theoddmentemporium:

Madam LaLaurie

Marie Delphine LaLaurie was a Louisiana-born socialite, and serial killer known for her involvement in the torture and murder of black slaves. 

The LaLauries, in the style of their social class at the time, maintained several black slaves in slave quarters attached to their mansion. Their slaves were observed to be “singularly haggard and wretched”; however, in public appearances LaLaurie was seen to be generally polite to black people and solicitous of her slaves’ health. On one occasion, however, a neighbour saw a slave named Lia fall to her death from the roof of the mansion while trying to avoid a whip-wielding Delphine. Lia had been brushing Delphine’s hair when she hit a snag, causing Delphine to grab a whip and chase her. 

In April 1834, a fire broke out in the LaLaurie residence. When the fire marshals got there, they found an old woman, the cook, chained to the stove by her ankle. She later confessed to them that she had set the fire as a suicide attempt for fear of her punishment, being taken to the uppermost room, because she said “Anyone who had been taken there, never came back.” After the LaLauries refused bystanders the keys to the slave quarters they broke down the doors to find “seven slaves, more or less horribly mutilated … suspended by the neck, with their limbs apparently stretched and torn from one extremity to the other”, who claimed to have been imprisoned there for some months. The bodies of a number of slaves, including a child, were found in the garden.

LaLaurie’s tale is oft embellished, with various folklorists citing findings of ”slaves, stark naked, chained to the wall, their eyes gouged out, their fingernails pulled off by the roots; others had their joints skinned and festering, great holes in their buttocks where the flesh had been sliced away, their ears hanging by shreds, their lips sewn together … Intestines were pulled out and knotted around naked waists. There were holes in skulls, where a rough stick had been inserted to stir the brains.” 

When the discovery of the tortured slaves became widely known, a mob of local citizens attacked the LaLaurie residence and “demolished and destroyed everything upon which they could lay their hands”. LaLaurie’s house was subsequently sacked by an outraged mob of New Orleans citizens, and it is thought that she fled to Paris, where she died in a boar attack whilst hunting.

[Thanks to justapatsy for reminding me of this psycho bitch’s existence]

lostsplendor:

fripperiesandfobs:

Dress, 1887

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Well damn.

maudelynn:

Siren of the Sea

vicfangirlguide:

A group of ‘Pearlies’ from the 1900s. In the 19th century London was full of street traders known as costermongers or costers. In order to attract customers costers would decorate their clothes with mother of pearl buttons which were a common product manufactured in the East End of London. In the 1870s an orphaned road sweeper and rat catcher called Henry Croft took inspiration from this, covered a suit and top hat with pearl buttons and used the notoriety it gave him to raise money for charity.

His idea was quickly adopted by the working class coster families in London. Members of these families covered their suits, dresses, hats, shoes and accessories with pearl button patterns and became known as Pearly Kings, Queens and, in the case of younger family members, Princes and Princesses. Soon there was a Pearly ‘Royal Family’ for each London Borough, each collecting money to help disadvantaged members of their communities. This tradition carries on today with modern Pearlies continuing to raise money for London-based charitable causes.