Current Date: 08 Aug, 2025
{{entry.title}}

Blanche Monnier: Imprisoned For 25 Years For Falling in Love

Blanche Monnier, she was a French woman noted for her beauty, she wished to marry an old lawyer that her mother disapproved of, so she locked her in a small dark room in her attic for 25 years.

Blanche Monnier, 25, was a typical socialite in Paris in 1876, scrambling to find a suitor before it was too late. She fell in love with an older, broke lawyer whom her aristocratic mother despised and resolved to marry him.

Blanche was forbidden from seeing the man by Madame Louise. Blanche refused, causing her mother to plead with her daughter to end the relationship. Blanche refused once more. Madame Monnier locked Blanche in a tiny room after realizing she would never be able to persuade her to leave the unwealthy lawyer.

She told her daughter that the door would be locked until Blanche agreed to end their relationship. Madame Louise was convinced she had discovered the ideal solution to her problem. Blanche would undoubtedly give in. Blanche, on the other hand, refused to give in.

As a result, Madame Louise held her daughter prisoner. Blanche lived on scraps from her mother’s meals for 25 years. Blanche’s lawyer lover died in 1885 as she grew older.

Blanche Monnier Imprisoned For 25 Years For Falling in Love 1
Photo Credit: historydaily.org

Blanche had simply vanished. Nobody saw her in public again in France. Her mother and brother grieved for her but carried on with their lives. They were concealing a terrible secret behind their outward appearance.

The Attorney General of Paris received scribbled text describing the ghoulish events of a house in Poitiers, France, in May 1901. According to the anonymous letter, a woman had been held captive for 25 years at 21 rue de la Visitation in terrible conditions.

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 Imprisoned For 25 Years For Falling in Love 2
The letter. Photo Credit: historydaily.org

Madame Louise Monnier Demarconnay was a respectable member of society. She and her son, Marcel, lived in a wealthy neighborhood. Emile, her late husband, was the dean of a local arts college. Marcel was a former administrative official with the Puget-Théniers commune and a law school graduate.

The allegations in the letter were met with skepticism by the police. Nonetheless, they remembered the Monniers’ daughter Blanche’s disappearance from the public eye 25 years ago. Perhaps the letter was a bizarre hoax, but what if it was real? Police decided to look into it.

Blanche Monnier Imprisoned For 25 Years For Falling in Love 3
Photo Credit: historydaily.org

When authorities arrived at 21 rue de la Visitation, the door was locked. When no one answered, they forced the door open, only to be greeted by a foul odor. The smell led them upstairs to the attic. They found a casement window covered in heavy curtains and covered in dust when they entered the room. The police couldn’t open the shutters until the hinges were removed.

When the musty chamber was finally illuminated by daylight, a startling sight emerged.

Blanche Monnier was skeletal but still alive in the back corner, covered by a filthy blanket. She was completely naked and lying on a rotten straw mattress saturated with urine and feces. She was severely malnourished, weighing only 55 pounds.

Blanche Monnier Imprisoned For 25 Years For Falling in Love 4
Photo Credit: historydaily.org

Madame Monnier was arrested right away after receiving an award from the Committee of Good Works for her generous contributions to the city. After confessing the heinous kidnapping to police, she died in prison 15 days later.

Blanche’s brother Marcel was tried and sentenced to 15 months in prison for assisting her mother during the ordeal. He was later acquitted of charges that Blanche had the option to leave at any time but chose not to. The crowd in the courtroom gasped as he walked free.

Blanche Monnier, also known as La Séquestrée de Poitiers in France, died in a sanitarium in Bois in 1913.

Blanche Monnier Imprisoned For 25 Years For Falling in Love 5
Photo Credit: historydaily.org
Similar Stories
8 Interesting Facts About The Unsinkable Ship, TITANIC

8 Interesting Facts About The Unsinkable Ship, TITANIC

If you ask your friends what's the most famous ship in history the answer in most cases will be the same, of course the legendary Titanic. Its history is full of mysteries, at first it was a source of hope and national pride as well as proof of the triumphs of mankind but it soon became a source of nostalgia and pain, the extent of which cannot be described in words.

Marion Stokes recorded 30 years of television

Marion Stokes recorded 30 years of television

Marion Stokes, a Philadelphia woman began taping whatever was on television in 1979 and didn’t stop until her death in 2012. The 71,000 VHS and Betamax tapes she made are the most complete collection preserving this era of TV. They are being digitized by the Internet Archive.

The Arabia Steamboat: Unearthing a 19th Century Time Capsule from the Missouri River

The Arabia Steamboat: Unearthing a 19th Century Time Capsule from the Missouri River

The Arabia was a steamboat that sank in the Missouri River in 1856. Over time, the river shifted 800 meters to the east, eventually turning the site of the sinking into a field. The steamboat remained under 45 feet of slit and topsoil until 1988, when it was excavated. The mud, as it turned out, was such a great preserver that most of the artifacts on board were found to be intact. They even found jars of preserved apples that were still edible!

Irena Sendler: woman who rescued Jews during holocaust

Irena Sendler: woman who rescued Jews during holocaust

Irene Sendler was the Zegota resistance group's head of the children's department. She risked her life to smuggle children out of the Warsaw ghetto, place them with Polish families or orphanages, give each child a new identity, and keep records so that they could be returned to their families. In 1943, the Gestapo arrested and sentenced her to death, but she was rescued by Zegota.

Ancient Egyptians Had Pregnancy Tests Over 3500 Years Ago

Ancient Egyptians Had Pregnancy Tests Over 3500 Years Ago

The ancient Egyptians used a pregnancy test that involved potentially pregnant women peeing on barley and wheat seeds. Plant growth indicated pregnancy: barley for a boy and wheat for a girl. Later tests revealed that pregnant women's urine causes plant growth 70% of the time, whereas non-pregnant women's urine does not.

A Brief History of the PlayStation Gaming Console

A Brief History of the PlayStation Gaming Console

Sony's PlayStation was never meant to be an actual product. Instead, it was intended to be a CD-ROM console that would support Nintendo games. However, when Nintendo backed out of the deal at the last minute, Sony went ahead and launched what soon became one of the most successful gaming consoles of all time.

How a Total Lunar Eclipse Saved Christopher Columbus in 1504

How a Total Lunar Eclipse Saved Christopher Columbus in 1504

In 1504, Christopher Columbus was stranded in Jamaica with natives who refused to give him food. But he knew the date and time of an upcoming lunar eclipse. So he told the natives that his gods were angry at their treatment of him, and would provide a clear sign. Once the eclipse started, the natives raced to give him food and begged for mercy.

Top 10 most cruel medical procedures that are being used today

Top 10 most cruel medical procedures that are being used today

We are all aware that medicine has advanced dramatically over the last fifty years. There are several modern medical approaches available today, but this was not always the case. However, the past of medicine is a dark one. Medical leeches, lobotomy, vascular surgery, cranial stenosis, and even electroshock therapy are all options. These are only a couple of the cruel healing techniques that are still in use today.

The day Iceland's women went on strike

The day Iceland's women went on strike

Icelandic women went on strike for equal rights on October 24, 1975. 90% of women walked out of their jobs and homes, effectively shutting down the entire country. The men were struggling to keep up. The following year, Parliament passed a law requiring equal pay. Iceland elected the world's first female President five years later. Iceland now has the highest gender equality rate in the world.

What is the story behind Wrigley chewing gum?

What is the story behind Wrigley chewing gum?

Wrigley's was originally a soap company that gifted baking powder with their soap. The baking powder became more popular than the soap so they switched to selling baking powder with chewing gum as a gift. The gum became more popular than the baking powder so the company switched to selling gum.

how Ferris wheel invented

how Ferris wheel invented

In 1891, Chicago challenged engineers to create a structure to surpass the Eiffel Tower for the World's Columbian Exposition. George Washington Gale Ferris jr. responded with the original Ferris Wheel, a giant rotating structure elevating visitors above the city. This invention became an iconic attraction at the fair.

What Was the Beast of Gévaudan?

What Was the Beast of Gévaudan?

Between 1764 and 1767, a mysterious animal called the Beast of Gévaudan terrorized the French village called Gévaudan. It attacked and killed about 100 adults and children. While most believe it was a wolf, some say it may have been a wolf-dog hybrid, hyena or even a lion, but without any genetic evidence, the beast will remain a mystery forever.