"American Horror Story" is returning on October 9 with Season 3 and fans are eagerly awaiting "Coven." We have been hearing a series of spoilers and while we initially thought witches were going to be less terrifying than the previous AHS, we are not so sure now. We will be introduced to the "Coven" with the premiere episode of "Bitchcraft" and the title alone tells us that things are going to get a little catty. The episode will feature a flashback to New Orleans in 1834, here will meet Madam LaLaurie, played by Kathy Bates, a woman who "bathes in the blood of others in an attempt to stay young."
LaLaurie is a woman of legend, she was a Louisiana-born socialite and serial killer. As if you aren't already terrified, LaLaurie is most notable for torturing and murdering black slaves, cementing her as one of New Orleans most notorious serial killers. AHS seems to be drawing much of the show's plot from the real life crimes of LaLaurie. In the season premiere, LaLaurie's daughter Pauline is seduced by one of the family's servants. In order to punish the servant, LaLaurie transforms him into a beast, not with powerful magic "but by far more gruesome means." So now the man-bull figure in "Coven" promos is starting to make sense.
As if this tale isn't gruesome enough, the scariest part is that it is inspired by true events. In "Ghost Stories of Old New Orleans" written by Jeanna DeLavigne in 1946 alleged that LaLaurie participated in sadistic and ritualistic torture of her slaves. The true nature of LaLaurie and the treatment of her slaves came to light following a fire that broke out in the LaLaurie Royal Street mansion. DeLavigne wrote that first responders to the fire had found "male 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."
The fire in the residence exposed the prominent LaLaurie family for their horrific treatment of their slaves. When the tortured and mutilated slaves were recovered a mob of New Orleans citizens ravaged the Royal Street mansion and "demolished and destroyed everything upon which they could lay their hands." In the midst of the chaos, LaLaurie and her third husband Leonard Louis Nicolas LaLaurie, fled New Orleans by boat. She was never formally charged for her atrocious crimes, but her reputation in upper-class society was destroyed. It is believed that she died in Paris in December 1842.
Bates' role as LaLaurie will bring her back to her "Misery" days, and we are excited. However, the torture and mutilation does sound just downright nauseating. Now, I am wondering just how LaLaurie will tie in with the modern-day "Coven." Most likely she is a witch, perhaps even the Supreme witch at the time, and she is not the only powerful women in New Orleans. AHS also features another real-life character, Angela Bassett will portray Marie Laveau. Laveau was a prominent voodoo priestess during the 1800's, she was known as the "Voodoo Queen of New Orleans." Laveau was said to have a snake named Zombi after an African god, and AHS is incorporating her beloved pet. But instead of featuring Zombi, it seems like Laveau and Zombi have become one for "Coven. I am sincerely hoping for a LaLaurie-Laveau faceoff. Maybe we will figure out just which type of occult is more powerful, magic or voodoo.
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