On the trail of Mme. Lalaurie
Most historical accounts agree that Mme. Lalaurie did in fact flee New Orleans by way of St. John's Bayou and Lake Pontchartrain. They also agree that she spent some time in a house/cottage on the banks of the Bogue Falaya River near what is now Covington.
From there, the trail dims. Some reports say she went to Mobile, Alabama; others say she fled to Paris. But, there are other, and we believe more truthful, reports that say she never left the Northshore. After all, her daughters were left behind in New Orleans, what mother would want to go as far away as Paris.
Based on our research, we believe that Delphine Lalaurie never left St. Tammany Parish. When she reached the sanctuary of the Northshore woods, she decided to stay and take revenge on those who she felt had harmed her.
As she looked back on what had happened to her, the resentment and anger grew until Delphine Lalaurie became the perfect vessel for evil. Beginning with her mother's death, purported to have been murder in a slave uprising, Delphine began to lose touch with the brightness of life and descend into a darkness from which she never emerged.
Each person she harmed and tortured provided another downward step. And, when she was driven from her house by the angry mob, her descent was complete. She now lived for nothing but the chance to do evil and persuade others to do the same.
At the same time, her friendship with Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau continued to grow. Laveau and Lalaurie lived just a few blocks apart in New Orleans and the two women became acquainted when Laveau did Mme. Lalaurie's hair from time to time. So, with Marie Laveau's help, she began to dabble in the occult - witchcraft, voodoo, satanic ceremonies - anything she could find.
View Marie Laveau's crypt
The Northshore proved to be the perfect spot for Mme. Lalaurie for she was able to hide from prying eyes and yet attract those who wished to help her.
Could these be the remains of Delphine's Northshore home?
The more she learned about these "arts," the more she became a disciple of them, particularly the satanic rites and rituals. As she became more proficient, she became known on the Northshore as the "devil-woman" and began to attract followers in surprisingly large numbers.
Delphine now began to hold satanic masses and other rituals on the shores of the lake. There are stories of kidnappings, live burials and sacrifices, torture and other horrors that have occured around Lake Pontchartrain during this time. We have come to believe that it was none other than Delphine Lalaurie and her minions of evil continuing to practice the horror that she had begun in New Orleans.
And, this is the legacy that Mme. Lalaurie has left - for the satanic and black arts practices have been passed down from generation to generation. There are still stories of a cult that meets regularly in the Lacombe-area to hold satanic masses and sacrifices. To this day, there are stories of midnight fires on the shores of the lake where strange and terrible practices occur.
As recently as 1997, reporters were told by a witness who wishes to remain anonymous, that they had been involved in a satanic cult on the Northshore and as part of the initiation, had been buried alive! This person also had stories of human sacrifices and other terrible events. Reporters were taken to areas where these events were said to have occurred - although there was evidence of recent fires, nothing else was found, except an abiding sense of evil.
And there the trail ends - as we were warned numerous times not to pursue this any further or doom would befall us. We could tell you we ran out of time but in truth, it will take more than a few reporters to root out the evil that we only touched the edge of.
However, if you are out along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain late at night, away from the towns that dot it's shores, you might see the brief flicker of a flame back in the woods. If you do, get away from there as fast as you can - you are in grave danger. For the legacy of Delphine Lalaurie lives on in the woods of St. Tammany where followers generations removed continue the practice of evil she began so long ago.