The chilling story of ‘the real Rapunzel’ that won’t let you sleep

You probably already know the true story of Rapunzel, tale of the Brothers Grimm that, unlike the version that Disney told us, It is full of evil, darkness and suffering.

In the original version, Rapunzel is tortured, raped and forced to live completely naked in a tower where sunlight barely enters. When the young woman finally finds her love, her brothers discover her and to teach her a “lesson.” They proceed to torture her boyfriend, in front of her.

As is popularly known, “the prince” climbs the tower by climbing Rapunzel’s long hair, but when he tries to cut her chains, his brothers, who were hidden in the darkness, attack him.

In the most brutal act of violence, they leave the “prince” without eyes and tongue and then throw him down the tower. When he finally falls, the crows devour his body. Unfortunately Rapunzel suffers the same fate because during the night of that same day she is sacrificed by her brothers..

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The terrible case of Blanche Monnier: the young woman who was kidnapped for 25 years by her own family

Although Rapunzel’s story is terrifying, Reallity always get over fiction.

In 1901 France was horrified by the case of Blanche Monniera young upper-class girl who, like in the story written by the Brothers Grimm in 1812, was locked up, for 25 years, in a completely dark room and was also occasionally abused by her own relatives.

The press at that time was so shocked by the shocking details of this macabre story that they called Mademoiselle Monnier, the “real” Rapunzel.

Even, There is a novel written by the Nobel Prize in Literature André Gide, ‘The Kidnapped of Poitiers’ (1930), which is based entirely on this terrible story.

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Who was Blanche Monnier?

Blanche Monnier was born into a wealthy and respected family among the French upper class.. During her youth she had few suitors, despite being very beautiful, because her mother had an overprotective attitude towards her.

At the age of 27, Blanche still did not have a “prospect” and was already considered, by the society of her time, as a “spinster.” However, Shortly after, she met a lawyer, who was never liked by her mother.for being a Protestant and whom he considered a “failure.”

The young woman tried to persuade her mother but this insistence earned her the worst punishment: being locked in a small, empty room in the house for the next 25 years.

At first the family said that Blanche was at a boarding school in the United Kingdom, as the years went by they said that the young woman had finally moved to Scotland. Everyone believed both versions and no one ever questioned anything.

After 25 years, Blanche’s father dies, as does her only love and she is about to turn 52. She is so weak that she can’t stand up, His skin is stuck to his bones and his hair is so long that it exceeds his ankles.. Blanche has lost her sanity and when her mother feeds her leftovers, she no longer refuses or protests.

Public domain photo originally released in 1901 by L’Illustration

The anonymous letter that saves Blanche Monnier

The servants are complicit with Monnier’s widow, but the indiscretion of some begins to raise suspicions. Does anyone know the whole truth and in an act of humanity he decides to send an anonymous complaint to the prosecutor.

‘Mr. Attorney General: I have the honor to inform you of an exceptionally serious event. I am referring to a spinster woman who is locked up in Mrs. Monnier’s house, half-starved and who has lived the last 25 years in a putrid bed. In a word, in her own filth.’

Despite the family’s good reputation, the Poitiers commissioner sends three of his agents to visit the house, at number 21 rue de la Visitation. There they find a young woman in inhumane conditions.

Completely naked and malnourished, they find Blanche on a rotting mattress, wrapped and surrounded by her urine, feces and food remains. The smell is unbearable, the police break the windows… The light comes in again and the fresh smell soothes Blanche’s spirit.

Photo: newspaper archive / Cordon Press

Blanche Monnier: the other Rapunzel without a happy ending

But there is no person who can endure so much suffering. Blanche Monnier has completely lost her mind. She barely speaks, her wild eyes fill the police with horror, His cadaverous body and his tangled hair give him an appearance from beyond the grave.

Louise, Blanche’s mother, accepts her guilt but is unable to be judged because she dies shortly after. Her father has passed away and her brother is sentenced to a lesser sentence to spend 15 months in prison.

Blanche, on the other hand, is locked up again, this time in a mental sanatorium. She never falls in love again and she is once again condemned to live within four walls.