The lost girl, 1874 Blanche Monnier was a Parisian socialite, known for her beauty.The story behind this title is tragic beginning with a love story that ended poorly.



The lost girl, 1874 Blanche Monnier was a Parisian socialite, known for her beauty. In France, she is referred to as "La Séquestrée de Poitiers" which means "The Confined Woman of Poitiers". The story behind this title is tragic beginning with a love story that ended poorly.
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Monnier was from a wealthy and respected family from Poitiers. At the age of 25 she fell deeply in love with a "penniless lawyer". This upset her mother, Louise Monnier, who wanted Blanche to marry a man of wealth and notoriety.

Blanche Monnier’s life took a tragic turn when her mother, Madame Louise Monnier, disapproved of her relationship with a lawyer who was not wealthy enough to meet the family’s standards. 
When Blanche refused to end the relationship, her mother locked her in a small, dark room in the attic of their home. This drastic action was taken in 1876 when Blanche was 27 years old. Her mother and brother, Marcel, continued their lives as if nothing had happened, even pretending to mourn Blanche’s disappearance.


The conditions in which Blanche lived were horrific. She was kept naked and was fed sparingly. The room was dark with sealed windows and Blanche had no interaction with anyone except for her mother, brother, and an occasional servant who would throw her table scraps. Over time, filth accumulated around her, attracting rats and bugs. The psychological torture of this solitary confinement drove Blanche towards insanity.

However, Blanche refused to give up on her lover. This resulted in her mother trapping her in a room upstairs in their mansion and padlocking her to a bed. Blanche would remain on this bed for a staggering 26 years.

In May of 1909, the general attorney of Paris received an anonymous letter which told details of Blanche's situation. He was so horrified, he ordered that the police go to the Monnier mansion immediately.

Upon going upstairs, they smelled a foul odour from a room with a locked door. They broke down the door to find Blanche, who was on a bed surrounded with her own excrement, rotten food, bugs and rodents.

Blanche was taken to a psychiatric institution, where she suffered with mental disorders her whole life. She died in 1913. She never gave up on her lover, even though he died at some point during her captivity.

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