The case of the unfortunate aristocrat; Blanche Monnier.
Like every other French socialite in 1876, Monnier was desperate for love. She was young and considered a very beautiful bachelorette. At 25, she was still unmarried and was desperate to move on with her life out of her mother’s home. There, she found love in the form of an older lawyer.
But her mother disapproved highly of the relationship. She hated the man, and more so hated the fact that he had no money.
Still, Monnier’s heart was deeply set on marrying this man, regardless of her mother’s opinion. That was her crippling mistake though, as a vicious argument ensued. Madame Monnier forbade Blanche from seeing this man, and even went as far as to beg her to call off the relationship. But Blanche refused.
From there, her mother furiously knew Monnier would never give up her emotions on her own for this man. So she locked her daughter in the tiny attic room, with barricaded shutters preventing any light in the room. If Monnier wanted freedom, she would have to break off the marriage to this penniless lawyer her mother disapproved of.
But Monnier was in love, and even if that meant never seeing her love again, then she wouldn’t. Monnier stayed in the room, eating dinner scraps her mother would give her, and sleeping on a hay bed left upstairs. She was chained to the bed and kept in horrifying conditions, without clothes, and constantly beaten.
As Monnier laid captive in that tiny attic, she truly did never see her lover again, as he passed away in 1885. But Monnier was just as important in high society as her mother and brother. And how did they get away with her sudden disappearance? By faking her death, of course.
In the public eye, Blanche Monnier was a dead woman, whom her mother and brother would mourn at every chance to sell their horrifying story. Of course, no one doubted her death, as a young woman passing away unexpectedly was no raise for concern in those days.
Her brother was also manipulated by their mother though, as well into his 50s he was still at home. He never married, and stayed in the home with their mother, not questioning the situation with Blanche one bit as he tortured his sister, only due to a dead lover.
Finally, in 1901, French police received a mysterious letter, claiming there was something odd occurring at the Monnier address. The note even claimed they could hear screams of agony coming from a closed attic window. While police thought that Blanche Monnier was dead, they still went out to investigate to verify the claims were false. After all, she’d been presumed dead for all the 25 years she’d been locked up and didn’t expect much.
But when they showed up to the house, Madame Monnier peeked her head out the window and ignored the door. Police kicked in the front door and immediately were hit with the smell coming from Blanche’s room. There, they found the now 50-year-old Blanche looking like a skeleton of only 55 lbs, after 25 years of being locked up in the ramshackle attic. She could just about string together a sentence.
After taking Blanche to the hospital, she was grateful for the treatment of the nurses giving her a bath and a proper meal. She remarked it was ‘so lovely to see the sunshine after all these years’. When interrogated by police, Madame Monnier claimed Blanche brought this all upon herself.
It’s truly heart-breaking that justice was never served. When it came time to face the court, her mother was given a longer sentence than her brother, but her mother died 15 days into her sentence. Her brother was a cunning and manipulative lawyer, and wormed his way out of his sentence.
Yet Blanche was robbed of her life thanks to her mother, and considering she was a mentally scarred 50-year-old with nowhere to go, she was admitted into a French Sanitarium where she spent the rest of her short days. She was never the same again, and passed away in 1913.
Despite this story being over 100 years old, I found it just as terrifying and disturbing all the same. And all because of love and money. Blanche Monnier is an example how parental selfishness can damage a child. Though this was far more than selfishness.
It’s frightening to imagine how many times things like this have happened, but without anyone finding out.