Again? You mean to say that it might be unpleasant to live in the most haunted house in the most haunted city in America?*
New Orleans is comprised almost entirely of spooky haunted histories and doors that mysteriously open on their own. Every block in the historic French Quarter has some sordid tale of murder and adultery cemented into its humid, if not waterlogged foundation. I'd wager a good third of the city's economy relies on tales of shock and awe extoled by thin men with curly moustaches and top hats.* The other two thirds of tourists are there to see and eat the gators. But some blocks are more haunted than others, and some tales aren't all that tall or tastefully told.
Lalaurie mansion was once the home of socialite Delphine Macarty Lalaurie and her husband Dr. Louis Lalaurie. They regularly threw decadent parties at their home till a fire swept through and revealed the conditions that the enslaved people at the house were kept in. A mob formed, horrified at the state of the people in the home, but Madame Lalaurie managed to escape and spent her remaining years in France.
Keep in mind that this occured in 1834, when slavery was still abundantly practiced in the south. Even for the time, the public thought that what Lalaurie had done was disgusting. I'll refrain from explaining the particulars here.
Ghost tours inevitably stop at the Lalaurie mansion, a gray affair situated on the 1100 block of Royal street. It'd be easy to miss the building itself if you ignored the hourly cluster of mustachioed goth carnival barkers explaining the vile history of the building and its former inhabitants. And no, I don't mean Nick Cage, who briefly owned the building.
Edgy Hollywood elite aside, the home continues to bump from aristocrat to aristocrat, always elevating in price and shock value. I'd argue that it's in extremely poor taste to purchase the building and flaunt it as a "showplace… for weekend visits to the city and as a place to entertain friends", like the previous owner did. Realtor speculation on how the "sexy, burlesque" property with a two-car garage and a billiard room could sell for a record $10.25 million feels callous, if not downright offensive.
It's already gotten its historic site placcard, why not let the building live out the rest of its life as a museum?
*Views are my own. Salem comes in a close second.
