True Crime

Author Alan Brown guides the intrepid on a dark tour of the Pelican State’s most infamous residents. Louisiana beckons those the world over with its culture and Spanish moss–draped beauty. But that magnetic pull has also summoned a cast of reprobates vile enough to fill a book. In this version of Louisiana, pirate Jean Lafitte and gentlemanly train robber Eugene Bunch go ahead and help themselves to whatever they like, murderous dentist Etienne De Champs is the stuff of dentophobic nightmares, a psychotic killer known as “The Axeman” stalks the streets of New Orleans and a hail of bullets greets Bonnie and Clyde. Indeed, the sadistic Delphine LaLaurie and Voodoo Queen Clementine Barnabet are quite comfortable in this decidedly non-moss-draped history.

Historians Victoria Cosner Love and author Lorelei Shannon uncover the truth behind one of New Orleans' most famous stories and one of America's most haunted houses.

On April 10, 1834 Firefighters smashed through a padlocked attic door in the burning home of Creole society couple Delphine and Louis Lalaurie. The horrible discovery of chained and mutilated slaves spawned a legend that has endured for over 150 years. But what really happened in the Lalaurie home? Who was Mad Madame Lalaurie, and what motivated her to commit such ghastly atrocities, if in fact she really did?

At a time when women were denied opportunity, the lavish parlors of Storyville offered advancement for women who welcomed the vice. Mary Deubler, the Storyville madam who called herself Josie Arlington, more than welcomed carnal enterprise. A turbulent childhood forced her into a life of prostitution at an early age, but fueled by ambition, she opened a brothel that soon developed a dangerous reputation in a city famous for competitive iniquity. Devastating circumstances spun her into a new path lined with luxury. Her palace, the brothel she named the Arlington, cemented her legacy. An establishment filled with exotic girls, who added a rare air of refinement to its proffered debauchery, it allowed Josie to become something even rarer for her time: a self-made woman of vast wealth and influence. Author Marita Woywod Crandle charts Josie's rise while painting a vivid picture of New Orleans's red-light district.

Author David Schneider takes readers into the crime history of colonial New Orleans. 

The French colonial empire was a brutal money-making machine. And French society, which was carefully organized by the Church and the Crown, broke down in the environment of the Gulf Coast, from New Orleans to Biloxi. The Catholic church lost control of social morals. The colonial regime was unable, or altogether disinterested, to provide for the basic needs of colonists. In this environment, things were very tense, and very wild, but the stories are fascinating, invigorating tales of life on the edge of empire.

Author and historian Chris Dier reveals the horrifying true story behind the St. Bernard Parish Massacre.

As African American men gained the right to vote, white Democrats of St. Bernard Parish feared losing their majority. Armed groups mobilized to suppress these recently emancipated voters in the hopes of regaining a way of life turned upside down by the Civil War and Reconstruction. Days before the tumultuous presidential election of 1868, the parish descended into chaos. Freedpeople were dragged from their homes and murdered in cold blood. Many fled to the cane fields to hide from their attackers. The reported number of those killed varies from 35 to 135. The tragedy was hidden, but implications reverberated throughout the South and lingered for generations.

In the rough-and-tumble days of the nineteenth century, Shreveport was on the very edge of the country's western frontier. It was a city struggling to tame lawlessness, and its streets were rocked by duels, lynchings and shootouts. A new century and Prohibition only brought a fresh wave of crime and scandal. The port city became a haunt for the likes of notorious bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde and home to the influential socialite and Madam Annie McCune. From Fred Lockhart, aka the "Butterfly Man," to serial killers Nathanial Code and Danny Rolling, Shreveport played reluctant host to an even deadlier cast of characters. Their tales and more make up the devilish history of the Deep South in Wicked Shreveport.

A look back at New Orleans's early wicked days and historic crimes

Since as early as the 1700s, New Orleans has been a city filled with sin and vice. Those first pioneering citizens of the Big Easy were thieves, vagabonds and criminals of all kinds. By the time Louisiana fell under American control, New Orleans had become a city of debauchery and corruption camouflaged by decadence. It was also considered one of the country's most dangerous cities, with a reputation of crime and loose morals. Rampant gambling and prostitution were the norm in nineteenth-century New Orleans, and over one-third of today's French Quarter was considered a hotbed of sin. Tales in this volume include that of the notorious Axeman who plagued the streets of the Crescent City in the early 1900s and Kate Townsend, a prostitute who was murdered by her own lover, a man who later was awarded her inheritance.