What the interlopers had found was the torture chamber of Madame Marie Delphine LaLaurie, consistently ranked as one of the most infamous serial killers in the world—right up there with the blood-drinking, cannibalistic 16th century HungarianCountess Elizabeth Báthory or Lizzie Borden and her alleged 40 whacks. Renowned in New Orleans lore as the Savage Mistress, LaLaurie became famous for the depraved brutalization of her slaves. Legend has it that a 70-year-old slave cook who had been chained to the stove by LaLaurie, yet was slowly starving to death, started the fire. But that was far from her most extreme torture. A brief catalogue of the ever-changing list of horrors people claim the would-be rescuers found in her attic include: