This is Blanche Monnier, born in 1849, from a wealthy neighborhood in Poitiers in western
France.
A French socialite from an aristocratic and well-respected family of old noble origins,
she was renowned for her physical beauty and attracted many potential suitors.
At age 25, she fell in love with an older, "penniless" lawyer, whom she desired to marry.
Her mother Louise disapproved, but to no avail.
Blanche's heart was true to the man of her choice.
No one was prepared for the tragic future yet to come...
Her Mother was determined to prevent the marriage and together with her son plotted a heinous
plan.
They locked the girl in a tiny dark room in the attic of their home to force her to agree
to their demands.
But, she refused to forsake her true love and Blanche, vanished from public view.
Considered missing, and presumed dead.
Her mother and brother had even mourned her and went on with their daily lives, all whilst
hiding a terrible secret.
The lawyer who she wished to marry had also died unexpectedly in 1885, and as time passed,
she slowly became forgotten by society.
Then suddenly on 23 May 1901 an anonymous letter was received by an attorney which in
part said as follows:
"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."
Blanche Monnier, now a middle aged woman, was rescued by police from appalling conditions,
covered in old food and feces, with bugs all around the bed and floor, weighing barely
25 kilograms.
She hadn’t seen the Sun in 25 years.
Terrified, Blanche, who was found lying completely naked on a rotten straw mattress, was quickly
wrapped in a blanket and rushed to the hospital.
Her story sent shockwaves throughout the community as no one expected something like this to
happen in a family of repute.
Her mother was arrested but she became ill shortly afterwards and died of a heart attack.
Her brother Marcel Monnier, was initially convicted but later acquitted on appeal.
They found that a "duty of rescue" did not exist in the penal code at that time.
Marcel, would later claim that Blanche was insane, and never attempted to escape the
locked and shuttered room but testimonies of several witnesses contradicted his account.
Blanche never fully recovered and continued to suffer from mental health problems.
She died in a psychiatric hospital in 1913 in apparent obscurity at age 64.