Blanche Monnier was born on 1 March 1849, who also known in France as la Séquestrée de Poitiers was a woman from Poitiers, France, She was kept under the custody in a small room for over 25 years by her aristocratic mother. Finally, the police found her as middle-aged, waste away, and filthy condition. According to official data, she had not seen sunlight for twenty-five years after their incarceration.
Blanche Monnier at young/incarceration
Blanche Monnier: The Girl who Suffer 25 Years of Incarceration Under Tiny Dark-Room for Love
Monnier was a French socialite from a well-respected, bourgeoisie family in Poitiers of old noble origins. She was well-known for her physical beauty and attracted many people for a wedding.
In 1874, at the age of 25, she wanted to marry an old lawyer, but her mother refused it and said that it was impossible to marry a "penniless lawyer". The daughter, who opposed her mother's decision, was locked in a tiny, darkroom, was imprisoned there for 25 years. Louise Monnier and her brother, Marcel, continued their daily lives as usual but by pretending to mourn Blanche's death. None of Blanche's friends knew where she disappeared, the lawyer she wanted to marry unexpectedly died in 1885.
Blanche Monnier and the locked room
The Paris Attorney General received an unknown letter on 23 May 1901, that revealed the incarceration, but the author of the letter is still unknown.
Monnier later rescued by police from dreadful conditions, weighing barely 25 kilograms, with insects all around the bed and floor, covered in old food and wastes.
A policeman described Blanche's condition when they found her, the bed, and the room
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 odor given off by the room was so rank, that it was impossible for us to stay any longer to proceed with our investigation.
Blanche Monnier after incarceration, police found her as middle-aged, waste away, and filthy condition
Monnier's mother was infected, surrender to death, within fifteen days of her arrest was recorded, after seeing an angry mob gathered in front of her house. Her brother was arrested and released on appeal.
After leaving the room, Monnier was suffering from physical and mental illnesses and admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Blois, France, followed by multiple disorders, including schizophrenia, anorexia nervosa, coprophilia, and exhibitionism. She died at the same hospital on 13 October 1913.
