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Famous Colonial Houses

Chapter 7: The Haunted House, New Orleans
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About This Book

A collection of illustrated essays profiles a dozen notable colonial-era American houses, blending architectural description, historical narrative, and local anecdote. Each chapter examines a single dwelling—from celebrated estates to lesser-known manors—covering design elements, construction history, notable occupants, ownership changes, and preservation concerns. The author relies on visits, collected lore, and period imagery to evoke the houses' atmosphere while reflecting on their role in regional history and urging appreciation and stewardship of these domestic landmarks.

The Haunted House,
New Orleans

© D.McK

THE HAUNTED HOUSE

That April-day crowd returned to Hospital and Royal Streets and sacked the house from hall to belvedere, ripped down silk curtains, slashed paintings, wrenched out chandeliers, dug up two skeletons from the courtyard, pitched Madame Lalaurie’s precious possessions out of windows and made bonfire of the wreckage in the street. Nor when inside the stout old walls a new and finer residence was built in cheerful defiance of the ghost, could the spirit of tragedy be banished.