Saed News: On May 1, 1901, the Attorney General of Paris received a letter containing an unbelievable claim — that a prominent family in the city was hiding a terrifying secret. The letter was handwritten and bore no signature or name.
According to the Saed News social service, when the police arrived at the Monier mansion, they viewed the situation with suspicion: the wealthy Monier family had an impeccable reputation. Madame Monier was one of the most prominent and well-known figures in Paris, mostly recognized for her charitable and humanitarian work, for which she had even received awards.
Her son, Marcel, had graduated with excellent grades from a very prestigious college and was now working as a successful and respected lawyer. The Monier family also had a very beautiful young daughter named Blanche, whom no one had seen in the past 25 years. This well-known young lady, whom everyone considered kind and lovable, had suddenly vanished at the peak of her youth — at a time when many prominent Parisian suitors sought her hand. No one paid much attention to her disappearance, and her family carried on with their lives as if nothing had happened.
The police conducted a simple inspection of the Monier mansion but found nothing unusual until they noticed a very unpleasant smell coming from one of the upstairs rooms. Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the door to that room had been suspiciously locked. Realizing that something terrible might have happened behind that door, the police broke the lock and opened it — unaware of the horrifying scene awaiting them inside.
The room was completely dark; the only window was shut and hidden behind curtains. The stench inside was so overpowering that one of the officers immediately ordered the window to be broken to let fresh air in.
Blanche Monier’s Mother
When sunlight poured into the room, the officer noticed that the foul odor came from leftover food scattered all over the floor and around an old bed — a bed to which a very thin and emaciated woman was chained. When the window was opened, it was the first time Blanche Monier had seen sunlight in nearly two decades. She was completely naked and had been chained to that bed since her mysterious disappearance 25 years earlier. The woman, who now appeared middle-aged, was covered in filth, including feces, urine, and crawling insects attracted by the food scraps.
The police officers could only endure this painful and foul-smelling scene for a few minutes, but poor Blanche had been imprisoned in that room for 25 years. She was soon taken to the hospital, and her mother and brother were arrested by the police. At the time she was found, Blanche weighed only about 20-something kilograms and was severely malnourished, but according to doctors, she was physically healthy and immediately expressed how much she enjoyed breathing fresh air. Gradually, the tragic and horrifying story of Blanche Monier spread throughout Paris and France.
Imprisoned Because of Love
Interrogations revealed that before her disappearance, Blanche had fallen in love with one of her suitors — a controversial man who was not the wealthy and prestigious suitor her family had expected. This suitor was a middle-aged, poor lawyer, and despite Madame Monier’s insistence that her daughter marry a younger and more notable man, Blanche was determined to marry this man.
As a result, Madame Monier imprisoned her daughter in a room to force her to give up her stubbornness and abandon her decision to marry that man.
Days, weeks, months, and even years passed, but Blanche continued to insist on her choice. Even after the death of her controversial suitor, Blanche was not allowed to leave her cell. During the 25 years that followed, neither Blanche’s brother nor the household servants made any effort to rescue the unfortunate girl. Later, they claimed that out of fear of Madame Monier, they dared not help the poor girl. It was never clarified who wrote the anonymous letter to the Attorney General that led to Blanche Monier’s liberation. Some say that one of the servants confided the secret to her fiancé, who then anonymously informed the prosecutor.
The Anonymous Letter That Led to Blanche Monier’s Freedom
The city’s public reaction to this horrifying case was so intense that an angry crowd gathered outside the Monier mansion, ultimately causing Madame Monier to suffer a stroke. She died only 15 days after her daughter’s release. This story bears a striking resemblance to the recent case of Elisabeth Fritzl, who was imprisoned in her own basement by her father for 25 years.
Due to the suffering Blanche endured during her 25 years of imprisonment, she developed several psychological problems and spent the remainder of her life in a psychiatric care facility in France until her death in 1913.
