, causing LaLaurie to grab a whip and chase her. The body was subsequently buried on the mansion grounds.

According to Martineau, this incident led to an investigation of the LaLauries, in which they were found guilty of illegal cruelty and forced to forfeit nine slaves. These nine slaves were bought back by the LaLauries through an intermediary relative, and returned to the Royal Street residence. Similarly, Martineau recounted stories that LaLaurie kept her cook chained to the kitchen stove, and beat her daughters when they attempted to feed the slaves.  yal Street, starting in the kitchen. When the police and fire marshals got there, they found the cook, a seventy-year-old woman, chained to the stove by her ankle. She later said that she had set the fire as a suicide attempt because she feared being punished. She said that slaves taken to the uppermost room never came back.

As reported in the New Orleans Bee of April 11, 1834, bystanders responding to the fire attempted to enter the slave quarters to ensure that everyone had been evacuated. Upon being refused the keys by the LaLauries, the bystanders broke down the doors to the slave quarters and found "seven slaves, more or less horribly mutilated ... suspended by the neck, with their limbs apparently stretched and torn from one extremity to the other", who claimed to have been imprisoned there for some months.

One of those who entered the premises was Judge Jean-Francois Canonge, who subsequently deposed to having found in the LaLaurie mansion, among others, a "negress ... wearing an iron collar" and "an old negro woman who had received a very deep wound on her head [who was] too weak to be able to walk." Canonge said that when he questioned LaLaurie's husband about the slaves, he was told in an insolent manner that "some people had better stay at home rather than come to others' houses to dictate laws and meddle with other people's business." A version of this story circulating in 1836, recounted by Martineau, added that the slaves were emaciated, showed signs of being flayed with a whip, were bound in restrictive postures, and wore spiked iron collars which kept their heads in static positions.

When the discovery of the abused slaves became widely known, a mob of local citizens attacked the LaLaurie residence and "demolished and destroyed everything upon which they could lay their hands". A sheriff and his officers were called upon to disperse the crowd, but by the time the mob left, the property had sustained major damage, with "scarcely any thing [remaining] but the walls."The slaves were taken to a local jail, where they were available for public viewing. The Bee reported that by April 12 up to 4,000 people had attended to view the slaves "to convince themselves of their sufferings."

The Pittsfield Sun, citing the New Orleans Advertiser and writing several weeks after the evacuation of LaLaurie's slave quarters, claimed that two of the slaves found in the mansion had died since their rescue. It added, "We understand ... that in digging the yard, bodies have been disinterred, and the condemned well [in the grounds of the mansion] having been uncovered, others, particularly that of a child, were found."These claims were repeated by Martineau in her 1838 book Retrospect of Western Travel, where she placed the number of unearthed bodies at two, including the child Lia.

Escape from justice and self-imposed exile in France

Copper plate found in Saint Louis Cemetery #1, which claims that LaLaurie died in Paris in 1842

LaLaurie's life after the 1834 fire is not well documented. Martineau wrote in 1838 that LaLaurie fled New Orleans during the mob violence that followed the fire, taking a coach to the waterfront and traveling, by schooner, to Mobile, Alabama and then to Paris. By the time Martineau personally visited the Royal Street mansion in 1836, it was still unoccupied and badly damaged, with "gaping windows and empty walls".

Later life and death

The circumstances of LaLaurie's death are also unclear. In 1888, George Washington Cable recounted a popular but unsubstantiated story that LaLaurie had died in France in a boar-hunting accident. In the late 1930s, Eugene Backes, who served as sexton to St. Louis Cemetery #1 until 1924, discovered an old cracked, copper plate in Alley 4 of the cemetery. The inscription on the plate read "Madame Lalaurie, née Marie Delphine Maccarthy, décédée à Paris, le 7 Décembre, 1842, à l'âge de 6--."The English translation of the inscription reads: "Madame Lalaurie, born Marie Delphine Mccarthy, died in Paris, December 7, 1842, at the age of 6-- " According to the French archives of Paris, however, LaLaurie died on December 7, 1849, at the age of 62

LaLaurie mansion

The former LaLaurie house at 1140 Royal Street, photographed September 2009

The original New Orleans mansion occupied by LaLaurie did not survive. The impressive mansion at 1140 Royal Street, on the corner of Governor Nicholls Street (formerly known as Hospital Street), commonly referred to as the LaLaurie or Haunted House, is not the same building inhabited by LaLaurie. When she acquired the property in 1831 from Edmond Soniat Dufossat, a house was already under construction and finished for LaLaurie.

This house was burned by the mob in 1834 and remained in a ruined state for at least another four years. It was then rebuilt by Pierre Trastour after 1838 and assumed the appearance that it has today. Over the following decades, it was used as a public high school, a conservatory of music, an apartment building, a refuge for young delinquents, a bar, a furniture store, and a luxury apartment building.

The dwelling had a third floor and rear building added later in the 19th century, and the rear building on Governor Nicholls Street, which had only one floor until a second one was added in the 20th century, was remodeled in the 1970s when the second floor interior of the building was done over by Koch and Wilson, architects. At three stories high, it was described in 1928 as "the highest building for squares around", with the result that "from the cupola on the roof one may look out over the Vieux Carré and see the Mississippi in its crescent before Jackson Square".

The entrance to the building bears iron grillwork, and the door is carved with an image of "Phoebus in his chariot, and with wreaths of flowers and depending garlands in bas-relief". Inside, the vestibule is floored in black and white marble, and a curved mahogany-railed staircase runs the full three stories of the building. The second floor holds three large drawing rooms connected by ornamented sliding doors, whose walls are decorated with plaster rosettes, carved woodwork, black marble mantle pieces and fluted pilasters.

In April 2007, actor Nicolas Cage bought the house for a sum of $3.45 million. To protect the actor's privacy, the mortgage documents were arranged in such a way that Cage's name did not appear on them. On November 13, 2009, the property, then valued at $3.5 million, was listed for auction as a result of foreclosure and purchased by Regions Financial Corporation for $2.3 million

Just imagine the stories and events we didn’t hear about or are documented from Slavery