4. Delphine LaLaurie
A New Orleans socialite in the 1800s, Delphine LaLaurie tortured and murdered many of her household slaves. She was married three times and her first two husbands’ deaths were never explained. She and her third husband, Louis Lenard LaLaurie, purchased their famous home in the French Quarters in the early 1830s, a place in which they hosted many extravagant parties. Delphine was known to be a kind and gentle woman, and the town was surprised when they heard she treated slaves poorly, but authorities never investigated her.
Police discovered the slaves in a torture chamber during a house fire in the mid 1800s. They first found a 70 year old black woman chained in the kitchen as LaLaurie was distracted in an attempt to save her furniture, jewelry, and clothes. The woman revealed she started the fire hoping to escape from the LaLaurie household. She brought the police to the attic where they discovered seven slaves tied with spiked iron collars. Police also found slaves trapped in small cages, live bodies with body parts cut out, mouths sewn shut and skin peeled off and bleeding. She starved them and physically tortured them.
LaLaurie and her husband managed to escaped to Paris. She was never charged for her murders.
