1140 Royal Street is one of the most historic -and also misrepresented - houses in New Orleans. It was built in 1831 and renovated in 1838 to add a third floor and cupola, making it the second highest structure in New Orleans after the towers of the St Louis Cathedral. It served as Franklin High School which opened the first school of commerce in the South in 1851 and sent many students to West Point including General Morgan; the first desegregated public school in the South; New Orleans Conservatory of Music; tenements for Italian immigrants; the Warrington House which fed, housed, and supported nearly a million people through the Great Depression; housed the women of the US Navy WAVES who worked in the Higgins Factory during World War II and later veterans returning from the war; and so much more important history to our nation, our city, and its culture. The property's historic name is 'The Haunted House' and is commonly known today as 'The Lalaurie Mansion', a story which highlights the realities of slavery and its brutality, and how the enslaved who built the French quarter are often forgotten in the narrative and obscured by a veil of fictional ghost stories.

Join the owner of the mansion, Lance Zaal, as he discusses nearly two years of research and resources that have gone into his upcoming book.