Little did people know what Madame Lalaurie did to make her servants so submissive, although she had been fined in court several times for her misconduct. Once she was charged in the death of a child, whom she had beaten so savagely with a whip that the girl had jumped out a third-floor window. Yet it was not until after a fire broke out in the home in April of 1834 that the full tale came out, and it proved to be worse than anyone could have imagined.

Katherine Smith documents it from newspaper articles for her book, Journey into Darkness. A native of New Orleans and a folklore historian, she has heard the legends and looked into the facts behind the tales. Despite the exaggerations inevitable with folklore, the facts are still horrendous.

It was April 10 and the Lalauries were entertaining their guests. The fire started in the kitchen and the fire brigade went through the courtyard to put it out. They heard screams and moans from a room on the third floor, so they went to investigate. Since the door to the room was locked, the firemen rammed it open.

At once they smelled the unmistakable odor of death and some of them vomited. Yet it wasn't just the dead slaves chained to the walls that got their attention, but the living ones, who were only barely alive. One woman was so startled by their entrance that she fled toward a window and jumped.

Most of the victims had been severely maimed by medical experiments. Some were even strapped to tables. One man had been surgically transformed into a woman, and a woman looked like a human crab. Her arm and leg bones had been broken and reset into odd angles, and she was kept in a small cage. Another woman's arms had been amputated and her skin was peeled off in an odd sort of spiral pattern. Author Victor Klein, also a New Orleans native, indicates that scattered around the room were pails full of body parts, organs, and severed heads. Among those who had died were males whose faces had been grotesquely disfigured.

The survivors were quickly removed for medical attention, and as word spread, a lynch mob formed outside the home. However, the Lalauries had escaped to another part of Louisiana and were never brought to justice.

While many people view it all as the work of Madame herself, it's fairly clear that her husband was in on it, too.

The house remained empty for many years and fell into a state of disrepair. People reported that they had seen the ghosts of the mutilated slaves and had heard screaming. It took nearly forty years before the house was occupied again. It was turned into a girls school in the 1870’s and then a music conservatory. In the 1890’s, the house was turned into an apartment building. During this time people claimed to have found mutilated animals in the house, a ghostly apparition attacked children with a whip and a man reported being attacked by a black man in chains. Scared tenants began to move out of the apartment and the house was abandoned. Later the house was converted into a bar called the "Haunted Saloon" The owner of the bar kept a record of the numerous strange experiences of his customers.

Now around the French quarters and along Borbon Street Parties and Tours go on day and Night..The Immortal mingling with the Mortals and not to forget the always distant folklore(or is it?) of the ever present rumors of Voodoo ...

So imagine yourself lost in the swirls of all nite parties ,many drinks later You find Your self standing before the Lalaurie Mansion in the French Quarter and your sure you saw a ghostly figure walk by the window..and you most definately know you heard screams...you look both ways up and down the streets and it seems to just be you....Go in if you dare and see if you can live thru the supposed hauntings of the mansion ...