They then forced the door open and were hit by an overpowering stench. Heading upstairs, they discovered the source of the odor – a locked attic door, where the smell was the most intense.

After some struggle, the officers opened the door and managed to pry open a window that had been boarded up. Daylight finally filtered into the small room, revealing a grim scene. They forced their way into the attic, breaking down the padlocked door.

There, in the corner of the room, lay Blanche, now in her early 50s, emaciated and skeletal, squinting at the sunlight that barely reached her. Covered in old food, feces, and surrounded by bugs, she weighed barely 55 pounds. The conditions were horrifying, a stark contrast to the young woman she had once been.

One officer later recalled:

”As soon as light entered the room, we noticed, in the back, lying on a bed, her head and body covered by a repulsively filthy blanket, a woman identified as Mademoiselle Blanche Monnier. 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.”

Message on the filthy walls

According to an article in the New Zealand Times from 1901, during moments of clarity, Blanche had written on the filthy walls surrounding her: ”Shall I ever regain my freedom, or am I to be for ever consigned to this living tomb?”

The terrified woman was wrapped in a blanket and rushed to a hospital in Paris, where doctors initially feared she wouldn’t survive. She was severely malnourished, with matted hair that reached down to her knees.

As Blanche was carried out of the villa, her mother, Madame Monnier, then 75 years old, sat calmly at her desk in a beautiful black-and-white dress. She was immediately arrested and confessed to imprisoning her own daughter.