At age 25, Blanche
Monnier had set her heart on marrying a lawyer who was not to her
mother's liking. Her disapproving mother locked her in a tiny room,
where she was kept for 25 years. On May 23, 1901, the Paris Attorney
General received an anonymous letter that revealed the secret
incarceration. Blanche was found in appalling conditions and rescued
by police.
Her mother became
ill shortly after being arrested, and died 15 days later. Her brother
Marcel appeared in court, and was initially convicted, but later was
acquitted on appeal; Marcel Monnier was mentally incapacitated, and
although the judges criticized his choices, they found that a "duty
to rescue" did not exist in the penal code at that time.
Having been released
from the room, Blanche Monnier experienced continuing mental problems
that soon led to her admission to a psychiatric hospital, where she
died in 1913.
Incredible
story of the 19th Century French socialite who vanished for 25
years... only to be discovered locked in her mother's attic because
of her scandalous sex life
Blanche Monnier fell
in love with a lawyer in Paris who her mother disliked
She was found after
25 years in her mother's attic, extremely malnourished
Blanche's
aristocratic mother intended to keep her locked up until she
abandoned her relationship - but she never did
By MAILONLINE
REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 16:11
GMT, 2 November 2015 | UPDATED: 08:12 GMT, 3 November 2015
Loving the wrong man
was a serious business in the past as the incredible story of a
French young woman who was secretly locked up in a small room for 25
years shows.
In Paris 1876,
25-year-old Blanche Monnier was a typical socialite scrambling to
find a suitor before it was too late. She fell in love with an older,
broke lawyer, who her aristocratic mother disliked, and set her heart
on marrying him.
Then, Blanche just
vanished. Nobody in France saw her in public again. Her mother and
brother mourned her, and went on with their daily lives. But behind
the appearance, they were hiding a terrible secret.
Blanche Monnier was
found inside a padlocked room, her bed covered in food and faeces.
She was extremely malnourished, weighing just 55 pounds
On 23 May 1901, the
office of the attorney general of Paris received a mysterious,
unsigned letter detailing the captivity of Blanche Monnier at the
hands of her mother
On 23 May 1901, the
office of the attorney general of Paris received a mysterious letter.
The unsigned missive read: 'Monsieur Attorney General: I have the
honor to inform you of an exceptionally serious occurrence. I speak
of a spinster who is locked up in Madame Monnier's house, half
starved, and living on a putrid litter for the past twenty-five years
– in a word, in her own filth'.
Shocked by the
letter, police decided to investigate the estate despite Monnier's
family sterling reputation. A group of officers broke into the house,
searched the premises and upstairs noticed a padlocked door. When
they removed the lock, a horrifying smell filled their noses.
To their surprise,
an extremely malnourished woman cowering on the bed, covered in food
and feces, was squinting through the light she had not seen in 25
years. Blanche Monnier, now weighing just 55 pounds had been kept
prisoner for a quarter of a century. She had not seen the light or
another human being during that time.
Madame Monnier died
in prison 15 days later, after confessing to locking her beautiful
daughter in the attic
A witness described
the gruesome discovery: 'The unfortunate woman was lying completely
naked on a rotten straw mattress. All around her was formed a sort of
crust made from excrement, fragments of meat, vegetables, fish, and
rotten bread.'
'We also saw oyster
shells and bugs running across Mademoiselle Monnier's bed,' he went
on. 'The air was so unbreathable, the odor given off by the room was
so rank, that it was impossible for us to stay any longer to proceed
with our investigation.'
Madame Monnier, who
had won an award from the Committee of Good Works for her generous
contributions to the city, was immediately arrested.
She died in prison
15 days later, after confessing the abysmal abduction to police. When
her daughter refused to back down on her relationship with the
lawyer, Madame Monnier locked her up in a tiny room until she gave
in.
For 25 years,
Blanche only ate scraps from her mother's meals. Her punishment
continued even after the death of her lover in 1885.
Blanche's brother
Marcel stood trial for helping her mother in the ordeal and was
initially sentenced to 15 months in prison. He was later acquitted on
claims that Blanche could have left at any time, but chose not to. He
walked free to the horror of the crowd in the courtroom.
Blanche Monnier,
also known in France as La Séquestrée de Poitiers, died in 1913 in
a sanitarium in Bois.
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