THE DISAPPEARANCE OF PAULINE PICARD
Two-year-old Pauline Picard and her family lived an idyllic life in 1922. Her family owned a farm in Goas-Al-Ludu, Brittany, France. She was often free to explore and enjoy the beauty of the outdoors—certainly much freer and more unsupervised than children who live in similar settings today. Goas-Al-Ludu was a tight knit community. One evening In early April, Pauline’s mother began to worry when she called out across the farm for Pauline, but got no response. The Picards had nine children, and Pauline was the second youngest. All of the other children came running inside from wherever they’d been playing on the farm. The other little girls arrived at the door, and their mother inquired about Pauline. She wasn’t with them and they didn’t know where she’d gone. Her mother called again and again, but never heard the sounds of her child in response.
Within hours, nearly 150 friends, neighbors, and authorities began an all-out search for Pauline all over Goas-Al-Ludu. They searched the family farm. Searched the area around the farm. They came up empty. A day passed. Then another, and another. Her family and friends slowly stopped searching and started grieving. After a few days, they lost hope that she was alive. After a few weeks, they lost hope that they’d ever see any trace of her again or be able to give her a proper burial.
Weeks later, a policeman in Cherbourg, about 150 miles away from the Picard farm, encountered a small girl wandering by herself. He took the child to a Cherbourg shelter where she could be cared for until her family or a suitable home was found.
News broke about the child, and newspapers flocked to the Picard family. Pauline’s mother met with authorities, where they showed her a picture of the small girl found in Cherbourg. She made a positive identification of the girl and the family became suddenly optimistic. The Picards boarded the first train bound for Cherbourg out of Brittany.
Upon arriving in the coastal city, authorities arranged for the Picard family and the child to meet. The girl looked less like their daughter than she had in the photograph. The Picards lost the certainty they had left Brittany with. The girl was very thin—much thinner than Pauline had ever been. The authorities reminded them that her whereabouts for the past months were a mystery, and the child may have starved down to her petite size. Additionally, the girl showed no emotion upon being reunited with the Picards.
Mrs. Picard remained skeptical. In Brittany, where the Picard farm was located, the local residents spoke Breton, an Indo-European, Celtic language. This child didn’t understand a word they said. In fact, the little girl didn’t understand a word of any language they tried using to communicate with her. She only made sounds that seemed nonsensical to the people around her. Her inability was attributed to shock.
The more time Mr. Picard spent with the child, the more convinced he became that she was indeed Pauline. Though his wife remained skeptical, his certainty eventually helped to convince her. The child’s ears were what ended up convincing Mrs. Picard in the end. She knew her own child’s ears. This had to be her. For the father, it was the eye color. Her eyes were just as they’d always been. Authorities declared the girl to be Pauline, and the couple left for Brittany with the child in their custody, ready for things to get back to normal.
Pauline’s eight siblings were ecstatic to have her back. They all recognized her and were excited to resume the backyard fun they’d been having before she disappeared. Over time, she began to speak Breton, even if it was only a few words. She could say father and mother.
The family doctor came to check on Pauline, and congratulated the Picards on getting their child back. He was certain she’d regain her strength and return to a healthy weight. Other members of the community stopped by as well, happy to take part in the celebration of Pauline’s safe return.
The family was certain her memories had begun to return after she started calling the family’s housecat by its proper name. Her language skills improved and she was able to have whole conversations in Breton. The Picard family was ecstatic to have their little Pauline back, even if she did seem a little different from time to time.
A neighbor crossing through the Picards’ farmland was shocked that summer when he stumbled upon a small, decaying body in a field. The body wore no clothing, but clothes were folded and stacked in a pile nearby. The child’s body had been decapitated and a large skull was resting in the dirt a few feet away.
When the Picards were notified, they were devastated. Madame Picard was immediately able to identify the clothing in the stack as the outfit in which she had dressed Pauline on the day she went missing. Nobody knew where the clothing worn by the little girl in Cherbourg came from. Madame Picard had been so excited to have her daughter back, she didn’t think about what must have happened to her clothing.
The body was sent to government authorities for an autopsy. The skull found near the headless body wasn’t Pauline’s nor was it even female. It was the head of an unidentified adult male. Whoever had put it there made sure a skull was with the body, but it wasn’t hers.
The Picards were certain the body belonged to their daughter. They laid it to rest and sent the other child, who had no one but the Picard family, back to Cherbourg, where she lived in an orphanage. Conditions weren't great, and the child who wasn’t Pauline Picard died of measles just two years after being sent away by the family that once cared about her for a few weeks.
We’re left with almost nothing but mystery in this case. We don’t know what happened to Pauline. We don’t know whose skull was found with her body. We don’t know who the little girl from Cherbourg was or what happened to her family. We don’t know how a child’s own biological parents wouldn’t be able to realize this child wasn’t theirs from the beginning, especially when this girl was seventeen centimeters shorter than Pauline was when she went missing.
So do we know anything? Not really.
When the girl from Cherbourg was still living with the Picards, a neighboring farmer, Yves Martin, visited their home. He asked them if they truly believed that this child was their daughter. When they said yes, he responded by yelling, “God help me, I’m guilty!” and running out of the house. Martin was committed to an asylum. While he seems to be the main suspect for this case, any record of him is lost after his commitment to the asylum. We have no idea what happened to him after that.
This case makes me tremble. What happened to Pauline? Why were they never able to identify the skull that was found with her body? They searched for records of missing people in the area, but none of them matched up with the skull.
Why didn’t the Picards have more regard for the girl from Cherbourg? They brought a confused child who didn’t speak their language into their home, only to banish her weeks later to the orphanage where she would die. They had eight children in their care. They had room for nine with Pauline gone. I often wonder why they didn’t show this child a little more compassion. She breaks my heart.
Lastly, neighbors were absolutely positive that they initially searched the area where Pauline’s body was later found. They insisted there was nothing there. Many people say she had to have been placed there later, along with the man’s skull. Others have suspected that the skull could belong to her murderer, but I find it much more likely that it belonged to another homicide victim.
If you’re interested in other cases of families not being able to identify their own children, I have a few things for you to take a look at. The first is the Bobby Dunbar case—those events predate Pauline’s case by only a few years. He went missing, and was supposedly “found” with a gentleman who insisted that he was a boy named Charles Bruce Anderson, a child who had been placed in his custody. . They sent the boy to live with the Dunbars, and he struggled with his identity all his life. I’m planning on making a whole video dedicated to this case. If you can’t wait, I recommend watching Georgia Marie’s video on the case. She’s a great storyteller. I’ll have the video linked below.
In our more recent past, we can look at the case of Nicolas Barclay. I don’t want to give anything away about this case, because really recommend that you watch the documentary The Imposter. And remember to do your own research afterward. There are a lot of opinions out there. Listening to everyone involved is important.
If you’re looking for fiction based on real events, I of course recommend the film Changeling from 2008, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Angelina Jolie.
Thanks for listening to me tell you about Pauline. Her case is haunting.
That’s all for now. I’ll see you next time on Out of the Past.