In 1901, a mysterious letter arrived at the Paris Attorney General’s office, revealing a shocking secret: Blanche Monnier, a woman from Poitiers, had been locked away in a tiny attic room for 25 years. The letter described her living in horrific conditions—half-starved and surrounded by filth.

Blanche was born in 1849 into a respected bourgeois family in Poitiers, France. She was known for her strong, independent spirit and was expected to marry well. In 1876, at the age of 26, Blanche disappeared. Her mother told friends and family that Blanche had gone away or was traveling, but in reality, she was imprisoned in her own home.

The reason for this cruel captivity was Blanche’s relationship with a lawyer her mother disapproved of. He was poor and not from an aristocratic family, which made him unacceptable to Blanche’s conservative mother, Louise Monnier. To force Blanche to end the relationship, Louise locked her daughter in a dark attic room, promising to release her only if she agreed to break off the romance. But Blanche refused to give up her love.

For 25 years, Blanche lived in the attic, in darkness and filth, barely surviving. When police finally broke into the locked room after receiving the anonymous letter, they found her emaciated, weighing only around 55 pounds, covered in dirt and waste, surrounded by rotting food and insects.

Blanche was taken to a hospital in Paris, where doctors feared she might not survive, but she showed incredible resilience. Her mother, Louise, was arrested and died in prison just 15 days later. Blanche’s brother, Marcel Monnier, was charged with helping imprison her but was acquitted after arguing that Blanche was free to leave if she wished—a claim widely doubted by the public.

The identity of the person who sent the letter remains a mystery, but their action saved Blanche’s life. The story shocked people worldwide and inspired the Nobel Prize-winning author André Gide to write La Séquestrée de Poitiers in 1930, a book recounting Blanche’s tragic ordeal.

Though no major film about Blanche Monnier exists yet, several documentaries and books explore her story. Her survival and strength in the face of unimaginable cruelty continue to inspire and remind us of the human spirit’s power to endure even the darkest situations.