When it comes to leaving children and pets in cars, there are simply too many things at risk – with a whole army of people out there who feel passionately about them to back them up, and even occasionally smash a car window in a moment of emboldened heroism. And rightly so.

Temperatures inside a closed motor vehicle can soar to dangerous levels in as little as ten minutes. Children and animals are especially at physical risk, since their cognitive abilities to assess the situation is limited. Coincidentally, they are also the ones most often left in a car.

Of course, there’s no denying that kids and pets are a major headache to drag around when you’re in a hurry. But leaving them in the car, which has repeatedly proven disastrous, was an option with too many risks neglected by too many people…until now, potentially.

Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are two of the biggest dangers that car isolation can cause. Most mammals will lose body fluids in a hot enclosed space through sweating, which if not treated immediately, can lead to a heat stroke – where body temperature rises to levels that can cause severe and irreparable damage to the brain, liver and kidneys, or even be fatal. George Shaker, an engineering professor at Waterloo, calls it “a serious, worldwide problem.”

But the researchers at this university have been busy working on a solution: a sensor alarm that detects children or pets left alone in vehicles. This small car device combines radar technology with artificial intelligence, resulting in almost 100% accuracy. And it’s not even expensive.

Funded by a major auto manufacturer, the device’s primary function is to detect when a person or pet remains sitting in a parked car for an extended period of time through a drastic temperature change. It first determines the number of occupants and their locations in a vehicle, then analyzing their breathing patterns to detect hazardous changes. The car device can unlock vehicle doors, and set off an alarm to alert other people in the area and even the passengers themselves that there is a risk. Researchers are further looking into its capacity to detect fatigue, distraction, impairment, illness or other high-risk signs of drivers themselves. Additionally, it could be used for ride-sharing services, toll roads, and car-pool lanes.

The car device is low-power, and runs on the vehicle’s battery. It’s expected to be on the market by the end of 2020, so look out.

It makes sense that eccentric actor Nicolas Cage would buy a haunted house, right? After all, the Leaving Las Vegas actor is known for his strange behavior and erratic spending. Nicolas Cage’s haunted house isn’t just rumored to have a dark past – it’s in the history books as the site of some really sinister and cruel activities. We take a look at the dark history of the property, as well as Nicolas Cage’s interest in it.

You may wonder why a successful actor would wish to buy a mansion with such a sordid history. When speaking about the house, Cage revealed that “other people have beachfront property; I have ghost front property.”

He continued, “I’m a child of California and I would go to Disneyland quite a bit […] One of the greatest memories would be the haunted mansion at Anaheim, in New Orleans Square, no less. So for me to have the actual thing was the childhood fantasy come true.”

As a successful movie star, Nick has plenty of money to spend on properties, which is exactly what he does. According to records, the National Treasure actor swiped his New Orleans haunted house for $3,450,000 back in 2006.

The property was initially listed with an asking price of $3,900,000 so, Mr. Cage must have snagged himself a bargain. However, we do question whether this house was a responsible investment. After all, who wants to buy a haunted mansion?

Nicolas Cage already owned one house in New Orleans when he chose to purchase the LaLaurie Mansion. Cage’s other home is in the Garden District, whereas the haunted house is on Royal Street.

Despite its dark past, the LaLaurie Mansion is actually rather beautiful in appearance. The mansion was originally built for French royalty, and the architectural features reveal just that. The house has widow’s walks, iron grillwork, and fluted pilasters. Its door is carved with an image of Greek God Phoebus.

Many people don’t know that Nicolas Cage is part of the famous Coppola film family. Born Nicolas Kim Coppola, Cage uses a stage name to differentiate himself.

Cage has been married four times — he first said ‘I do’ to actress Patricia Arquette, with whom he has a son, before tying the knot with singer-songwriter Lisa Maria Presley (daughter of Elvis). Then came his third wife, Alice Kim, with whom he has another son. And lastly, Cage married fourth wife Erika Koike before annulling their marriage just four hours after the ceremony.

Many people are attracted to the colorful Louisiana city — New Orleans — because of its music, cuisine, dialect, and Creole culture. The multicultural city used to be the territorial capital of French Louisiana and thus, remains multilingual to this day.

Con Air star Nicolas Cage reiterated this in an interview with The Advocate saying, “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.”

Whilst the LaLaurie House was initially built for French royalty, the property that stands there now isn’t the same building that was once inhabited by the LaLauries. As we shall see, the actual mansion was destroyed several times, and lay ruined for years at a time.

Extra floors and buildings were added to the house in the late 19th century, and some remodeling occurred in the ‘70s. Back in 1928, the house was described as “the highest building for squares around,” thanks to its three stories.

Dr. Louis and his wife, Delphine LaLaurie, moved into the New Orleans property in the early 1830s. The LaLauries were prominent members of New Orleans high society and hosted extravagant parties to display their wealth.

Unfortunately, as was common at the time, the LaLaurie mansion was run by slaves. Over the years it became clear that the LaLauries – and Delphine specifically – constantly mistreated the help. Due to her appalling behavior, the Creole socialite is now understood as an evil person.

Delphine LaLaurie was born in 1787 to a large, politically connected, and wealthy family. Delphine’s family was made up of slave owners, merchants, land-owners, planters, and military officers that arrived in the U.S. during French colonization. Furthermore, Delphine was related to the governor and mayor of various New Orleans territories and provinces.

Importantly, when Delphine was just four years old, the Haitian revolution happened. This slave uprising alarmed many U.S. slaveholders and caused a string of other rebellions. As a result, many slaveowners started disciplining their slaves more harshly.

Delphine LaLaurie married three times — firstly in 1800 to a high ranking Spanish royal officer who died while his wife was pregnant with their daughter, Marie-Borja. Delphine’s second husband was a banker, lawyer, and merchant. Together, they had four children before his death in 1816.

Finally, she married the much younger French physician Leonard Louis Nicholas LaLaurie in 1825. Leonard and Delphine got married because she was pregnant, and the relationship quickly started to show signs of strain.

The LaLaurie relationship was turbulent and ill-fated. Allegedly, when husband Leonard left his wife, she suffered a mental breakdown and took it out on the house slaves.

In 1833, Madame LaLaurie was investigated by the authorities and as a result of that, all the slaves were released. Still, Delphine wasn’t finished with them. In fact, the Creole socialite had her friends and family repurchase each slave.

On April 10th, 1834, a slave woman that was being held captive set the house on fire. It’s thought that the imprisoned woman was trying to bring light to the horrors of the house, and in some ways, it worked.

Half of the LaLaurie mansion was damaged by the fire, and seven tortured slaves were discovered. The unpaid workers were starved and chained in the upper part of the house. Thankfully, they were given medical treatment, food, and drink.

The fire at the LaLaurie mansion finally put an end to Delphine’s torture and cruelty. Because it revealed the mistress’s mistreatment of and brutality towards her slaves, locals were horrified by the wealthy family.

Eventually, a large crowd of almost 200 people gathered to witness the catastrophe and decided to take matters into their own hands. When the sheriff didn’t take any action, the mob attacked the house, destroying it and looting any valuables. However, Madame LaLaurie managed to escape.

When the LaLaurie property was investigated following the fire, there was evidence of gruesome and violent activities. Despite the proof, the LaLauries were able to escape authorities and were never prosecuted.

Instead, Delphine took a coach — or a wooden carriage — to the waterfront before sailing off to Mobile, Alabama. From there, Madame fled to Paris and ultimately died in 1849 at the age of 62. Allegedly she wished to return to New Orleans.

Since the LaLaurie mansion was set on fire, it’s been reincarnated as a host of different buildings including apartments, a girls’ school, a furniture store, and a homeless shelter. Of course, due to its sinister past, many people have since claimed that the house is haunted.

When the building was made into rental apartments, residents claimed to hear cries, moans, screams, and footsteps inside the building. Eventually, the landlord was murdered, and residents claimed he had said he was haunted by a demon.

In terms of appearance, Nick Cage’s haunted mansion is just as spooky as you might imagine. The building is grey and looming from the exterior, and is situated at the corner of Royal and Governor Nicholls Streets.

According to the listing information, the LaLaurie property measures over 10,000 square feet and wraps around a brick courtyard. At the time that Cage bought it, the courtyard was peppered with spindly trees and potted plants. The entrance to the house is on the ground floor.

Images of the LaLaurie Mansion from the time that Cage purchased it show fairly humdrum interior décor. The foyer entrance and two large reception rooms have monochrome checkerboard tiles and are decorated with some garish looking art.

The reception rooms have tall windows, built-in bookcases, and a gray and yellow marble fireplace. Certainly, it’s not clear from looking at this house that it was once filled with pain and terror. However, tourists claim that the property has a creepy aura.

When the LaLaurie property was inhabited by Delphine, there were separate quarters for workers. In fact, when authorities investigated the house, they found slaves being held captive.

When Cage purchased the house in 2006, there was no sign of these previous horrors. Instead, there was a guest or staff suite with a sitting room, kitchenette, full bathroom, and bedroom. The property also came with a garage at the rear.

Floorplans of the LaLaurie house at the time that Cage purchased it show a host of rooms and details. The second floor holds a dining room, a butler’s pantry, a kitchen, and a double parlor style living room. These rooms feature wooden floors, intricate pediments and pilasters, and dee-voon dentil ceiling moulding.

The Face/Off star clearly has a preference for certain styles of art, as the paintings hung in this New Orleans property are rather bold. We can’t say we’re surprised.

Because the LaLaurie property is wrapped around a courtyard, many of the rooms inside open up to balconies. There are two further staff or guest suites on the second floor that open up over the courtyard, and another two on the mezzanine level.

The family bedrooms are on the third floor of the property, and each contains a bathroom and walk-in closet. Sadly, a slave girl reportedly fell from one of the balconies when she lived there serving Delphine.

Unsurprisingly, the LaLaurie mansion isn’t the first real estate Nicolas Cage has purchased. As we’ve already seen, the actor owned another home in New Orleans when he bought the haunted house. Cage bought a property in the Bahamas in 2004, and sold a $10 million Malibu home in 2005.

In 2006, the City of Angels actor bought a 40-acre island in the Exuma archipelago, close to an island owned by country singers Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.

However, we know that Nicolas Cage is no ordinary man, and no amount of houses would satisfy the strange desires that emerge from within him. After all, the man ended up buying a haunted house. In the same year that he bought the LaLaurie mansion, Cage also bought medieval castle Schloss Neidstein in Germany.

In 2007, the Ghost Rider actor bought a 24,000 square foot manor in Rhode Island and Midford Castle in Somerset, England. That’s a lot of castles!

As we know, the LaLaurie mansion has gone through many changes and renovations. It’s thought that the third floor of the house was added in approximately 1837 and that a lot of the architectural details from the house originate from this time.

Some of these details include elaborate ceiling medallions, carved doors, Greek columns, and a decorative band of winged angels in the dining room. The building is best recognized from the outside, especially because it looms large and gray over the street it sits on.

Despite his interest in owning a “ghost front property,” it seems that Mr. Cage was too scared to actually stay in his haunted house. Apparently, the leading man spent one night sleeping in the house, and was kept awake by the rumblings of ghostly activity.

It’s reported that the Raising Arizona actor rented somewhere across the street rather than sleeping in the LaLaurie property. However, the spirits and apparitions didn’t stop Cage from inviting his friends to a party in the house.

Nick’s strange behaviors and preferences can’t be understated, especially when we’re talking about haunted mansions. The actor regularly makes headlines for his strange purchases and bizarre acquisitions.

Famously, Cage outbid Titanic actor Leonardo DiCaprio for a 70 million-year-old dinosaur skull (yes, really), which turned out to be stolen (yes, really). The actor has spent $150,000 on a pet octopus, $450,000 on the late Shah of Iran’s Lamborghini, and for some reason owns “shrunken Pygymy heads.”

Due to its dark past, the LaLaurie House is a regular stop for ghost tours in New Orleans. At one point, tourists could buy tickets for a guided tour of the property, but now it can only be viewed from the outside.

It’s pretty common that during the evening hours, the sidewalks — which lay directly in front of the mansion — tend to get overcrowded with people and tour groups. They stand there hoping to get a glimpse of something supernatural.

It’s unclear exactly what happened to Madame LaLaurie after she fled the mansion as it burned. Some believe she fled to France where records show she died in 1849. However, others suspect that LaLaurie wouldn’t have left her children behind, and may have faked her trip to France.

This theory sees Delphine traveling to the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain where she became the apprentice of Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau. Apparently, Laveau befriended LaLaurie and had visited her house to do her hair.

Interestingly, we can’t be sure exactly what went down in the LaLaurie mansion. Whilst there are plenty of gruesome tales, it’s possible that some have been exaggerated in the years since they happened. Some books and commentaries written after the fire embellished details of the incident, and these were then spread as facts in the 20th century.

Local newspapers at the time reported that LaLaurie’s slaves were in poor condition, but they did not mention any torture.

The tale of Madame LaLaurie is so fascinating that it’s been dramatized in Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s anthology horror series American Horror Story. In the third season – Coven – Kathy Bates plays the cruel mistress reincarnated in 2013 in which she has to come to terms with her past.

While the show was shooting, the current owner of the property did not allow any filming inside or outside the LaLaurie mansion. Instead, the show was filmed at the Hermann-Grima House Museum in the French Quarter.

To recreate the exterior of the house, Murphy and Falchuk filmed two houses down from the actual property. They laid dirt on the street in order to make it feel more like a nineteenth-century landscape.

Of course, the infamous LaLaurie mansion was the centerpiece of American Horror Story’s drama. The show flashed between 1834 and present-day New Orleans to explore LaLaurie’s life, crimes, and regrets. Unsurprisingly, the amazing Kathy Bathes won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress for the role.

We know that Nicolas wanted a “ghost front property,” but the actor also intended to write a novel while living in the house.

He said, “I once lived in the most haunted house in America. The LaLaurie Mansion in New Orleans used to belong to Madame LaLaurie, a well-known 19th-century socialite […] I bought it in 2007, figuring it would be a good place in which to write the great American horror novel. I didn’t get too far with the novel.”

Amusingly, Cage also made sure to purchase something else while he was in New Orleans. That’s right — not content with a house and a haunted mansion, the Season of the Witch actor had one more thing to buy in the distinctive and lively city.

In pride of place in New Orleans’ oldest cemetery lies the tomb of one Mr. Nicolas Kim Coppola, a.k.a. Nick Cage. The tomb is white and in the shape of a pyramid. Sounds about right!

We’ve already mentioned that Mr. Cage is a strange character — whether it’s because he bought a haunted house or that he outbid Leonardo DiCaprio for a dinosaur skull. Actor Idris Elba worked with Cage on 2011 film Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, and recounted Cage’s odd behavior while they were filming in Transylvania, Romania.

Elba recalled asking Cage where he’d been the night before, and Cage casually responded that he’d gone to sleep in the ruins of Dracula’s castle.

Because of Cage’s erratic spending, the actor squandered away millions of dollars. A talented performer, Cage was a top Hollywood actor at one point and raked in the big bucks. Once worth $150 million, the actor is now worth an estimated $25 million.

The Gone in 60 Seconds actor faced foreclosure on several properties and ended up owing the IRS $6.3 million in property taxes. In 2009, Cage sued his accountant for sending him “down a path toward financial ruin.”

Nicolas Cage only owned the LaLaurie mansion for a short period of time before he lost it due to his financial struggles. The property has since been renovated again with a “French Quarter feel” in mind.

Designer Katie Stassi-Scott wanted to respect the slaves who had been tortured in the property and decided to acknowledge them, but not glamorize them. The room where they were tortured is now a “heaven room” that feels like you’re “up in the clouds.”

The LaLaurie Mansion is currently owned by a Texan oil magnate who bought the property in 2013. The mansion is now completely private and not available for tours. In fact, when ghost tours do pass by, the new tenants have been spotted getting up from the balcony and retreating inside.

Clearly, the LaLaurie Mansion has a dark and sordid past that won’t be forgotten quickly. Despite the house being closed off to the public, many still consider it the most haunted house in the city.