0:00

Welcome to Noble Blood, a production

0:03

of iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild

0:05

from Aaron Manky. Listener Discretion

0:07

advised. There

0:12

was barely any breathing room in the courtroom

0:15

as the proceedings were set to begin. The

0:18

French town of Paragu was by no

0:20

means a major city, but people

0:22

from all across the entire region,

0:25

from all across the entire country,

0:27

had come to town in order to

0:29

see firsthand the

0:32

proceedings in what was sure to be the

0:34

story of the year. Villagers

0:37

and notables, lawyers and witnesses

0:40

all jammed into every corner

0:43

of the courthouse, and on

0:45

a cool December day in eighteen

0:47

seventy, Bernard Mathieu took

0:50

the stand and appeared before

0:52

the raucous audience. Bernard

0:56

Mathieu was the mayor of a nearby town

0:58

called Utfai, where a horrific

1:01

crime had taken place, the

1:03

lynching of a man. No

1:05

not just a lynching, the prosecution

1:08

reminded the audience, Bernard

1:10

Mathieu had to answer for a

1:13

carnival of torture, a

1:15

four hour procession of brutality,

1:18

in ungodly murder, and

1:21

not just the murder of any villager,

1:23

but of a young nobleman who had

1:25

served his country. A total

1:28

of twenty one men, including

1:30

Mathieu, ranging from sixteen

1:32

years old to well passed sixty,

1:35

were charged with this crime, which

1:37

had occurred four months before

1:39

the trial, and the press had

1:41

spent the intervening months gleefully

1:44

recounting the most horrific details

1:47

of the atrocity. These weren't

1:49

any ordinary villagers, the

1:51

stories made clear, but savages,

1:54

animals possessed by their baser

1:57

instincts. Bernard

1:59

Mathieux he was well aware of the public's

2:02

perception of the gruesome

2:04

stories that were coming out about

2:06

what had happened that day in August.

2:09

What did it mean for him to be the mayor

2:12

of a town of bloodthirsty

2:14

monsters. Well, he would

2:16

do everything in his power when he took

2:18

the stand to distance himself

2:20

from the deplorables of his town.

2:23

But there was one charge that Bernard

2:26

could not quite escape.

2:28

Some days before he took the stand, a

2:31

lady had come before the judge and

2:34

testified against him. She

2:36

supposedly had overheard one

2:39

of the murderers telling Bernard

2:41

that they intended to kill their victim,

2:44

to which Bernard had allegedly

2:46

responded something truly

2:48

damning, something that was corroborated

2:51

by a second witness. The

2:54

mayor allegedly replied, eat

2:56

him if you like. Before

2:59

all of this, the tiny town in France

3:01

had been renowned for its boisterous

3:04

fairs and friendly faces. Not

3:07

one of the twenty one men charged

3:09

with the crime had ever had a single

3:11

run in with the law before. And

3:13

yet here was damning evidence

3:17

not only of the murder of an

3:19

innocent man, but of

3:21

cannibalism. It seemed

3:24

to the court and to the world

3:26

that on August sixteenth,

3:29

eighteen seventy, the

3:31

inhabitants of a quaint town

3:33

in western France slaughtered

3:36

a nobleman and partook

3:38

in his flesh. I'm

3:41

Danas Schwartz, and this is noble

3:43

blood. A

3:46

note before we begin, in case

3:49

you haven't picked up on that, this episode will

3:51

contain some gruesome details,

3:53

so be aware of that if that's something you might

3:55

be sensitive to. Starting

4:00

in the summer of eighteen sixty eight,

4:02

Western France was hit by a series

4:05

of droughts that made farming in

4:07

the town of Utfoy excruciating. By

4:09

the summer of eighteen seventy, there

4:12

had been almost no rain for

4:14

six months. Whole lakes

4:16

dried up, the price of food more

4:19

than doubled, and an air

4:21

of anxiety took hold of the village.

4:24

Despite these difficulties, or maybe

4:27

because of them, the villagers of

4:29

Utfoy resolved to hold

4:31

their annual summer fair. The

4:34

fair typically drew farmers, artisans,

4:36

and livestock dealers from

4:38

fifteen miles around to an empty

4:41

campground, where people haggled

4:43

over goods, reconnected with old

4:46

friends, and turned rowdy at the

4:48

local inn. To the delight of

4:50

many fairgoers, Utfoy was

4:52

only accessible by footpaths.

4:55

It was remote enough that villagers

4:57

could enjoy the festivities without

5:00

having to cater to city folk or

5:02

to have to curtail their behavior

5:05

amidst local police. Coincidentally,

5:08

this year's fair overlapped with a

5:10

national holiday for Napoleon

5:13

the third. The holiday took on

5:15

special significance because

5:17

France had just declared

5:19

war against Prussia. Young

5:22

Men from the village and from across

5:24

the country were being conscripted

5:26

to the front, and not always against

5:28

their will. Villagers saw

5:31

Napoleon the Third as a trusted

5:33

guardian of their liberties. The

5:35

villagers didn't trust many local

5:37

lords because chances were

5:40

those lords wanted to restore ancient

5:42

privileges over the peasantry. The

5:44

villagers didn't particularly trust

5:47

their local priests, who were feared

5:49

to have extorted villagers on

5:51

behalf of those nobles, and

5:53

villagers most certainly did

5:56

not trust Republican radicals,

5:58

who were imposing un to do taxes

6:00

upon them. Only the Emperor

6:03

was fighting for them. Rumors

6:06

spread throughout Utve some days

6:09

prior that villagers in other

6:11

parts of western France had

6:13

caught and executed Prussian

6:15

spies who were lying under

6:17

cover amongst common folk. These

6:20

rumors were most likely false,

6:23

but the effect that they had on the people

6:25

of Utfa was unmistakable.

6:28

A fear of conspiracy lurking

6:30

below the surface of an otherwise

6:33

ordinary fair. The

6:35

villagers found something to obsess

6:37

over on August nine, when

6:40

a crowd overheard one zealous

6:42

nobleman by the name of Camille de Millard

6:45

proclaimed that quote the Emperor

6:47

was done for, referring to a

6:49

string of military defeats that

6:51

France had suffered against the Prussians.

6:54

As it happened, Camille was indeed

6:57

a critic of Napoleon the Third, but

6:59

in reality it's unlikely that he

7:01

was foolhardy enough to have stated

7:03

his criticisms out loud, let

7:06

alone announced them in a public

7:08

square, so whether or not

7:10

he did actually make a statement like

7:12

that, it didn't really matter. A week

7:15

later, on August sixteenth, when

7:17

Camille decided to reappear

7:19

in public at oaut Fay's Summer

7:21

Fair. To Camille's chagrin,

7:24

more than one person remembered him

7:26

as the man who hated Napoleon

7:28

the Third. A crowd began

7:31

forming around Camille of local farmers

7:33

and traders, pressing him for a

7:35

confession of his crime. One

7:38

person in attendance went so far as

7:40

to claim that he heard Camille shout out

7:42

long Live the Republic, which

7:44

Camille utterly denied. Fearing

7:47

for his safety, he fled the fair

7:49

ground sometime in the morning. Camille

7:52

had a cousin named Alandemnet,

7:54

another nobleman who decided to

7:57

attend this year's fair. By

7:59

all account, Alone was an upstanding

8:01

neighbor. His father was the

8:04

former mayor of the nearby town

8:06

of Bissup, and Elaine himself

8:08

served as a member of the town's municipal

8:11

council. He spent most of his

8:13

time managing the four hundred acres

8:15

that made up his family's inheritance, building

8:18

waterworks and tending to the needs

8:20

of local commoners. He

8:23

had come to the fair that day in the first place

8:25

in search of a cow to give to a poor

8:28

family. Thirty two years

8:30

old, Elaine desperately wanted to join

8:32

the ranks of the French army in the war

8:35

against Prussia, but due

8:37

to some disability, the army disqualified

8:40

him from enlistment. Esteemed

8:42

compassionate, patriotic, Elaine

8:44

was the last person anyone would have expected

8:47

to become a victim of mob violence.

8:50

There's no record of him having

8:52

any prior disagreements with townfolk.

8:56

Elaine turned up at the fair grounds around

8:58

two in the afternoon, which may

9:01

seem insignificant, but actually

9:03

tells us quite a bit about the

9:05

circumstances leading up to the

9:07

commotion. At this point, many

9:10

of the farmers and livestock dealers

9:12

had packed up shop, and they were mingling

9:15

with one another, perhaps headed

9:17

to the inn for a pint or two. The

9:20

crowd at the center of the fairground

9:22

was still enraged over what many

9:24

believed was Camille's brazen support

9:27

for the Republic, and when

9:29

someone had informed Elaine of the slander

9:32

against his cousin, he approached

9:34

that crowd with the intention of defending

9:36

his family name. From

9:39

Elaine's perspective, it made no sense

9:41

that Camille would ever support the Republic.

9:44

His cousin was, after all, a closeted

9:46

advocate for the return of the Bourbon

9:49

monarchy, a completely different

9:51

political dynasty to the

9:53

villagers. Though the distinction didn't

9:56

matter. Republicans were Bourbons

9:59

were Prussians. Any elite

10:01

claiming authority that did not swear

10:04

undying fealty to the bonapartes

10:06

to Napoleon the Third was a

10:08

threat. So while Elaine

10:10

remained steadfast in his conviction that

10:12

Camille was innocent, more and

10:15

more villagers attested to having

10:17

heard his cousin's treacherous proclamations

10:19

for the Republic. Why else would

10:21

he have been talking about Prussian war

10:24

victories. Very few

10:26

people in this growing mob knew

10:28

one another well. The aut fe

10:30

fair drew in hundreds of

10:33

farmers and artisans from all over

10:35

the region. While Elaine was

10:37

well known among some residents

10:40

of ote faith, it's plausible that

10:42

no one in the mob knew him personally,

10:44

so no one could speak to his actual

10:47

character. This made it all

10:49

too easy to cast him as an accomplice

10:52

to Camille and for the villagers

10:54

to see one another as fellow

10:57

defenders of the Empire before

10:59

law. Sometime around two

11:01

thirty in the afternoon, someone

11:04

accused Elane of being a Prussian

11:06

spy. Arguments

11:08

turned to insults, insults

11:11

into clenched fists. More

11:13

and more villagers joined without

11:16

knowing anything about the original provocation

11:19

or conversation, and many

11:21

confused Elane for his cousin.

11:24

The crowd gained a momentum of

11:26

its own, and what began as

11:28

an otherwise ordinary day at the

11:31

summer fair shifted into the

11:33

prosecution of an enemy

11:35

of the state. Someone in the

11:37

crowd warned Elane, one of us

11:40

will be left beaten to a pulp.

11:43

Maybe it was the first punch

11:45

or slapped to the face, or the fact

11:47

that he was surrounded by a throng of

11:49

men all holding sticks and stones.

11:52

Eventually Allah snapped out of it

11:55

and realized his life was at stake.

11:58

Historian Alain Corbin tells us that

12:00

had understood that his counterparts

12:03

lived in an entirely different conceptual

12:06

universe, one that saw any proud

12:08

noble as a conspirator against

12:10

the Emperor. Maybe he would have survived,

12:14

but By the time the first blows were

12:16

struck, it was too late. Aloon

12:19

screamed out in an effort to calm down

12:21

the crowd, Long Live the Emperor, but

12:24

it didn't work. Meanwhile,

12:27

the town's priest had been watching

12:29

the scene developed from right outside the church.

12:32

After the first few blows were struck,

12:34

he jumped over his garden wall and sprung

12:37

into action, putting his body

12:39

between Allan and the mob with a revolver

12:41

in his hand. But even with a

12:43

gun, it didn't take long for the priest

12:46

to shrink away. When he heard

12:48

some members of the crowd express

12:50

interest in wanting to gut

12:53

the man of faith, the priest

12:55

tried another tactic. He invited

12:58

the angry men into his presence,

13:00

pretary for free wine and a toast

13:02

to the emperor's health. Only

13:04

some of the men diverged from their

13:07

path and refreshed with free

13:09

spirits, they simply returned

13:12

Drunker to the mob. The

13:16

crowd pushed and dragged a lot

13:18

to the house of Hautve's mayor, Bernard

13:21

Mathieu. We know Bernard

13:23

as the man who allegedly incited

13:25

the cannibalism. That may be

13:28

false, but what is certainly true

13:30

is that Bernard, fearing for

13:33

his property and life, made

13:35

no effort to calm the situation

13:38

down. When a few leaders

13:40

of the crowd demanded that the mayor

13:42

prosecute and imprison the supposed

13:45

Prussian spy, the mayor

13:47

renounced any power and more

13:49

or less told the crowd to do as

13:52

they pleased. One man,

13:54

a horseshoer, emerged

13:56

from the crowd as de facto leader.

13:59

He suggested that they take Allah

14:01

to a cherry tree and hang

14:03

him from the branches. The

14:05

crowd moved their hostage to

14:08

the execution site, but unfortunately

14:10

for them and for a law,

14:13

the branches proved too weak

14:15

for the hanging. At this point

14:18

the crowd changed their mind. They

14:20

wouldn't be so merciful as to end

14:23

the Prussian's life in a matter of minutes.

14:26

No, they would draw out the pain,

14:28

make the Prussians suffer in a

14:31

fashion that was equal parts barbaric

14:34

and cathartic. Two farmers

14:36

from the small village of Manzak

14:39

led the charge. They bruised

14:41

and battered alone, hit him

14:43

up the head, and clobbered him with stones.

14:46

The whole scene was within view of

14:48

an inn, where one man with a

14:51

rifle turned to the people around

14:53

him and announced that they should all protect

14:55

that poor man. No one

14:58

else at the inn said anything,

15:00

and the riflemen sunk back

15:02

in his chair.

15:05

The crowd dragged along back to

15:07

the Mayor's house and forced him inside

15:10

a workshop full of ordinary farm

15:12

tools that offered themselves up

15:14

as useful torture devices. Alom

15:18

was tied to a cattle crush,

15:20

a structure that immobilizes livestock

15:24

utterly defenseless. He was

15:26

beaten with hoofs and sticks

15:28

until his head was a bloody

15:30

mess. There was something

15:32

strangely casual about

15:34

the way that the torture proceeded. The

15:37

villagers would batter along for a

15:39

few minutes, then take a break,

15:42

leaving a law alone to howl in pain.

15:44

Before they resumed the blood bath.

15:47

Some of the culprits went out for breaths

15:49

of fresh air. Others wandered

15:52

off to other parts of the fair before

15:54

turning back to the workshop to see

15:56

how the violence had progressed. For

15:59

a brief moment, Allow was left completely

16:02

alone in the workshop, at which point

16:04

a rescue attempt was made by

16:06

the few allies he had had on

16:09

the fairgrounds. Four men,

16:11

including the mayor's nephew and Allan's

16:13

servant rushed into the workshop

16:16

to try to free him from the cattle crush,

16:19

but the crowd returned before they could

16:21

succeed. The mob doubled

16:23

down on their torment. One

16:25

local, who had just learned that his

16:27

son had died on the front lines

16:29

of the war against Prussia, drove

16:32

a hook into Alain's head,

16:34

which was thought fatal by some witnesses.

16:38

By some divine intervention, the

16:41

crowd around Alao had withered away,

16:43

and his rescuers were finally able

16:46

to wretch him from the cattle crush. The

16:48

mayor's nephew pleaded with his uncle

16:50

Bernard to take in the wounded

16:52

man, but Bernard refused.

16:55

His reason. The mayor complained

16:57

that the mob would smash up his fire

17:00

collection of crockery. Bernard

17:02

Matieu recommended that they put Elaine

17:04

in the sheep pen next to the house, out

17:07

of sight from the fair grounds. Alayne's

17:10

battered body collapsed when he

17:12

reached the pen. In between

17:15

gasps, he told his four

17:17

rescuers to purchase a

17:19

hogshead of wine and give it

17:21

to his pursuers. In an attempt

17:23

at peace. A friend passed

17:26

him some figs to eat. Everything

17:28

slowed down, but not for long.

17:32

The horseshoer leading the charge

17:34

against a Lah riled up the crowd,

17:36

calling for them to burn down the pen and break

17:39

down the front door. One man

17:41

protected the entryway, while another

17:43

urged Alan to change his jacket and shirt

17:46

for a peasant's blouse. If

17:48

the mob wasn't going to die down, their

17:50

only chance would be a covered escape.

17:53

None of those plans came to fruition,

17:55

though, as the mass of people burst

17:58

down the pen door and got out hold

18:00

of Elaine. The court record's

18:02

report that one of Elaine's friends

18:04

asked him if he'd preferred being shot

18:07

right then and there. When Elaine

18:09

signaled yes, his rescuers demanded

18:11

that the mob shoot him to end his suffering,

18:14

but no one listened. In a

18:16

last ditch effort to save Alan's

18:19

life or offer an easier death,

18:21

his servant wrestled his body away

18:23

from the mob and took him to the local

18:25

inn. The innkeeper, much

18:28

like the mayor, refused to let

18:30

the bloodied man in, whose leg was

18:32

nestled in between the front entrance and the

18:34

door frame. When the innkeeper shut

18:37

the door, he broke Elaine's ankle

18:39

and amidst all the chaos, the

18:41

mayor allegedly told Alan's

18:43

servant to quote take him

18:45

away from the front of the inn because

18:48

he was blocking traffic. Accounts

18:51

of the precise circumstances of

18:53

Allan's death diverge, but

18:55

it was around this point, some two

18:58

hours after the initial mob began,

19:01

that the victim finally lost consciousness.

19:04

When the mob dragged him once again

19:07

onto the fair grounds, Allah

19:09

seemed overcome with adrenaline,

19:11

as though he knew this was his last chance.

19:14

He picked up a stake and shoved

19:16

it into the face of the horse shoer, but

19:19

he was promptly disarmed. When

19:21

Elaine ran under a wheelbarrow

19:23

to try to fetch another steak, he

19:25

was dragged out, screaming and finally

19:28

killed. The murderers

19:31

began that day as strangers,

19:33

but they ended it as accomplices.

19:36

When Elaine finally died, they set

19:38

up his body as a punching bag

19:40

for fair goers to beat as

19:43

they wished. Importantly,

19:45

they never used a knife or a

19:47

blade to spill blood, the

19:49

same protocol shepherds followed

19:52

when they prepared animals for slaughter.

19:55

Some witnesses described farmers

19:57

poking the corpse's abdomen as they

20:00

might sheep. Elaine was dead,

20:02

but the suffering imagined by the fair

20:05

goers transformed the suspected

20:07

Prussian into the beast

20:10

they believed he was. As

20:13

night approached, members of the crowd

20:15

called for the burning of his body,

20:18

as though they were grilling meat for

20:20

a feast. Elaine was dragged

20:23

to the same spot where residents

20:25

celebrated Saint John's Eve with

20:27

bonfires less than a month

20:29

earlier. One witness

20:31

describing the transfer of the corpse

20:33

four years after the fact, reflected he

20:36

was dragged by the legs through the

20:39

narrow streets of the village, his bloody

20:41

head ringing on the stones, his

20:43

torn body jumping up and down,

20:47

barring the corpse. The scene

20:49

could have been mistaken for some sort of

20:51

holiday. Women and children fetched

20:54

kindling. The mayor showed up the

20:56

horse shoer brought a bale of straw

20:58

and laid it on top of Elaine's body,

21:01

asking a group of children to

21:03

light the fire with a pack of matches.

21:06

When the fuel flared in a horrible

21:08

blaze, the crowd cheered Long

21:11

Live the Emperor. Conflicting

21:13

accounts of the immolation emphasized

21:16

the dehumanization underlying

21:18

this horror. One witness said,

21:20

in court quote, I saw the fire

21:22

blaze up, and I could see the poor man

21:25

moving under the wood piled on top

21:27

of him. Another said, just

21:29

as the fire blazed up, Monsieur

21:31

de Monet flailed his arms and

21:33

legs and made sounds like the

21:36

noises a hog makes when

21:38

you stick the knife into its neck.

21:41

One farmer commented on how

21:43

nicely they roasted the pig. Yet

21:46

another saw fat dripping from

21:48

the corpse onto the charred wood below,

21:51

and said, it's a pity all

21:53

that fat is wasted. When

21:55

the body had been charred, when

21:57

all skin turned to ash,

22:00

there was no way of telling if they had

22:02

roasted a man or a pig.

22:05

The murder of a Landomonet had nothing

22:08

to do with the victim and everything

22:10

to do with his torturers. On

22:12

the afternoon of August sixteenth,

22:15

the crowds of haut Fe transformed

22:18

an innocent man into a reflection

22:20

of their most profound, primal

22:22

fears. He was a concrete

22:25

symbol for an amorphous enemy

22:27

for Prussians, Republicans, nobles,

22:30

conspirators, a disease

22:32

in the national body that needed cleansing.

22:35

Amidst the chaos of war and the

22:38

possibility of famine. Here

22:40

was a physical object they could lay hands

22:43

on. Here was something

22:45

they could do to control the circumstances

22:47

for which there was no clear solution. Upon

22:50

returning home, one of the ringleaders

22:53

told a friend, we did it to save

22:56

France. Our Emperor will

22:58

surely save us. Arrests

23:03

were made the same night the murder took

23:05

place. Police from the local

23:07

city of Nontent were notified

23:09

of a murder and potentially an

23:11

uprising. It wasn't too difficult

23:14

to identify the main perpetrators.

23:16

Some of them couldn't stop boasting

23:18

about the whole affair, and many

23:21

earnestly believed their actions

23:23

would be protected by imperial

23:26

writ In total, the police

23:28

arrested around fifty people from around

23:30

Outfit and transferred them to the Nont

23:33

Plant prison, some ten miles away,

23:35

though only twenty one would be charged

23:38

with the crime. That same

23:40

night, a doctor was called to perform

23:43

an autopsy. The doctor's

23:45

report itself was meant to describe the

23:47

physical condition of the body, but

23:49

he couldn't help but emphasize the innocence

23:52

of the victim, writing the

23:54

corpse charred almost beyond

23:57

recognition was lying on its

23:59

back, the face slightly turned to the

24:01

left toward the sky, its

24:03

lower limbs spread apart, and

24:05

the right hand clenched above its head

24:08

as if to implore, the left hand

24:10

drawn down toward the left shoulder and open,

24:13

as if begging for mercy. News

24:16

of the murder spread throughout the region

24:18

with wildfire, especially amongst the

24:21

nobility. They feared a peasant

24:23

uprising, which many had believed

24:25

were a thing of the past. After

24:27

the bonfire and immolation of

24:30

an innocent man, the major

24:32

noble families of the district mobilized

24:34

a makeshift militia, details

24:37

of which are scarce in the historical record.

24:40

The day after, the town of Nauqua mounted

24:43

a defense against what it believed

24:45

was an impending peasant invasion. Two

24:48

years after the event, one

24:50

landowner recalled how out Fey would

24:52

have turned into the center of a

24:54

rebellion had the authorities

24:56

not stepped in so quickly. The

24:59

local the press reflected the anxieties

25:02

of these elites, obsessing over every

25:04

detail that could reinforce the monstrosity

25:06

of the perpetrators. First,

25:09

the regional papers took the story

25:11

and ran with it, calling the villagers a

25:14

brutish mob and creatures with

25:16

human faces. Then, a

25:18

little over a week after the murder,

25:21

some national papers ran the story

25:23

to great intrigue. All

25:25

of them at least alluded to cannibalism.

25:28

Reporters and readers alike only

25:31

had to connect the dots. Here

25:33

were peasants treating nobles

25:35

like animals. Of course, they had

25:37

eaten his human flesh. Cannibalistic

25:40

depictions of the villagers strongly

25:43

evoked colonialist stories that

25:45

circulated in French literature at

25:47

the time. One writer drew

25:49

a direct comparison between the fairgoers

25:52

and the so called cannibals

25:54

depicted in the novel Robinson Crusoe,

25:57

which features a racist trope that

25:59

was an this case, applied to the country

26:01

farmers in order to paint them as

26:04

sub human savages. Perhaps

26:07

what was most shocking to readers

26:09

was that none of the men directly

26:12

involved in the murder had ever perpetrated

26:14

a serious crime before. Just

26:17

as the villagers suspected Prussian

26:19

spies lurking in their midst, wealthy

26:22

newspaper readers grew paranoid

26:25

about the explosive potential

26:27

of mob violence in their

26:29

own backyards. The

26:31

press openly despised the town

26:33

mayor, Bernard Matthieu, for having failed

26:36

in his duties. He was removed

26:38

from his position on August twenty

26:40

fourth. To make matters

26:43

worse for the town of haut Fay, the

26:45

Bonapartine Empire that the villagers

26:47

so attached their hopes to crumbled

26:50

in early September, resulting

26:52

in the rise of the Third Republic,

26:55

led by Yes, the same Republicans

26:58

that the villagers feared and hated

27:01

so much. When the government

27:03

changed hands that month, administrators

27:06

worried ot Fay would turn into the center

27:08

of a Bonapartine counter rebellion.

27:11

No doubt, inspired by the latest

27:13

reports in the press, one

27:16

administer went so far as to recommend

27:18

that the village be literally erased

27:20

from the map. The recommendation

27:23

was dropped when the new mayor of ot

27:25

Fay pointed out that the main perpetrators

27:27

were not actually from the town,

27:30

but only visiting for the fair. Meanwhile,

27:33

the story lost no steam among

27:36

the general public. In September,

27:38

the police transferred twenty one prisoners

27:41

to the courthouse in Perango for notification

27:44

of their trial, and a crowd of

27:46

five hundred people streamed

27:48

in to catch a glimpse of the

27:51

so called monsters of haut Fay.

27:53

A reporter that visited some of

27:56

the perpetrators in their jail cells,

27:58

including the horseshoer, to described

28:00

their bodies in brutish terms.

28:03

One man's eyes quote, darted

28:05

about like a badger's as he tried to

28:07

hide himself in the midst of his

28:09

co defendants. The

28:11

trial itself took place from September

28:14

thirteenth to the twenty first, nine

28:17

days of spectacle attended by the

28:19

families of the defendants, by

28:21

the villagers of Perango, and plenty

28:23

of upper class locals intrigued

28:26

by the drama. One man

28:28

reportedly complained that his local

28:31

theater had been closed since the outbreak

28:33

of the war, and so the court offered

28:36

a decent substitute. Spectators

28:38

delighted and recoil at seeing

28:41

the brutish murderers alive and

28:43

up close. While the court proceedings

28:45

revealed that cannibalism

28:48

probably did not occur, they

28:50

made it clear that everything leading

28:52

up to the consumption of human

28:55

limbs certainly did happen.

28:58

No gory detail was spared.

29:01

The prosecution even presented

29:03

the very stones upon

29:05

which Elaine's fat had dripped while

29:07

his body was burnt. The

29:10

defense council actually leaned

29:12

into the trope of the villager's savagery,

29:15

claiming that the peasants who banded together

29:18

were simply acting like animals.

29:20

All of the individuals on the stand were

29:22

motivated by ignorant superstition

29:25

and collective delusion. How

29:27

could we severely punish any one

29:29

person? Needless

29:32

to say, the defense lost. Four

29:35

of the twenty one perpetrators were sentenced

29:37

to death, and the remaining seventeen

29:40

received prison time. The audience,

29:42

especially the poorer folks in attendance,

29:45

protested the convictions to no avail.

29:48

The executions were set for February.

29:51

It was anticipated that the executions

29:53

would take place in Pergo, the same town

29:56

the court had made its decision, but

29:58

officials decided to move the execution

30:01

site to the town of haat Fay itself,

30:04

on the very fair grounds where the violence

30:07

began. In a show

30:09

of force and an act of political

30:11

revenge, the government stationed

30:14

hundreds of soldiers in the village.

30:16

A crowd of about a hundred spectators

30:19

appeared to see the heads of

30:21

the four main convicts lobbed

30:24

off by guillotine. To

30:26

the frustration of local priests

30:29

and officials. Most commoners

30:31

referred to the men as martyrs.

30:34

The innkeepers of out Fay even refused

30:36

to serve the executioners. From

30:39

their standpoint, even if the mob

30:41

was wrong to kill Alende Monet, the

30:44

Republicans had no right to

30:46

treat these otherwise upstanding

30:49

citizens like animals.

30:52

The court's decision only confirmed

30:54

the sort of conspiracy between elites

30:57

that the fair goers feared so much,

31:00

in the person of Elaine. There's

31:02

one more character in this drama we

31:05

have yet to follow up on, Bernard

31:07

Matthieu, the former now disgraced

31:10

mayor. He died on Christmas

31:12

Day eighteen seventy, shortly

31:15

after the trials had ended. Apparently

31:18

his unscathed collection of crockery

31:21

was no source of comfort in those final

31:23

days. That's

31:27

the gruesome story of the alleged

31:29

French town of cannibals. But

31:32

keep listening after a brief sponsor

31:34

break to hear a little bit more about Hutfey's

31:36

legacy in literature and today.

31:46

The primary source for this retelling

31:48

of the outfe case comes from the nineteen

31:51

ninety history of the event by

31:53

the French historian Elaine Corbin. Corbin

31:56

is something of a maverick in the historical

31:58

establishment during the eighties

32:01

and nineties, when scholars usually

32:03

wrote about political dynasties, world

32:05

wars, or economic struggles, Corbin

32:08

investigated more unusual subjects,

32:11

prostitution, attitudes towards

32:14

the sea, and, as we know, cannibalism.

32:17

He employs a literary style

32:19

that has been cherished by some for its

32:21

appeal and detracted by

32:24

others for issuing academic norms.

32:27

So when he tells us about the

32:29

brutal killing of Alendomnet in

32:31

eighteen seventy, he doesn't

32:33

just flesh out the details,

32:36

no pun intended. He sets

32:38

the stage, introduces the characters,

32:40

and narrates a tragedy between

32:43

the killer and the killed. If

32:45

I may say so, it is a gripping rendition

32:48

of the story. Unfortunately,

32:50

the book's appeal may not have been

32:52

so good for the town of Oute Fay.

32:55

In two thousand and nine, the longstanding

32:57

mayor recommended erecting a

33:00

plaque in remembrance of the lynching,

33:02

but there was enough of an outcry among

33:05

the town's residents that the project

33:07

had to be scrapped. Where many

33:09

European cities lean into their

33:12

dark local histories, sometimes

33:14

to attract tourists, the

33:16

myth of oat Fay's cannibalism is

33:19

a delicate subject. The

33:22

town has no more than one hundred and thirty

33:24

residents today, only a little larger

33:26

than it was in the eighteen hundreds, but

33:28

the attention that it's received in literature

33:31

and folklore has been wildly

33:33

disproportionate. The story

33:36

of the killing was even converted into

33:38

a popular tune in the late eighteen

33:40

hundreds. Some current residents

33:43

can recall their grandparents'

33:45

first hand accounts of the executions

33:48

and the bad reputation of the town

33:50

that followed. Even

33:52

though the murder of Alandimane remains

33:54

a touchy subject, the town

33:57

has taken many steps towards

33:59

reconciliationation and remembrance.

34:02

On August sixteenth, nineteen

34:04

seventy, exactly one century

34:07

after the murder, the oude Fe Church

34:10

put on a ceremony of forgiveness

34:13

featuring the descendants of Elaine

34:15

Demonet.

34:26

Noble Blood is a production of

34:28

iHeartRadio and Grimm

34:30

and Mild from Aaron Manke. Noble

34:33

Blood is created and hosted by

34:35

me Dana Shchwortz, with additional

34:38

writing and researching by Hannah

34:40

Johnston, Hannah Zuick, Mira

34:42

Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Lori

34:45

Goodman. The show is edited

34:47

and produced by Noemi Griffin

34:49

and rima Il Kahali, with

34:52

supervising producer Josh Thain

34:54

and executive producers Aaron Manke,

34:57

Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick.

35:00

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