Secretly imprisoned by her family for a quarter-century
Blanche Monnier (French pronunciation:[blɑ̃ʃmɔnje]; 1 March 1849 – 13 October 1913), often known in France as la Séquestrée de Poitiers[a] (roughly, "The Confined Woman of Poitiers"),[1] was a woman from Poitiers, France, who was secretly kept locked in a small room by her aristocratic mother and brother for 25 years. She was eventually found by police, then middle-aged and in emaciated and filthy condition; according to officials, Monnier had not seen any sunlight for her entire captivity.[2]
Biography
Monnier was a French socialite born on 1 March 1849, from a well-respected, conservative bourgeoisie family of Charles and Louise Monnier, in Poitiers of old noble origins. She had an elder brother, Marcel.[3] She was renowned for her beauty and attracted many potential suitors for marriage. In 1876, at the age of 27, she desired to marry an older lawyer who was not to her mother's liking; Louise argued that her daughter could not marry a "penniless lawyer".[4][5] Her disapproving mother, angered by her daughter's defiance, locked her in a tiny, dark room in the attic of their home, where she kept her secluded for 25 years. Louise and Marcel continued on with their daily lives, pretending to mourn Blanche's disappearance. None of her friends knew where she was and the lawyer whom she wished to marry died unexpectedly in 1885. On 23 May 1901, the "Paris Attorney General"[b] received an anonymous letter, the author of which is still unknown, that revealed the false imprisonment:
Monsieur Attorney General: I have the honour 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.
Monnier 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 (55 lb).[6][7]
1901 drawing of Monnier's discovery. German caption: Das lebende Skelett von Poitiers ("The Living Skeleton of Poitiers").
One policeman described the state of Monnier and her bed thus:[4][5]
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. The air was so unbreathable, the odour given off by the room was so rank, that it was impossible for us to stay any longer to proceed with our investigation.
Blanche shortly after being discovered in 1901
Louise Monnier was arrested, became ill shortly afterwards and died 15 days later, after seeing an angry mob gather in front of her house. Marcel Monnier appeared in court and was initially convicted, but later was acquitted on appeal; he was deemed mentally incapacitated, and, although the judges criticised his choices, they found that a "duty to rescue" did not exist in the penal code at that time with sufficient rule to convict him.[6][8]
