Blanche Monnier lived for 25 years locked in the attic of that house in the city of Poitiers, France. Daughter of Louise, a socialite of the time, and Charles, dean of the university and professor ...

Blanche, born in 1849 ... A woman, a spinster, has been locked away in Madame Monnier’s house, half-starved and living in filth for the past twenty-five years,” the letter read.