Delphine LaLaurie’s Torture Chamber
History Daily
History Daily
4.4 • 2.5K Ratings
🗓️ 10 April 2025
⏱️ 17 minutes
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Summary
April 10, 1834. In the aftermath of a house fire in New Orleans, investigators uncover evidence of horrific treatment meted out to the household’s enslaved servants.
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Transcript
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| 0:30.4 | Thank you. It's April 10th, 1834, on Royal Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. A horse-drawn fire wagon clatters to a halt outside a burning mansion. |
| 0:35.9 | The crew jumps off immediately. But as the others grab |
| 0:39.1 | equipment, one middle-aged firefighter doesn't wait, sprinting toward the blaze. He tries the mansion's |
| 0:45.2 | front door, but it's locked. He peers in through a window. Flames have taken hold in what looks like |
| 0:50.6 | the living room, and the firefighter can hear faint calls for help coming |
| 0:54.4 | from inside. But the pleas of the people trapped inside are almost drowned out by the sound |
| 0:59.7 | of Ray's voices coming from behind the firefighter. He turns to see a well-dressed woman in her |
| 1:05.2 | 40s, arguing with one of the other firefighters. The woman is apparently the mansion's owner, |
| 1:10.5 | and she's refusing to |
| 1:11.9 | hand over the keys. But now, smoke is beginning to seep through the roof. It's clear that if |
| 1:17.4 | nothing is done, the flames will spread to nearby buildings, and that would put the entire |
| 1:21.6 | neighborhood at risk, so the firefighter takes matters into his own hands. He grabs an axe |
| 1:27.1 | from the wagon, and as the woman |
| 1:29.1 | continues to argue, he rushes past her to the front door, swings the axe, and smashes through |
| 1:35.0 | the law. Then the firefighter covers his mouth and nose, with a last glance back at the |
| 1:40.4 | wide-eyed mansion owner, enters the building to search for whoever's trapped inside. |
| 1:48.6 | It will soon become clear why Delphine Lollori refused to hand over the keys to her home. |
| 1:54.6 | She is abusing her enslaved workers in a torture chamber in her attic. |
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