Today, we are going to tell about a real-life event from the past that is downright creepy and sickening. This is the true report of a miser, who went missing in the 1760s. The source is the London Chronicle of 1762.
The Story Of Monsieur Foscue And His Gold
Back in the 18th century France, before the French revolution and the banishment of feudalism, there lived a wealthy farmer-general by the name of Monsieur Foscue. He had assembled loads of wealth and fortune by making the poor hard labor in his province and rewarding them with little or no wages.
He was known to be a miser and a cruel one at that. He, obviously wasn’t liked by a lot of people. Since he owned a huge chunk of land and property, he was expected to pay appropriate taxes to the government, which he didn’t want to. He pleaded poverty and claimed to have gone bankrupt, for not complying with the laws.
Monsieur Foscue had started to get paranoid about the officials raiding his mansion for his lavish riches and taking it all away from him. This spreads terror into his miserly heart, and he resolved to hide his treasure, somewhere where no one would find it. Hence he devised a plan. Events though, did not go according to plan!
Days passed. People started noticing his disappearance of late. Days turned into months. By this time, the government officials were certain of his escape and decided to seize his property. Months later, it was sold. Shortly after moving in, the new owners decided to renovate the mansion and thoroughly inspected the place. Work had begun.
While working in wine cellar that M. Foscue had left behind, they found an odd door that seemed purposely hidden. Upon asking the new owners who had no knowledge about it, they decided to take it down. To their surprise, they found a ladder leading further below the cellar.
They descended the stairs, to be led to a huge dark cave. There were greeted by a foul stench upon reaching the ground. Since there was no electricity back then, they got candles and torches and started investigating the place.
Monsieur Foscue had dug a secret cave in his wine cellar ― to store all his gold and treasure, that he had accumulated, rather immorally, over the years. This cave was the treasure chest that he had been lying about. And right there was the corpse of the man himself. The corpse held what looked like a half-eaten candle. They also saw some parts of his flesh gnawed off.
Poor Monsieur Foscue had, while paying a visit down to his beloved treasure, accidentally locked himself in. The door was designed so as to get auto-locked from the outside when shut with force, and that is what happened that fateful day. This secret was so well kept that it took him with it, until its discovery.
And this is the creepy part of this story. Think, when he would have climbed up the ladder to see the daylight after seeing the glitter he possessed, only to realize that he would never see it again!
He was hoping, praying, cursing, shouting, doing everything he could, just for once to leave the sight of his most prized possession, and slowly anticipating his own death. No food to eat, no water to drink, no other soul to talk to, no light to see ― just counting his own breath, stranded in the darkness of his thoughts and fears!
