The Haunted House of Lafayette

6/17/2025

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
Traditional summer rains fell upon a well known haunted house which faced a square bounded by Washington and Tchoupitoulas Streets in New Orleans.

Italianate villa of James Robb, millionaire railroad man, was a showplace of the Garden District in the early 1850’s. It occupied the entire block of Washington St. (later Avenue) c.1850s

1863

The specter of demolition loomed on the horizon, and more than one group of thrill seekers made plans to get inside the famous Haunted House, and find out if the legend was true of a skeleton hidden in a corner of the wall at one of the windings of the grand staircase. But it was not a burial of a dead person, but someone who had been walled up alive as a punishment.

The house's history was long and turbid. Its attic was flat-roofed and once used as a storehouse by pirates who kept valuable packages they meant to sell to country merchants. They would smuggle the goods through the bayous and lakes, then forward it to the Mississippi River somewhere between Algiers and Gretna, until they were concealed in the house.

During those years it was a sumptuous mansion, located a little over two miles from the city limits. It was an extensive plantation surrounded by beautiful gardens and parks. The main entrance was bordered by a grove of orange trees.

Asylum for Destitute Orphan Boys, established in 1824, a hospital was eventually built on the site

In truth there was little known about the history of the brick mansion, standing a short drive from New Orleans. Its true age was unknown as well, some said it was one of the first constructed in Louisiana.

Stories circulated the Barataria pirates met under its roof, that is until their leader was captured by General Andrew Jackson in 1814.

Throughout the years, many came to live there, including the best families of Louisiana, and many left suddenly, until it remained abandoned and fell to ruin. Another rumor put the treasure on the second floor, on the north side of the house. Another story said it was buried in the ground under the main floor of the home.

Flatboats lined riverfront in early days, awaiting sale of cargoes.

In the late 1850s, certain police officers from the Fourth District set to work to find which of the stories was accurate. Supposedly they did find the right place, but kept it a secret. One night, with picks and shovels in hand they set to work. After digging four feet the spade struck something made of wood. The leader was a sergeant, who brought his lantern down into the hole, and the light fell upon a wooden keg. They strained to raise it out, sure that it weighed so much because it was filled with gold. They took it to their homes, and their expectations were bitterly dashed when they only found gunpowder, caked with dampness. They returned the following two nights, even digging at the same place. Soon the cavity filled with water, and in time they gave up.

Sixth Precinct Police Stationi on Rousseau near Jackson, on site of earlier Jefferson Parish courthouse and prison.

A few years later, a group of young men challenged each other to spend a night inside the building. A little after 10 p.m. they entered and went to the second floor. First they conversed and laughed, and slowly they became quieter. They heard the church bell chime the midnight hour. One of them posed going up on the open roof. They agreed and decided to spend the rest of the night there. About 1 a.m. they heard slow steps causing the stairway to creak as it ascended. It came up until the young men thought they looked upon a corpse. It was a woman dressed in white who joined them. Their courage fled and they rushed for the stairs. Panic made them fly down the winding, perilous staircase, and they didn't stop until after they jumped the low fence and were at the open street. Then they realized that one of them was missing. They called his name and whistled for him, but there was no reply. They all returned to their homes, anxious about their friend, but scared to go back inside.

The young man left behind, finally arrived at home as dawn broke. When asked what happened he said he fell through a hole in the roof, and found himself in the attic. He stayed there until daylight. He never talked about those hours he spent alone in the narrow room. Not long after he took his life by ingesting poison. The inquest listed his death as a suicide, the cause being, "unaccounted for."

Who was the White Lady that haunted the house on Washington Street?

Then in appropriate fashion a lady's casket was found in the debris of the Haunted House by a volunteer helping the demolition workers. The box was disfigured with age, and opening it was difficult. Once opened, the onlookers found nothing, except old, ribbed paper with the words, "Look within" written in dark red ink. Another mystery to be solved. The page found in the casket was said to belong to the autobiography of a young lady, "which she seems to have written while condemned to a secret death, and which she has written in her album, and then torn the leaves out and hastily secreted them."

Some wondered if the story was true or just a romance penned by a young woman. The handwriting was neat, beautiful and evidently that of a lady.

The next day a letter was received by the newspaper editor, which they reprinted:

I see much talk in the papers lately about the Haunted House on Washington Avenue; much of it incorrect. In your paper I see that you say its age is a matter of dispute. The reason is that it is mixed up with another old house that was built a long time after. The house on Washington Avenue was built in the years 1789 and 1790 by Gilbert Lacroix, a celebrated architect. He stayed in Louisiana only four years but was well known to my grandfather. I have often heard speak of him in the family when I was a boy.
AN OLD CITIZEN

The story of the Canary and the Skeleton

In those same days, another newspaper printed a story titled, The Canary and the Skeleton: A Tale of the Haunted House.

In the summer of '47 when the saffron scourge claimed a victim from almost every family in the city, a rather singular occurrence took place in the upper portion of the city. A golden plumed canary escaped from the cage one morning, and but few attempts were made to regain it, for the bird's fond mistress was lying at the point of death.

In the course of a month or so the bird was seen on the balcony where its old cage hung, and when a servant attempted to catch it, it flew to the top of the Haunted House. Day after day the visit was renewed, and day after day the bird took its flight in the same direction. At length a venturesome party of young men pursued, and lo! on the top of the house they beheld a human skeleton, and inside the skeleton the bird had made its nest and raised its young. There was a lesson of life and death! The ghastly and the beautiful met together, and the living claimed a shelter from the dead!

Surveyor’s drawing of Livaudais Plantation, or “Faubourg”

On August 21, 1863 the newspaper received another letter explaining the history of the house. It read:

I have seen many different stories the last few days about the Haunted House. Being an old citizen of New Orleans, coming into this country sixty years ago, I can give you some details concerning the house.

This fine mansion (for it was one of the most magnificent structures in the country) was built before this century and was constructed for the family of Mr. Livaudais, and Mme. Livaudais, who now resides in Paris, and still owns the property. It has never been finished.

During the time that old Mr. Livaudais occupied the house, a pirate of Lafitte's gang came and sought refuge there, and revealed to the proprietor the place where there was treasure hidden. He was then very sick and died shortly after; but when search was made the treasure was not found, although a small casket, containing different papers, was discovered. If the workmen will dig near the old magnolia tree they will find many skeletons there.

As for the house there are two or three vaults in the its walls, one, particularly in the middle room, call the "Labyrinth" which was a very dark place, the only light proceeding from the roof. A person desiring to secrete himself there, when once in the hiding place inside the wall, could not have been found.

Having visited the house from 1800 to 1830 I am able to give you those details and truer, also, than those given by a daily paper of this city. The grandson and granddaughter of Mr. Livaudais are now in the city and can vouch for these facts. At that time the house was surrounded by orange trees and had once been one of the finest gardens of this state.

Please excuse my bad English, being an old Frenchman. Yours, respectfully, Y. F. DeR.

Two women sitting in a gallery of a house in the Lafayette Garden District

A few days later the gentleman sent another letter dated August 27, 1863, with the following content:

Dear Sir, in my last I omitted many things concerning the Haunted House, which I now give in this letter.

At the time the Livaudais house was built, the First District was then a vast plantation , belonging to old Mr. St. Marie, where sugar canes used to grow; then came the Livaudais plantation, and I remember very well, being then very young, that on Saturdays we were in the habit of going to hunt on Mr. St. Marie's plantation and coming back the next day, (for it was considered at that time as way out of town,) with our bags full of ducks, geese, etc. Even in the its early days the Livaudais house had the reputation of being nightly visited by ghosts, etc.

I will related to you what happened to us one night we were there, the circumstances of which I entered on a memorandum book I have always kept. It was a Saturday night, in February, 1803, and we had set up playing a little game of cards until about 12 o'clock, when we heard a strange noise and somebody crying for help. Instantly we sprang to our guns, and went in the direction of the river. There we found a man in a dying condition, who told us that as he was going to die he would make a confession to us. He said he belonged to a band of pirates whose rendezvous was a mile farther up. He declared that he had been stabbed a few minutes before for refusing to obey the order of his chief to go and murder the inmates of the L. House. Two or three weeks before, he said, they had murdered two planters on their way up the Coast and had buried them under a big oak tree than standing near the fountain of the park. He gave his name as Francois Largaux and his birth place as La Rochelle, France. We took him to the house, and he died there.

Two or three days after this, at about 11 o'clock at night, the servants came running to the house very much frightened, and told us they had seen a ghost in the garden, with a lantern in its hand. We went out and saw a person dressed in white garments. We cocked our guns, and cried to him to stop or else he would be shot at, but he refused to stop. We then fired at him wounding him in the leg. He declared to us that he came there to frighten the people of the house, so as to rob it of all the most valuable things. We then dressed his wound, put him to sleep, but the next morning when we awoke the bird had flown out of his cage.

In the year 1858, some young men belonging to the second District (at the same you were publishing the history of the Haunted House) came to me, as they knew that I was well acquainted with the house, to accompany them on a night errand, for they were going, they said to remain a whole night in the house, and see the countess; but I could not go. One of them told me afterwards that they had gone to the middle of the stairs, when a perfect shower of bricks came pouring upon them, and they gave up all idea of sleeping in the house. Before many a day the traveler will no more be able to pay a visit to the old mansion, now being demolished may hear from others all the different stories concerning the Haunted House of Lafayette.

Pray excuse my long letter; but as I do not doubt that it will interest the public, and not having to speak of it again, I remain, yours, etc Y. F. DeR.

Omnibus line using double-decker vehicles was the first means of transportation between New Orleans, Lafayette, via Tchoupitoulas.

In January, 1864, the house still stood, now stories were whispered that at least seven bad spirits had taken refuge in the minds of persons walking past the mansion.

Some described being knocked down, and a small crime wave of robbery perpetrated by a gang which attacked pedestrians was believed to be the pirates that once came to the house to hide their loot.

When and if the brick mansion known as "The Haunted House" was demolished remains unknown.

Source - The Daily True Delta