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And with that said, let's begin.
This is Blanche Monnier, a woman who was confined
in a nine by 12 room for over 25 years by her own family.
If you spend enough time online
then chances are, you already knew that,
probably already seen this photograph even.
But what exactly led up to this
and why would anyone do this to their own family member?
To explain that we have to go all the way back
to late 18 hundreds France,
when Blanche was still a young, vibrant woman
in her mid twenties.
Just a few years prior, Mr. Monnier had passed away,
leaving behind his wife, Louise and two children.
A son named Marcel, and of course, Blanche.
Despite the loss, however,
anyone looking in would have said
that Blanche was on top of the world.
She came from a very wealthy family
and no doubt had her pick of suitors.
There was just one problem however.
Blanche had fallen in love with a lawyer,
one who was not very well established
and definitely did not have anything near
the wealth of the Monniers.
The mother and daughter argued and bickered
over the relationship but even so Blanche still planned on
marrying the man.
She told her friends about her plans and before too long
the whole town anticipated the sound of church bells.
Now, instead they were met with silence.
Blanche suddenly disappeared from public view
and at first nobody suspected anything bizarre
might have happened.
They continued going about their lives,
but when Blanche failed to return after an extended period,
people began to talk.
It was then that Mrs Monnier broke down
and admitted what had supposedly happened
to her beloved daughter.
She told neighbors that Blanche had actually gone insane.
And rather than cruelly admitting her to an asylum
she was to be kept at the wealthy family's home,
her every need attended to.
For the most part, the public did buy the story.
Keep in mind, the Monnier family
were not only extremely wealthy
but also highly influential in both church and government.
Marcel, in fact, held a position in public office
as this was going on.
And there also hadn't been much of a reason
for anyone to the Monniers might be lying.
That is until about eight years
after Blanche's disappearance.
Late one evening, a neighbor had been walking past
the Monnier estate when he suddenly heard the sound
of screams emanating from a tiny window
at the family's home.
The voice, which sounded female, was uttering things
about being held against her will
and not even knowing why.
The next morning said neighbor confronted Mrs. Monnier
about the incident, to which she claimed
that Blanche's and sanity had progressed
to the point of delusions.
Marcel vouched for her and the window was boarded up.
A couple of years later,
the lawyer who Blancheed it was engaged to
passed away suddenly and the public all but forgot
about the vanished girl.
Meanwhile, Blanche was now living in complete darkness
and wouldn't see light again for a whole 17 more years.
Throughout this period, Blanche was being cared for
by a long time made.
But once she'd retired she was replaced
by two younger women.
Both were horrified by the Monnier's family secret
and in 1901 one of them decided to write
an anonymous letter to police
alerting them about the girl kept locked up by her employer.
The letter read,
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 in putrid litter
for the past 25 years.
In a word, in her own filth.
Authorities quickly made their way to the Monnier residence.
And although they were initially met with resistance
from Mrs Monnier and Marcel,
they were eventually led to Blanca this room.
And what they found there was too much to stomach
even for the veteran officers.
The once young beautiful heiress that the town remembered
was now in her fifties and seemed to be reduced to a corpse.
This is what one officer on the scene had to say
about what he saw:
"The unfortunate woman was lying completely naked
in a rotten straw mattress.
All around her was formed a sort of crust made of excrement,
fragments of meat, vegetables, fish, and rotten bread.
We also saw oyster shells
and bugs are running across a blanches bed.
The air was so unbreathable.
The odor given off by the room was so ranked
that it was impossible for us to stay any longer
to proceed with our investigation."
Following this discovery,
both Mrs Monnier and Marcel were arrested
while Blanche was sent to the hospital.
The infamous photo you see here was taken soon after.
And to add to the already shocking details of this tail,
Blanche only weighed about 55 pounds
at the time of her discovery
and she'd lost the majority of her speaking skills.
According to both police and caretakers,
Blanche at that point, seemed almost childlike.
Her chances of survival seemed extremely low
but ultimately Blanche did physically recover.
But as one might expect,
being confined for 25 years took too much of a toll
on her mind.
And she would die in an asylum over a decade later.
But about her captors?
By the time of her arrest,
Mrs Monnier was already in her mid seventies
and suffering from heart disease.
In the end, she never did have to face punishment
for what she did to her own daughter
as she passed away from her illness while in custody,
just 15 days in.
As for Marcel, he tried to pin the blame entirely
on his mother.
And despite the moral issues, legally, his defenses worked.
He pointed out to the courts
that he didn't physically detain his sister
and later added that technically Blanche could have left
at any time, but elected not to.
This, despite the fact that police stated
that both the door and window were sealed
and that they'd even found writing on the walls
praying for freedom.
After a late trial in 1901, Marcel was acquitted
and free to return to his wife, kids,
and of course his inheritance
which most likely was never shared with Blanche.
Now, we have discussed how all of this happened,
but we haven't exactly covered why.
And the thing is that's actually still up for debate
if you ask most people.
It is true that Blanche had planned to marry a man
her mother didn't approve of.
And while this may have been the reason
for the initial confinement,
it's unclear why blanche was still locked up
even after her fiance passed away.
Some chalk it up to religious panic.
Keep in mind, Blanche's mother was described
as a devout Christian and some see this
as partially why her reaction to her daughter's relationship
was so harsh.
Add that to the fact that her lover was essentially broke
and many saw this as something
Mrs. Monnier simply could not bear.
As for Marcel, it's believed that his motivation here
was to cut out his sister in order to leave him
the sole beneficiary of the family's estate.
But of course, regardless of their reasoning,
what they both did to Blanca is completely unjustifiable.
And I think it's safe to say
that Marcel's excuses were bogus.
Even if no law existed for it at the time,
Marcel should not have been able to get away with
not reporting what was happening.
In the end, he and his mother completely got away with it
and 120 years later people are still shocked
at what these people did to their very own family member.
Hey guys, so I know that this video
is a little bit shorter than usual,
the other two this month are probably also going to be
a little bit shorter.
But once November comes, things should be back to normal.
I've been a little bit under the weather lately
and my voice is kind of messed up right now.
But anyway, thank you so much for watching
and let's get right to thanking the patreons.
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Once again, thank you guys so much for your support.
And that also goes out to the $5 tier over here.
And with all that said, I'll see you guys soon.