One of the most popular stops on all the New Orleans ghost tours, the LaLaurie mansion is thought to be the most cursed house in the city. Madame Delphine Lalaurie was a wealthy socialite in New Orleans during the 1800s. In 1834 a fire broke out in the Lalaurie mansion revealing seven slaves who has been severely tortured, starved and beaten by the LaLaurie family. It is said that the fire was allegedly started by one of the slaves who had been chained in the kitchen, in an attempt to expose Madame Delphine.

As the fire blazed a crowd of 4000 people gathered on the streets and once word spread of the family’s abuse towards the slaves the neighbours destroyed what was left of the mansion.

The Lalaurie family fled the scene and eventually relocated to Paris but it is thought that Madame Lalaurie’s body was returned to New Orleans and buried in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.

Today the property is used as a private residence, but it is noted that no one has ever seemed to own the house for long... one owner is said to have ended up in an asylum, one in a coma and even Nicholas Cage briefly owned the house before losing it to foreclosure.