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Morbid

Mad Madame Delphine LaLaurie

13 Apr 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What events led to the discovery of Delphine LaLaurie's atrocities?

0.031 - 5.113 Ash Kelley

Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Elena. And this is Morbid.

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17.446 - 39.982 Alaina Urquhart

This is going to be so morbid today. You know what, though? We're ready. We're ready. We can do this. We can get through this. Yeah. We have blankets. Yep, we do have blankets. We have blankies today because in good old New England, I don't know what happened there. Good old New. Good old New. I became Erika Jayne in that moment. Goodbye, Godric. Go listen to the rewatcher. Yeah.

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40.002 - 44.77 Alaina Urquhart

But anyway, in good old New England, we've had about three false starts to spring. Yeah, which we always do.

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44.75 - 72.057 Ash Kelley

we do i feel like we've had more than usual this year it always feels like and i'm cold yeah we go we slingshot back and forth we're like oh my god it's 70 degrees and the next day it's like oh my god we literally looked outside and we said why is it snowing and then it went away and we were like that was weird and then all of a sudden it was like and we were like oh it's sleeting yeah why is ice falling from the sky yeah yeah i don't know and then today it's like 50 but i'm cold sunny i don't know

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72.037 - 87.373 Ash Kelley

Hello? Yeah. We don't know how to dress. We don't know how to act. Back to you, Pete. Yeah. That was Ash and Alina with meteorology. But yeah, I think the only biz nasty we really have is go buy tickets to the live show at Radio City Music Hall.

87.694 - 90.316 Alaina Urquhart

Go buy tickets. I'm so excited for that show.

90.497 - 91.998 Ash Kelley

One night only. One night only.

92.018 - 95.342 Alaina Urquhart

We're not doing another one. Nope. Unless it's many years from now.

95.442 - 97.504 Ash Kelley

Yeah, we're not doing one. We won't.

Chapter 2: Who was Delphine LaLaurie and what was her background?

142.81 - 157.758 Ash Kelley

You can get it at butcherlegacy.com, anywhere you want. Go pre-order it. It's coming out August 11th. And if you haven't taken a little swan dive into the series, start at The Butcher and the Wren. Yeah. Do it. It's okay.

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157.979 - 158.78 Alaina Urquhart

It's really good.

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159.02 - 176.103 Ash Kelley

I feel good about it. I would hype it up a bit more than that. Yeah, the Butcher and the Wren, then get the Butcher game, and then get the Butcher Legacy. Dive into a series. We all need it. If not, you might be a loser. Maybe. I didn't say it. I did. So don't come at me. Don't be a loser. Go pre-order the Butcher Legacy.

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176.864 - 189.72 Alaina Urquhart

Even Elena's dog agrees. Now we'll pause. Wow. There wasn't even a follow-up arc to that, so I think she was like, Hell yeah, mama! Yeah, she's just my hype girl. Yeah. That's my hype woman right there.

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189.74 - 195.868 Ash Kelley

For real. That was crazy. Which we needed. So this is going to be a rough one. Okay.

195.948 - 196.769 Alaina Urquhart

I sounded like my Siri.

196.989 - 203.277 Ash Kelley

Okay. Okay. We're finally going to be covering Mad Madame Delphine Lalaurie.

203.257 - 231.628 Ash Kelley

oh no yeah this bitch if you don't know who i'm talking about i'm sorry but i'm the one who's going to be telling you about this because she's one of the worst people ever yeah if you've seen um american horror story you know about this yeah you at least know like a fictionalized version of kathy bates yeah i love kathy love kathy bates but hate hate um And I believe that's how you pronounce.

231.648 - 245.182 Ash Kelley

That's what I did. I looked at a lot of things to see how to say it. Because you hear LaLaurie. LaLaurie. That's what I've always heard. But I think the correct pronunciation is actually LaLaurie. I mean, that makes sense because it's like French. Yeah. Because it's like French.

Chapter 3: How did Delphine LaLaurie's upbringing influence her behavior?

387.429 - 389.011 Alaina Urquhart

What are you doing being a beast?

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389.031 - 408.274 Ash Kelley

Yeah, exactly. She was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 19th, 1787. And the beginning of her life is obviously a little sketchy because it's so long ago. Yeah. But property records from that period do indicate that her family was one of the wealthiest that New Orleans had ever seen. Oh, wow.

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408.254 - 432.085 Ash Kelley

In the late 18th century, letters written by a friend of her family said that her mother, who is also Marie McCarty, was described as vivacious and frolicsome. Oh, bitch, describe me? That's my description from this point forward. Vivacious and frolicsome. What is frolicsome? That's where you want it to end, the similarities between you and the McCarty family. Yeah, definitely. For sure.

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432.065 - 433.968 Ash Kelley

But frolicsome, I like that.

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433.988 - 434.208 Alaina Urquhart

Frolicsome.

434.228 - 440.057 Ash Kelley

Does that just mean you're running around? Probably. All right. Just frolicsome, you know. Just frolicking. And she was known to throw lavish parties.

440.418 - 440.678 Alaina Urquhart

Fun.

440.999 - 460.408 Ash Kelley

When you look at it from here, you're like, oh, that sounds fun. Yeah. Around this time, Delphine and her brother Louis would have been about 9 and 13 years old. So while it's unlikely they participated in what was described as the Bacchanalia, What? Basically, there was like, there was some shit. It was just, it was a time.

460.729 - 461.249 Alaina Urquhart

What does that mean?

Chapter 4: What were the living conditions of the enslaved people in LaLaurie's home?

741.709 - 756.668 Ash Kelley

What's going on here? You're having too much. He was 35 years old. Get a grip. And he was a widower and a high-ranking officer in the Spanish military. Find a grown woman. Yeah, get it together. Now, at the time of their marriage, he was serving as the second-in-command to the governor.

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757.268 - 773.348 Ash Kelley

He was the representative of the treasury, and he had jurisdiction over matters of police, the courts, and the military. So he had a ton of power and influence. Yeah. And shortly after they were married, though, he was ordered to return to Spain because he hadn't asked for permission to marry a child.

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775.135 - 791.123 Ash Kelley

Yep. It wasn't that he married the child. It was just that he didn't ask nicely. Yeah, he had to ask the government for permission, like the crown for permission. Oh, okay. And he hadn't done that. Oh. So Delphine went with him, but he was held and faced consequences in Spain for not seeking permission. They were like, hey, is this your child, Brad?

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791.464 - 813.935 Ash Kelley

She returned home without him, and on her return trip to Louisiana, she gave birth to their first child. Oh, my. She was barely 14. Oh, my God. Borgia Delphine Lopezzi Angelo de la Candelaria, or Marie Borgia, whom she nicknamed Borghita. Okay. In March 1807, on her 20th birthday, Delphine remarried this time because she never saw him again.

814.475 - 822.145 Ash Kelley

She remarried this time to Jean Blanc, a native Frenchman and local banker who was more than twice her age. Sounds like a good wine. Jean Blanc?

822.165 - 823.787 Alaina Urquhart

Yeah, Jean Blanc. I'll take the Jean Blanc.

823.767 - 847.755 Ash Kelley

According to sources, Jean Blanc was, quote, every bit Delphine's match, a ruthless wheeler dealer who was a merchant slave trader and associate of the pirates Jean and Pierre Lafitte. A few years earlier, Delphine's mother died from natural causes, and she left her a sizable sum of money, which was put towards her $33,000 dowry. Oh, because remember, dowry is worth a thing.

848.476 - 860.157 Alaina Urquhart

I kind of love the idea of a dowry. That you have to pay. Yeah. No, I just like, I just like, I think I like the word. Yeah. You know what I mean? You're like, I actually don't love the idea. I just love the word. Yeah, not the idea.

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