1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:12,880 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener Discretion advised. There was 3 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: barely any breathing room in the courtroom as the proceedings 4 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: were set to begin. The French town of Paragu was 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:23,319 Speaker 1: by no means a major city, but people from all 6 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: across the entire region, from all across the entire country, 7 00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: had come to town in order to see firsthand the 8 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 1: proceedings in what was sure to be the story of 9 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: the year. Villagers and notables, lawyers and witnesses all jammed 10 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:45,880 Speaker 1: into every corner of the courthouse, and on a cool 11 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:51,240 Speaker 1: December day in eighteen seventy, Bernard Mathieu took the stand 12 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: and appeared before the raucous audience. Bernard Mathieu was the 13 00:00:56,840 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 1: mayor of a nearby town called Utfai, where a horrific 14 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:05,399 Speaker 1: crime had taken place, the lynching of a man. No 15 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:10,520 Speaker 1: not just a lynching, the prosecution reminded the audience, Bernard 16 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: Mathieu had to answer for a carnival of torture, a 17 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: four hour procession of brutality, in ungodly murder, and not 18 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:24,480 Speaker 1: just the murder of any villager, but of a young 19 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: nobleman who had served his country. A total of twenty 20 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:33,120 Speaker 1: one men, including Mathieu, ranging from sixteen years old to 21 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:37,800 Speaker 1: well passed sixty, were charged with this crime, which had 22 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: occurred four months before the trial, and the press had 23 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:47,199 Speaker 1: spent the intervening months gleefully recounting the most horrific details 24 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: of the atrocity. These weren't any ordinary villagers, the stories 25 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: made clear, but savages, animals possessed by their baser instincts. 26 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:02,560 Speaker 1: Bernard Mathieux he was well aware of the public's perception 27 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:06,320 Speaker 1: of the gruesome stories that were coming out about what 28 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:09,959 Speaker 1: had happened that day in August. What did it mean 29 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:12,960 Speaker 1: for him to be the mayor of a town of 30 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:17,560 Speaker 1: bloodthirsty monsters. Well, he would do everything in his power 31 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 1: when he took the stand to distance himself from the 32 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:25,680 Speaker 1: deplorables of his town. But there was one charge that 33 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 1: Bernard could not quite escape. Some days before he took 34 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:33,840 Speaker 1: the stand, a lady had come before the judge and 35 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: testified against him. She supposedly had overheard one of the 36 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:43,800 Speaker 1: murderers telling Bernard that they intended to kill their victim, 37 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:50,440 Speaker 1: to which Bernard had allegedly responded something truly damning, something 38 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:55,959 Speaker 1: that was corroborated by a second witness. The mayor allegedly replied, 39 00:02:56,639 --> 00:03:00,440 Speaker 1: eat him if you like. Before all of this, the 40 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:04,239 Speaker 1: tiny town in France had been renowned for its boisterous 41 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: fairs and friendly faces. Not one of the twenty one 42 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: men charged with the crime had ever had a single 43 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: run in with the law before. And yet here was 44 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: damning evidence not only of the murder of an innocent man, 45 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:25,520 Speaker 1: but of cannibalism. It seemed to the court and to 46 00:03:25,639 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: the world that on August sixteenth, eighteen seventy, the inhabitants 47 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 1: of a quaint town in western France slaughtered a nobleman 48 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: and partook in his flesh. I'm Danas Schwartz, and this 49 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 1: is noble blood. A note before we begin, in case 50 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 1: you haven't picked up on that, this episode will contain 51 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 1: some gruesome details, so be aware of that if that's 52 00:03:55,080 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: something you might be sensitive to. Starting in the summer 53 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: of eighteen sixty eight, Western France was hit by a 54 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: series of droughts that made farming in the town of 55 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: Utfoy excruciating. By the summer of eighteen seventy, there had 56 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: been almost no rain for six months. Whole lakes dried up, 57 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:21,279 Speaker 1: the price of food more than doubled, and an air 58 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:26,320 Speaker 1: of anxiety took hold of the village. Despite these difficulties, 59 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:30,480 Speaker 1: or maybe because of them, the villagers of Utfoy resolved 60 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 1: to hold their annual summer fair. The fair typically drew farmers, artisans, 61 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: and livestock dealers from fifteen miles around to an empty campground, 62 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:46,719 Speaker 1: where people haggled over goods, reconnected with old friends, and 63 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:50,320 Speaker 1: turned rowdy at the local inn. To the delight of 64 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:55,560 Speaker 1: many fairgoers, Utfoy was only accessible by footpaths. It was 65 00:04:55,760 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: remote enough that villagers could enjoy the festivities without having 66 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 1: to cater to city folk or to have to curtail 67 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: their behavior amidst local police. Coincidentally, this year's fair overlapped 68 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:14,720 Speaker 1: with a national holiday for Napoleon the third. The holiday 69 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:20,159 Speaker 1: took on special significance because France had just declared war 70 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:24,560 Speaker 1: against Prussia. Young Men from the village and from across 71 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: the country were being conscripted to the front, and not 72 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 1: always against their will. Villagers saw Napoleon the Third as 73 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:36,919 Speaker 1: a trusted guardian of their liberties. The villagers didn't trust 74 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 1: many local lords because chances were those lords wanted to 75 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 1: restore ancient privileges over the peasantry. The villagers didn't particularly 76 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: trust their local priests, who were feared to have extorted 77 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:55,720 Speaker 1: villagers on behalf of those nobles, and villagers most certainly 78 00:05:55,839 --> 00:06:00,040 Speaker 1: did not trust Republican radicals, who were imposing un to 79 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: do taxes upon them. Only the Emperor was fighting for them. 80 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 1: Rumors spread throughout Utve some days prior that villagers in 81 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:15,800 Speaker 1: other parts of western France had caught and executed Prussian 82 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:20,719 Speaker 1: spies who were lying under cover amongst common folk. These 83 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:24,880 Speaker 1: rumors were most likely false, but the effect that they 84 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 1: had on the people of Utfa was unmistakable. A fear 85 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:34,119 Speaker 1: of conspiracy lurking below the surface of an otherwise ordinary fair. 86 00:06:35,279 --> 00:06:39,640 Speaker 1: The villagers found something to obsess over on August nine, 87 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: when a crowd overheard one zealous nobleman by the name 88 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: of Camille de Millard proclaimed that quote the Emperor was 89 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 1: done for, referring to a string of military defeats that 90 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:56,080 Speaker 1: France had suffered against the Prussians. As it happened, Camille 91 00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: was indeed a critic of Napoleon the Third, but in 92 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:03,240 Speaker 1: reality it's unlikely that he was foolhardy enough to have 93 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 1: stated his criticisms out loud, let alone announced them in 94 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:11,680 Speaker 1: a public square, so whether or not he did actually 95 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:14,720 Speaker 1: make a statement like that, it didn't really matter. A 96 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:19,560 Speaker 1: week later, on August sixteenth, when Camille decided to reappear 97 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: in public at oaut Fay's Summer Fair. To Camille's chagrin, 98 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:27,520 Speaker 1: more than one person remembered him as the man who 99 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:32,560 Speaker 1: hated Napoleon the Third. A crowd began forming around Camille 100 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:36,400 Speaker 1: of local farmers and traders, pressing him for a confession 101 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:39,840 Speaker 1: of his crime. One person in attendance went so far 102 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: as to claim that he heard Camille shout out long 103 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: Live the Republic, which Camille utterly denied. Fearing for his safety, 104 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:52,800 Speaker 1: he fled the fair ground sometime in the morning. Camille 105 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:56,920 Speaker 1: had a cousin named Alandemnet, another nobleman who decided to 106 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:01,000 Speaker 1: attend this year's fair. By all account, Alone was an 107 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:05,160 Speaker 1: upstanding neighbor. His father was the former mayor of the 108 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: nearby town of Bissup, and Elaine himself served as a 109 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:13,080 Speaker 1: member of the town's municipal council. He spent most of 110 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 1: his time managing the four hundred acres that made up 111 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:20,880 Speaker 1: his family's inheritance, building waterworks and tending to the needs 112 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 1: of local commoners. He had come to the fair that 113 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:26,960 Speaker 1: day in the first place in search of a cow 114 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,679 Speaker 1: to give to a poor family. Thirty two years old, 115 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:34,000 Speaker 1: Elaine desperately wanted to join the ranks of the French 116 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:38,480 Speaker 1: army in the war against Prussia, but due to some disability, 117 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:44,680 Speaker 1: the army disqualified him from enlistment. Esteemed compassionate, patriotic, Elaine 118 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:47,800 Speaker 1: was the last person anyone would have expected to become 119 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:52,280 Speaker 1: a victim of mob violence. There's no record of him 120 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:57,400 Speaker 1: having any prior disagreements with townfolk. Elaine turned up at 121 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,920 Speaker 1: the fair grounds around two in the afternoon, which may 122 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: seem insignificant, but actually tells us quite a bit about 123 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:09,720 Speaker 1: the circumstances leading up to the commotion. At this point, 124 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:14,120 Speaker 1: many of the farmers and livestock dealers had packed up shop, 125 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:17,720 Speaker 1: and they were mingling with one another, perhaps headed to 126 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:21,000 Speaker 1: the inn for a pint or two. The crowd at 127 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:24,360 Speaker 1: the center of the fairground was still enraged over what 128 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:29,079 Speaker 1: many believed was Camille's brazen support for the Republic, and 129 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: when someone had informed Elaine of the slander against his cousin, 130 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: he approached that crowd with the intention of defending his 131 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:41,560 Speaker 1: family name. From Elaine's perspective, it made no sense that 132 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:45,720 Speaker 1: Camille would ever support the Republic. His cousin was, after all, 133 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: a closeted advocate for the return of the Bourbon monarchy, 134 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:55,000 Speaker 1: a completely different political dynasty to the villagers. Though the 135 00:09:55,160 --> 00:10:01,440 Speaker 1: distinction didn't matter. Republicans were Bourbons were Prussians. Any elite 136 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:05,480 Speaker 1: claiming authority that did not swear undying fealty to the 137 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:10,240 Speaker 1: bonapartes to Napoleon the Third was a threat. So while 138 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:14,040 Speaker 1: Elaine remained steadfast in his conviction that Camille was innocent, 139 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:18,079 Speaker 1: more and more villagers attested to having heard his cousin's 140 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:22,120 Speaker 1: treacherous proclamations for the Republic. Why else would he have 141 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:26,880 Speaker 1: been talking about Prussian war victories. Very few people in 142 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,760 Speaker 1: this growing mob knew one another well. The aut fe 143 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:35,080 Speaker 1: fair drew in hundreds of farmers and artisans from all 144 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: over the region. While Elaine was well known among some 145 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:42,720 Speaker 1: residents of ote faith, it's plausible that no one in 146 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:46,400 Speaker 1: the mob knew him personally, so no one could speak 147 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:50,240 Speaker 1: to his actual character. This made it all too easy 148 00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:53,640 Speaker 1: to cast him as an accomplice to Camille and for 149 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:57,880 Speaker 1: the villagers to see one another as fellow defenders of 150 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:03,120 Speaker 1: the Empire before law. Sometime around two thirty in the afternoon, 151 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:09,200 Speaker 1: someone accused Elane of being a Prussian spy. Arguments turned 152 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 1: to insults, insults into clenched fists. More and more villagers 153 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:20,000 Speaker 1: joined without knowing anything about the original provocation or conversation, 154 00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:25,640 Speaker 1: and many confused Elane for his cousin. The crowd gained 155 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:29,120 Speaker 1: a momentum of its own, and what began as an 156 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:33,160 Speaker 1: otherwise ordinary day at the summer fair shifted into the 157 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:37,560 Speaker 1: prosecution of an enemy of the state. Someone in the 158 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:41,199 Speaker 1: crowd warned Elane, one of us will be left beaten 159 00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:45,480 Speaker 1: to a pulp. Maybe it was the first punch or 160 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:47,840 Speaker 1: slapped to the face, or the fact that he was 161 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:52,160 Speaker 1: surrounded by a throng of men all holding sticks and stones. 162 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:56,560 Speaker 1: Eventually Allah snapped out of it and realized his life 163 00:11:56,679 --> 00:12:00,960 Speaker 1: was at stake. Historian Alain Corbin tells us that had 164 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:06,840 Speaker 1: understood that his counterparts lived in an entirely different conceptual universe, 165 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:10,679 Speaker 1: one that saw any proud noble as a conspirator against 166 00:12:10,679 --> 00:12:15,040 Speaker 1: the Emperor. Maybe he would have survived, but By the 167 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:18,439 Speaker 1: time the first blows were struck, it was too late. 168 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:22,440 Speaker 1: Aloon screamed out in an effort to calm down the crowd, 169 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:27,160 Speaker 1: Long Live the Emperor, but it didn't work. Meanwhile, the 170 00:12:27,200 --> 00:12:30,360 Speaker 1: town's priest had been watching the scene developed from right 171 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:34,320 Speaker 1: outside the church. After the first few blows were struck, 172 00:12:34,679 --> 00:12:37,720 Speaker 1: he jumped over his garden wall and sprung into action, 173 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:41,120 Speaker 1: putting his body between Allan and the mob with a 174 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:44,400 Speaker 1: revolver in his hand. But even with a gun, it 175 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:47,960 Speaker 1: didn't take long for the priest to shrink away. When 176 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:51,560 Speaker 1: he heard some members of the crowd express interest in 177 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:55,959 Speaker 1: wanting to gut the man of faith, the priest tried 178 00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 1: another tactic. He invited the angry men into his presence, 179 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:03,600 Speaker 1: pretary for free wine and a toast to the emperor's health. 180 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:08,040 Speaker 1: Only some of the men diverged from their path and 181 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:13,880 Speaker 1: refreshed with free spirits, they simply returned Drunker to the mob. 182 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:19,160 Speaker 1: The crowd pushed and dragged a lot to the house 183 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:23,840 Speaker 1: of Hautve's mayor, Bernard Mathieu. We know Bernard as the 184 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:28,480 Speaker 1: man who allegedly incited the cannibalism. That may be false, 185 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:32,840 Speaker 1: but what is certainly true is that Bernard, fearing for 186 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:37,160 Speaker 1: his property and life, made no effort to calm the 187 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:41,679 Speaker 1: situation down. When a few leaders of the crowd demanded 188 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:45,960 Speaker 1: that the mayor prosecute and imprison the supposed Prussian spy, 189 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:50,440 Speaker 1: the mayor renounced any power and more or less told 190 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:55,400 Speaker 1: the crowd to do as they pleased. One man, a horseshoer, 191 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:59,960 Speaker 1: emerged from the crowd as de facto leader. He suggested 192 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:03,560 Speaker 1: that they take Allah to a cherry tree and hang 193 00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:07,920 Speaker 1: him from the branches. The crowd moved their hostage to 194 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 1: the execution site, but unfortunately for them and for a law, 195 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:17,800 Speaker 1: the branches proved too weak for the hanging. At this 196 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:21,600 Speaker 1: point the crowd changed their mind. They wouldn't be so 197 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,920 Speaker 1: merciful as to end the Prussian's life in a matter 198 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:29,120 Speaker 1: of minutes. No, they would draw out the pain, make 199 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:32,760 Speaker 1: the Prussians suffer in a fashion that was equal parts 200 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:38,080 Speaker 1: barbaric and cathartic. Two farmers from the small village of 201 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:43,240 Speaker 1: Manzak led the charge. They bruised and battered alone, hit 202 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:46,840 Speaker 1: him up the head, and clobbered him with stones. The 203 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:50,280 Speaker 1: whole scene was within view of an inn, where one 204 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:53,640 Speaker 1: man with a rifle turned to the people around him 205 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:56,880 Speaker 1: and announced that they should all protect that poor man. 206 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:00,960 Speaker 1: No one else at the inn said anything, and the 207 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: riflemen sunk back in his chair. The crowd dragged along 208 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:10,120 Speaker 1: back to the Mayor's house and forced him inside a 209 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:14,720 Speaker 1: workshop full of ordinary farm tools that offered themselves up 210 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:20,320 Speaker 1: as useful torture devices. Alom was tied to a cattle crush, 211 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: a structure that immobilizes livestock utterly defenseless. He was beaten 212 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: with hoofs and sticks until his head was a bloody mess. 213 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 1: There was something strangely casual about the way that the 214 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:40,200 Speaker 1: torture proceeded. The villagers would batter along for a few minutes, 215 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:43,760 Speaker 1: then take a break, leaving a law alone to howl 216 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:47,880 Speaker 1: in pain. Before they resumed the blood bath. Some of 217 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:51,640 Speaker 1: the culprits went out for breaths of fresh air. Others 218 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 1: wandered off to other parts of the fair before turning 219 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:58,720 Speaker 1: back to the workshop to see how the violence had progressed. 220 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:02,640 Speaker 1: For a brief moment, Allow was left completely alone in 221 00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:06,240 Speaker 1: the workshop, at which point a rescue attempt was made 222 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:10,160 Speaker 1: by the few allies he had had on the fairgrounds. 223 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:15,320 Speaker 1: Four men, including the mayor's nephew and Allan's servant rushed 224 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:17,760 Speaker 1: into the workshop to try to free him from the 225 00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:21,640 Speaker 1: cattle crush, but the crowd returned before they could succeed. 226 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:26,160 Speaker 1: The mob doubled down on their torment. One local, who 227 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:29,000 Speaker 1: had just learned that his son had died on the 228 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:32,880 Speaker 1: front lines of the war against Prussia, drove a hook 229 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:37,320 Speaker 1: into Alain's head, which was thought fatal by some witnesses. 230 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:43,600 Speaker 1: By some divine intervention, the crowd around Alao had withered away, 231 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:46,840 Speaker 1: and his rescuers were finally able to wretch him from 232 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:50,480 Speaker 1: the cattle crush. The mayor's nephew pleaded with his uncle 233 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:54,800 Speaker 1: Bernard to take in the wounded man, but Bernard refused. 234 00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:59,240 Speaker 1: His reason. The mayor complained that the mob would smash 235 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 1: up his fire collection of crockery. Bernard Matieu recommended that 236 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:06,760 Speaker 1: they put Elaine in the sheep pen next to the house, 237 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:11,639 Speaker 1: out of sight from the fair grounds. Alayne's battered body 238 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:16,359 Speaker 1: collapsed when he reached the pen. In between gasps, he 239 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:20,719 Speaker 1: told his four rescuers to purchase a hogshead of wine 240 00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:24,399 Speaker 1: and give it to his pursuers. In an attempt at peace. 241 00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:29,680 Speaker 1: A friend passed him some figs to eat. Everything slowed down, 242 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:34,959 Speaker 1: but not for long. The horseshoer leading the charge against 243 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 1: a Lah riled up the crowd, calling for them to 244 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:40,119 Speaker 1: burn down the pen and break down the front door. 245 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:44,480 Speaker 1: One man protected the entryway, while another urged Alan to 246 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:48,080 Speaker 1: change his jacket and shirt for a peasant's blouse. If 247 00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:51,479 Speaker 1: the mob wasn't going to die down, their only chance 248 00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:55,040 Speaker 1: would be a covered escape. None of those plans came 249 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:58,600 Speaker 1: to fruition, though, as the mass of people burst down 250 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:01,840 Speaker 1: the pen door and got out hold of Elaine. The 251 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:05,400 Speaker 1: court record's report that one of Elaine's friends asked him 252 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:08,720 Speaker 1: if he'd preferred being shot right then and there. When 253 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:12,639 Speaker 1: Elaine signaled yes, his rescuers demanded that the mob shoot 254 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:16,560 Speaker 1: him to end his suffering, but no one listened. In 255 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:20,280 Speaker 1: a last ditch effort to save Alan's life or offer 256 00:18:20,359 --> 00:18:23,960 Speaker 1: an easier death, his servant wrestled his body away from 257 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:27,679 Speaker 1: the mob and took him to the local inn. The innkeeper, 258 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:31,280 Speaker 1: much like the mayor, refused to let the bloodied man in, 259 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:34,399 Speaker 1: whose leg was nestled in between the front entrance and 260 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:37,840 Speaker 1: the door frame. When the innkeeper shut the door, he 261 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:41,800 Speaker 1: broke Elaine's ankle and amidst all the chaos, the mayor 262 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:46,200 Speaker 1: allegedly told Alan's servant to quote take him away from 263 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:49,760 Speaker 1: the front of the inn because he was blocking traffic. 264 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:55,720 Speaker 1: Accounts of the precise circumstances of Allan's death diverge, but 265 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:59,040 Speaker 1: it was around this point, some two hours after the 266 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:05,040 Speaker 1: initial mob began, that the victim finally lost consciousness. When 267 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:08,560 Speaker 1: the mob dragged him once again onto the fair grounds, 268 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:12,679 Speaker 1: Allah seemed overcome with adrenaline, as though he knew this 269 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:16,280 Speaker 1: was his last chance. He picked up a stake and 270 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:19,280 Speaker 1: shoved it into the face of the horse shoer, but 271 00:19:19,359 --> 00:19:23,680 Speaker 1: he was promptly disarmed. When Elaine ran under a wheelbarrow 272 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:26,840 Speaker 1: to try to fetch another steak, he was dragged out, 273 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:33,200 Speaker 1: screaming and finally killed. The murderers began that day as strangers, 274 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:37,879 Speaker 1: but they ended it as accomplices. When Elaine finally died, 275 00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:40,919 Speaker 1: they set up his body as a punching bag for 276 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:45,840 Speaker 1: fair goers to beat as they wished. Importantly, they never 277 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,800 Speaker 1: used a knife or a blade to spill blood, the 278 00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:54,680 Speaker 1: same protocol shepherds followed when they prepared animals for slaughter. 279 00:19:55,480 --> 00:20:00,159 Speaker 1: Some witnesses described farmers poking the corpse's abdomen as they 280 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:04,600 Speaker 1: might sheep. Elaine was dead, but the suffering imagined by 281 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:09,919 Speaker 1: the fair goers transformed the suspected Prussian into the beast 282 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:15,199 Speaker 1: they believed he was. As night approached, members of the 283 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:18,879 Speaker 1: crowd called for the burning of his body, as though 284 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:22,880 Speaker 1: they were grilling meat for a feast. Elaine was dragged 285 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:27,200 Speaker 1: to the same spot where residents celebrated Saint John's Eve 286 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:32,359 Speaker 1: with bonfires less than a month earlier. One witness describing 287 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 1: the transfer of the corpse four years after the fact, 288 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:39,359 Speaker 1: reflected he was dragged by the legs through the narrow 289 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:43,280 Speaker 1: streets of the village, his bloody head ringing on the stones, 290 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:48,360 Speaker 1: his torn body jumping up and down, barring the corpse. 291 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 1: The scene could have been mistaken for some sort of holiday. 292 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:56,159 Speaker 1: Women and children fetched kindling. The mayor showed up the 293 00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:59,320 Speaker 1: horse shoer brought a bale of straw and laid it 294 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:02,960 Speaker 1: on top of Elaine's body, asking a group of children 295 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:06,320 Speaker 1: to light the fire with a pack of matches. When 296 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:10,400 Speaker 1: the fuel flared in a horrible blaze, the crowd cheered 297 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 1: Long Live the Emperor. Conflicting accounts of the immolation emphasized 298 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:21,840 Speaker 1: the dehumanization underlying this horror. One witness said, in court quote, 299 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,320 Speaker 1: I saw the fire blaze up, and I could see 300 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:27,320 Speaker 1: the poor man moving under the wood piled on top 301 00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:31,080 Speaker 1: of him. Another said, just as the fire blazed up, 302 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:34,800 Speaker 1: Monsieur de Monet flailed his arms and legs and made 303 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:38,760 Speaker 1: sounds like the noises a hog makes when you stick 304 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:43,320 Speaker 1: the knife into its neck. One farmer commented on how 305 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:48,120 Speaker 1: nicely they roasted the pig. Yet another saw fat dripping 306 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:51,560 Speaker 1: from the corpse onto the charred wood below, and said, 307 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:55,480 Speaker 1: it's a pity all that fat is wasted. When the 308 00:21:55,520 --> 00:22:00,000 Speaker 1: body had been charred, when all skin turned to ash, 309 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:02,680 Speaker 1: there was no way of telling if they had roasted 310 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:07,520 Speaker 1: a man or a pig. The murder of a Landomonet 311 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:10,480 Speaker 1: had nothing to do with the victim and everything to 312 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:15,119 Speaker 1: do with his torturers. On the afternoon of August sixteenth, 313 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:19,760 Speaker 1: the crowds of haut Fe transformed an innocent man into 314 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:24,320 Speaker 1: a reflection of their most profound, primal fears. He was 315 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:31,720 Speaker 1: a concrete symbol for an amorphous enemy for Prussians, Republicans, nobles, conspirators, 316 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:36,320 Speaker 1: a disease in the national body that needed cleansing. Amidst 317 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:40,560 Speaker 1: the chaos of war and the possibility of famine. Here 318 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:44,159 Speaker 1: was a physical object they could lay hands on. Here 319 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: was something they could do to control the circumstances for 320 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:52,560 Speaker 1: which there was no clear solution. Upon returning home, one 321 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:55,480 Speaker 1: of the ringleaders told a friend, we did it to 322 00:22:55,600 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: save France. Our Emperor will surely save us. Arrests were 323 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:06,840 Speaker 1: made the same night the murder took place. Police from 324 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:10,360 Speaker 1: the local city of Nontent were notified of a murder 325 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:14,959 Speaker 1: and potentially an uprising. It wasn't too difficult to identify 326 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:19,200 Speaker 1: the main perpetrators. Some of them couldn't stop boasting about 327 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:23,800 Speaker 1: the whole affair, and many earnestly believed their actions would 328 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:28,880 Speaker 1: be protected by imperial writ In total, the police arrested 329 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:32,639 Speaker 1: around fifty people from around Outfit and transferred them to 330 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:36,399 Speaker 1: the Nont Plant prison, some ten miles away, though only 331 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 1: twenty one would be charged with the crime. That same night, 332 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:45,280 Speaker 1: a doctor was called to perform an autopsy. The doctor's 333 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:48,679 Speaker 1: report itself was meant to describe the physical condition of 334 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:52,280 Speaker 1: the body, but he couldn't help but emphasize the innocence 335 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:57,640 Speaker 1: of the victim, writing the corpse charred almost beyond recognition 336 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:01,199 Speaker 1: was lying on its back, the face slightly turned to 337 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:05,080 Speaker 1: the left toward the sky, its lower limbs spread apart, 338 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,520 Speaker 1: and the right hand clenched above its head as if 339 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:12,000 Speaker 1: to implore, the left hand drawn down toward the left 340 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:16,919 Speaker 1: shoulder and open, as if begging for mercy. News of 341 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:20,879 Speaker 1: the murder spread throughout the region with wildfire, especially amongst 342 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:25,119 Speaker 1: the nobility. They feared a peasant uprising, which many had 343 00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:28,480 Speaker 1: believed were a thing of the past. After the bonfire 344 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:33,120 Speaker 1: and immolation of an innocent man, the major noble families 345 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:37,720 Speaker 1: of the district mobilized a makeshift militia, details of which 346 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:41,479 Speaker 1: are scarce in the historical record. The day after, the 347 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:45,120 Speaker 1: town of Nauqua mounted a defense against what it believed 348 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:49,600 Speaker 1: was an impending peasant invasion. Two years after the event, 349 00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:53,560 Speaker 1: one landowner recalled how out Fey would have turned into 350 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:57,520 Speaker 1: the center of a rebellion had the authorities not stepped 351 00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:01,959 Speaker 1: in so quickly. The local the press reflected the anxieties 352 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,800 Speaker 1: of these elites, obsessing over every detail that could reinforce 353 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 1: the monstrosity of the perpetrators. First, the regional papers took 354 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:13,760 Speaker 1: the story and ran with it, calling the villagers a 355 00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:18,679 Speaker 1: brutish mob and creatures with human faces. Then, a little 356 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:22,680 Speaker 1: over a week after the murder, some national papers ran 357 00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:26,399 Speaker 1: the story to great intrigue. All of them at least 358 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:31,479 Speaker 1: alluded to cannibalism. Reporters and readers alike only had to 359 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:36,320 Speaker 1: connect the dots. Here were peasants treating nobles like animals. 360 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:41,440 Speaker 1: Of course, they had eaten his human flesh. Cannibalistic depictions 361 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:46,240 Speaker 1: of the villagers strongly evoked colonialist stories that circulated in 362 00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:50,400 Speaker 1: French literature at the time. One writer drew a direct 363 00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:55,040 Speaker 1: comparison between the fairgoers and the so called cannibals depicted 364 00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:59,280 Speaker 1: in the novel Robinson Crusoe, which features a racist trope 365 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:02,440 Speaker 1: that was an this case, applied to the country farmers 366 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:07,080 Speaker 1: in order to paint them as sub human savages. Perhaps 367 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:10,800 Speaker 1: what was most shocking to readers was that none of 368 00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:14,840 Speaker 1: the men directly involved in the murder had ever perpetrated 369 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:19,720 Speaker 1: a serious crime before. Just as the villagers suspected Prussian 370 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:25,040 Speaker 1: spies lurking in their midst, wealthy newspaper readers grew paranoid 371 00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:30,200 Speaker 1: about the explosive potential of mob violence in their own backyards. 372 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:35,359 Speaker 1: The press openly despised the town mayor, Bernard Matthieu, for 373 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:39,000 Speaker 1: having failed in his duties. He was removed from his 374 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:43,560 Speaker 1: position on August twenty fourth. To make matters worse for 375 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:46,840 Speaker 1: the town of haut Fay, the Bonapartine Empire that the 376 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:51,840 Speaker 1: villagers so attached their hopes to crumbled in early September, 377 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:56,680 Speaker 1: resulting in the rise of the Third Republic, led by Yes, 378 00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:01,720 Speaker 1: the same Republicans that the villagers feared and hated so much. 379 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:07,160 Speaker 1: When the government changed hands that month, administrators worried ot 380 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:11,200 Speaker 1: Fay would turn into the center of a Bonapartine counter rebellion. 381 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:15,040 Speaker 1: No doubt, inspired by the latest reports in the press, 382 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:18,600 Speaker 1: one administer went so far as to recommend that the 383 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:23,080 Speaker 1: village be literally erased from the map. The recommendation was 384 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:26,160 Speaker 1: dropped when the new mayor of ot Fay pointed out 385 00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:30,040 Speaker 1: that the main perpetrators were not actually from the town, 386 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:35,000 Speaker 1: but only visiting for the fair. Meanwhile, the story lost 387 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:39,160 Speaker 1: no steam among the general public. In September, the police 388 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:43,119 Speaker 1: transferred twenty one prisoners to the courthouse in Perango for 389 00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:47,520 Speaker 1: notification of their trial, and a crowd of five hundred 390 00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:51,080 Speaker 1: people streamed in to catch a glimpse of the so 391 00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 1: called monsters of haut Fay. A reporter that visited some 392 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,520 Speaker 1: of the perpetrators in their jail cells, including the horseshoer, 393 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:04,760 Speaker 1: to described their bodies in brutish terms. One man's eyes quote, 394 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:07,800 Speaker 1: darted about like a badger's as he tried to hide 395 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:12,080 Speaker 1: himself in the midst of his co defendants. The trial 396 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:16,240 Speaker 1: itself took place from September thirteenth to the twenty first, 397 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:20,800 Speaker 1: nine days of spectacle attended by the families of the defendants, 398 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:24,840 Speaker 1: by the villagers of Perango, and plenty of upper class 399 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:30,159 Speaker 1: locals intrigued by the drama. One man reportedly complained that 400 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:33,639 Speaker 1: his local theater had been closed since the outbreak of 401 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:37,560 Speaker 1: the war, and so the court offered a decent substitute. 402 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:43,000 Speaker 1: Spectators delighted and recoil at seeing the brutish murderers alive 403 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:48,000 Speaker 1: and up close. While the court proceedings revealed that cannibalism 404 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:52,360 Speaker 1: probably did not occur, they made it clear that everything 405 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:57,479 Speaker 1: leading up to the consumption of human limbs certainly did happen. 406 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:03,680 Speaker 1: No gory detail was spared. The prosecution even presented the 407 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:07,800 Speaker 1: very stones upon which Elaine's fat had dripped while his 408 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:13,040 Speaker 1: body was burnt. The defense council actually leaned into the 409 00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:17,000 Speaker 1: trope of the villager's savagery, claiming that the peasants who 410 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:20,959 Speaker 1: banded together were simply acting like animals. All of the 411 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:25,600 Speaker 1: individuals on the stand were motivated by ignorant superstition and 412 00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:30,240 Speaker 1: collective delusion. How could we severely punish any one person? 413 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:35,600 Speaker 1: Needless to say, the defense lost. Four of the twenty 414 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:39,760 Speaker 1: one perpetrators were sentenced to death, and the remaining seventeen 415 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:44,960 Speaker 1: received prison time. The audience, especially the poorer folks in attendance, 416 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:49,880 Speaker 1: protested the convictions to no avail. The executions were set 417 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:54,320 Speaker 1: for February. It was anticipated that the executions would take 418 00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:57,320 Speaker 1: place in Pergo, the same town the court had made 419 00:29:57,320 --> 00:30:01,840 Speaker 1: its decision, but officials decided to move the execution site 420 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:05,160 Speaker 1: to the town of haat Fay itself, on the very 421 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:09,440 Speaker 1: fair grounds where the violence began. In a show of 422 00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:14,080 Speaker 1: force and an act of political revenge, the government stationed 423 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:17,760 Speaker 1: hundreds of soldiers in the village. A crowd of about 424 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:21,360 Speaker 1: a hundred spectators appeared to see the heads of the 425 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:27,280 Speaker 1: four main convicts lobbed off by guillotine. To the frustration 426 00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:32,200 Speaker 1: of local priests and officials. Most commoners referred to the 427 00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:36,800 Speaker 1: men as martyrs. The innkeepers of out Fay even refused 428 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:41,360 Speaker 1: to serve the executioners. From their standpoint, even if the 429 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:45,600 Speaker 1: mob was wrong to kill Alende Monet, the Republicans had 430 00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:51,400 Speaker 1: no right to treat these otherwise upstanding citizens like animals. 431 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:56,840 Speaker 1: The court's decision only confirmed the sort of conspiracy between 432 00:30:56,840 --> 00:31:00,360 Speaker 1: elites that the fair goers feared so much, in the 433 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:04,880 Speaker 1: person of Elaine. There's one more character in this drama 434 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,240 Speaker 1: we have yet to follow up on, Bernard Matthieu, the 435 00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:14,040 Speaker 1: former now disgraced mayor. He died on Christmas Day eighteen seventy, 436 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:19,640 Speaker 1: shortly after the trials had ended. Apparently his unscathed collection 437 00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:24,760 Speaker 1: of crockery was no source of comfort in those final days. 438 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:31,520 Speaker 1: That's the gruesome story of the alleged French town of cannibals. 439 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:34,760 Speaker 1: But keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear 440 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:38,760 Speaker 1: a little bit more about Hutfey's legacy in literature and today. 441 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:49,760 Speaker 1: The primary source for this retelling of the outfe case 442 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:53,120 Speaker 1: comes from the nineteen ninety history of the event by 443 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:56,920 Speaker 1: the French historian Elaine Corbin. Corbin is something of a 444 00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:02,040 Speaker 1: maverick in the historical establishment during the eighties and nineties, 445 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:06,440 Speaker 1: when scholars usually wrote about political dynasties, world wars, or 446 00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:13,960 Speaker 1: economic struggles, Corbin investigated more unusual subjects, prostitution, attitudes towards 447 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:18,479 Speaker 1: the sea, and, as we know, cannibalism. He employs a 448 00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:21,920 Speaker 1: literary style that has been cherished by some for its 449 00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:27,360 Speaker 1: appeal and detracted by others for issuing academic norms. So 450 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:31,040 Speaker 1: when he tells us about the brutal killing of Alendomnet 451 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:36,000 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy, he doesn't just flesh out the details, 452 00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:40,680 Speaker 1: no pun intended. He sets the stage, introduces the characters, 453 00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:44,959 Speaker 1: and narrates a tragedy between the killer and the killed. 454 00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:48,080 Speaker 1: If I may say so, it is a gripping rendition 455 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:52,720 Speaker 1: of the story. Unfortunately, the book's appeal may not have 456 00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:55,680 Speaker 1: been so good for the town of Oute Fay. In 457 00:32:55,720 --> 00:33:00,120 Speaker 1: two thousand and nine, the longstanding mayor recommended erecting a 458 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:03,640 Speaker 1: plaque in remembrance of the lynching, but there was enough 459 00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:07,320 Speaker 1: of an outcry among the town's residents that the project 460 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:11,600 Speaker 1: had to be scrapped. Where many European cities lean into 461 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:16,920 Speaker 1: their dark local histories, sometimes to attract tourists, the myth 462 00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:22,320 Speaker 1: of oat Fay's cannibalism is a delicate subject. The town 463 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:25,200 Speaker 1: has no more than one hundred and thirty residents today, 464 00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:28,400 Speaker 1: only a little larger than it was in the eighteen hundreds, 465 00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:32,240 Speaker 1: but the attention that it's received in literature and folklore 466 00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:37,120 Speaker 1: has been wildly disproportionate. The story of the killing was 467 00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:41,160 Speaker 1: even converted into a popular tune in the late eighteen hundreds. 468 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:46,640 Speaker 1: Some current residents can recall their grandparents' first hand accounts 469 00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:50,280 Speaker 1: of the executions and the bad reputation of the town 470 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:54,960 Speaker 1: that followed. Even though the murder of Alandimane remains a 471 00:33:55,000 --> 00:34:00,200 Speaker 1: touchy subject, the town has taken many steps towards reconciliationation 472 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:07,760 Speaker 1: and remembrance. On August sixteenth, nineteen seventy, exactly one century 473 00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:10,680 Speaker 1: after the murder, the oude Fe Church put on a 474 00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:26,880 Speaker 1: ceremony of forgiveness featuring the descendants of Elaine Demonet. Noble 475 00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:31,360 Speaker 1: Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild 476 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:35,560 Speaker 1: from Aaron Manke. Noble Blood is created and hosted by 477 00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:41,040 Speaker 1: me Dana Shchwortz, with additional writing and researching by Hannah Johnston, 478 00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:46,200 Speaker 1: Hannah Zuick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman. The 479 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:50,480 Speaker 1: show is edited and produced by Noemi Griffin and rima 480 00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:56,480 Speaker 1: Il Kahali, with supervising producer Josh Thain and executive producers 481 00:34:56,560 --> 00:35:01,360 Speaker 1: Aaron Manke, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts 482 00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:07,000 Speaker 1: from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 483 00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:10,879 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.