Nicolas Cage and His Dark Connections with New Orleans

Nicolas Cage and I have a few things in common. We both love haunted houses, New Orleans, and The Big Easy, a place unlike any other. Nicolas Cage loves haunted houses so much that he briefly owned the LaLaurie Mansion! More on this below.

To quote him in an interview with The Advocate, “New Orleans is not like anywhere else in the world. There’s a confluence of culture, spirituality, cuisine, and you know that it’s just its own special place.” I love Nicolas Cage. Though my love is more for the constant memes people make of him than any of the films he’s been in. But I want you to know that I paid for and sat through the entire movie “Wicker Man.” So, I feel I can sustain anything Nicolas Cage throws at me!

I originally decided to go to New Orleans for the Jazz Festival. Plus, I wanted to experience all the creepy things the city offers. New Orleans also has a lot of filming locations. I took advantage of this and took a mini-tour of several filming locations from my favourite shows.

As a horror fan, I really enjoyed American Horror Story (seasons 1-3 only). Season three featured several New Orleans filming locations I wanted to visit. There are a few other TV shows and movies I love (Interview with the Vampire, True Blood and Treme, to name a few) that were filmed in Louisiana that I really wanted the chance to see.

When planning my trip to New Orleans, I discovered that filming location tours existed and was eager to get on one! Unfortunately, because I was visiting during one of New Orleans’ most popular tourist seasons, second only to Mardi Gras, the tours were fully booked during my entire stay. I was a bit disappointed but decided to book some others, including a ghost tour in the French Quarter.

Haunted LaLaurie Mansion where Nicolas Cage once lived. — The beautifully haunted LaLaurie Mansion

This is when I first learned Nicolas Cage loved New Orleans as much as I did.

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The Gruesome Past of the LaLaurie Mansion

On the ghost tour, we headed down to Royal Street, stopping at a few filming locations from random shows and movies along the way. Until we reached the house I’d been dying to hear about. American Horror Story first introduced me to LaLaurie Mansion and Madame LaLaurie, portrayed by the incredible Kathy Bates. I found out that the mansion was a real location and that Kathy Bates’ character was based on a real person.

I was completely enthralled by the stories of the horrible woman and wanted to see the mansion in real life. I’d already researched the house and Madame LaLaurie so much that I knew almost everything. Hearing the horror stories while standing outside the mansion where she committed the atrocities really took it to another level.

Brutalities Committed by Madame LaLaurie

Madame Delphine LaLaurie was a cruel woman who married a physician from France named Leonard Louis Nicolas LaLaurie. Their marriage was tumultuous and unhappy, ultimately ending in Louis leaving Delphine.

This made her incredibly mad, and she turned to torture the enslaved people who worked at the house by starving them and chaining them in the upper part of her house. Several horrible experiments were done on the enslaved people, such as breaking bones, then resetting them in different positions, drilling holes into their heads and covering their bodies with honey and ants.

It wasn’t until one of Madame LaLaurie’s slaves fell to her death that the LaLaurie Mansion was investigated. During the investigation, all of Delphine’s enslaved people were set free. But, like something straight out of a horror movie, Delphine got her family members to buy back each and every one of her previous enslaved people, forcing them to return to the horror they’d briefly escaped.

It’s rumored that one of the courageous women forced to live in the LaLaurie Mansion as a slave set a fire that resulted in the townspeople discovering more about the horrors Delphine committed and finally driving her out of town.

Delphine LaLaurie was a vile woman who, unfortunately, was not genuinely punished for the disgusting cruelties she committed on the human beings she forced into slavery. What went on inside the LaLaurie Mansion is a horrible section of history now part of New Orleans’ dark past.

The tomb of Marie Laveau - The Voodoo Queen of New Orleans in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 — Rumoured to be the tomb of Marie Laveau – The Voodoo Queen of New Orleans (This is not her tomb; I will post her actual tomb below)

The Horrors Live On

Following its sordid past, the LaLaurie Mansion was briefly turned into apartments. But the horrors didn’t stop. Residents claimed the mansion was haunted and could hear moans, cries, screams, and footsteps throughout. Then, one day, the landlord was found brutally murdered in his room. During investigations, several people said he claimed to be haunted by what he referred to as a demon.

The LaLaurie Mansion became known as “the haunted house on Royal Street,” tormented by its horrible past.

Does Nicolas Cage own the LaLaurie Mansion?

Nicolas Cage was also fascinated by the mansion’s ghostly past, so much so that he bought it. So, yes – Nicolas Cage did own the LaLaurie Mansion. According to our tour guide, Nicolas only spent one night in the house because he could hear all sorts of ghostly sounds.

These sounds and disruptions scared him too much to stay a second night. The following night, he rented a place across the street and let his friends have a party in his new mansion. I don’t know how true this story is since I don’t know Nicolas Cage personally. So, unfortunately, I can’t get him to confirm it. But it’s fun to speculate and think that the house was too scary for even a fan of haunted places.

Nicolas Cage didn’t own the mansion for very long. Shortly after, he claimed bankruptcy and the house foreclosed. A wealthy businessman from Texas privately owned it, and the house was unavailable for public visits. However, it was just sold in October 2024 to US Ghost Adventures, who also owns the Lizzie Borden House – something tells me visits to the LaLaurie Mansion are in our future.

Related Post: Spooky City Guide – New Orleans

An Unusual Discovery at St. Louis Cemetery No. 1

Nick Cage’s tomb at the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1

A few days after the ghost tour, I headed to the popular St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. I was interested in seeing the tomb of Marie Laveau, also known as the Voodoo Queen of Louisiana. Marie Laveau was also a character from American Horror Story, played by Angela Bassett. But I’ll come back to her and her mystery tomb in another post.

I walked around the beautiful, old and incredibly hot sun-filled cemetery, hearing all about the famous residents buried there. As I learned why all the tombs are above ground and the incredible history of the place, we stumbled upon a very peculiar looking tomb that really stood out.

Guess who has a tomb ready and waiting for his body in New Orleans’ oldest cemetery? That’s right — Nicolas Cage! He has quite a unique looking tomb — all white and shaped like a pyramid. It’s weird to say I was able to visit a celebrity’s gravesite while they were still alive.

It is rumoured that Nicolas Cage built the tomb after visiting a psychic in New Orleans. Apparently, he felt like he was cursed after buying the Lalaurie Mansion, and to stop the curse, he had to build this tomb in the St. Louis No. 1 Cemetery. Do you think this is true? It’s hard to say, but I love that it adds more Nicolas Cage lore in New Orleans. I recommend taking a cemetery tour in New Orleans and visiting Nicolas Cage’s tomb on your next visit.

Nicolas Cage Bought Anne Rice’s House

In addition to owning the LaLaurie Mansion, Nicolas Cage also purchased the home formally owned by author Anne Rice. The house in the stunning Garden District was once a chapel and a Catholic girls’ school before being owned in the 90s by Anne Rice. If you love vampire lore and want to take a vampire tour in New Orleans, you probably know about Anne Rice’s New Orleans Vampire Chronicles series.

The house is privately owned and locked down, so it’s nearly impossible to view from the outside. I still took some photos for your reference! Apparently, the house is being renovated to its former glory. I guess we will see what happens with the home in the future.

The house was purchased by Nicolas Cage from Anne Rice in 2004 and was lost due to foreclosure with the LaLaurie Mansion. Do you think he is cursed, or should he try to buy another New Orleans home in the future?

Nicolas Cage’s former home in the Garden District

I really loved learning how Nicolas Cage is woven into New Orleans. I’m sure there are a lot more links I’m unaware of. There must be more connecting Nicolas Cage and New Orleans! I am eager to learn as much as possible about the mysterious man and my favourite city.