Papin Sisters: The Shocking Housemaids’ Crime That Shook France – Part II

Injuries on Face & Head

The police on entering the house had gone up the stairs and witnessed the awful scene where most of the injuries had been on the face and head of the victims. But the legs and bottom of the daughter portrayed deep knife grazes and both the women were beyond recognition since their faces had been completely ruined. Their teeth laid scattered around the room and one of the eyes of Genevieve had been lying on top of the stair.

Later on it was observed by the investigators that the other eye was under her body while the eyes of Madame were hidden within the folds of her neck scarf. Mrs Lancelin had been lying on her back with her legs apart with only one shoe on while the body of Genevieve had been facing down. A kitchen knife soaked in blood with a dark handle laid near her right hip.

 The entire space was covered with blood which had also been splattered on the walls two meters above the bodies. After the bodies had been discovered by the police, they searched the entire house. They pondered in their mind if the killer had done the same thing to the sisters.

Sisters Confessed Crime

However when they climbed the upper level where the bedroom of the maids was located, the door seemed to be locked. A locksmith had been called to unlock the door and when the police had they had found the girls in bed together with the robes on.

 Near the bed on a chair was kept the bloody hammer with traces of hair stuck to it. When questioned by the police on what had happened, the sister had instantly confessed the crime. The police had arrested the sister and had taken them into custody. Christine had become distressed and had fits when the police tried separating the girls. Ultimately, the authorities permitted a meeting between the two sisters and reported Christine had behaved and spoke in a manner which implied a sexual relationship.

Three doctors had been appointed by the court to order mental evaluations to the sisters to define if they were sane. Christine had shown indifference to the world and indicated that she had no attachments except to Lea. It was reported by the doctors that Christine’s affection for her sister had been of family devotion and that they had not noticed any type of sexual situation in the relationship.

No Pathological Mental Disorders

Lea on the other hand had considered Christine as a big sister or a mother figure and the appraisal stated that the sisters had no pathological mental disorders and no family history. The doctors considered the sisters, completely sane, indicating that the unusually closeness had caused the girls to act out together, both equally responsible for the murder.

 The jurors, at the hearing had taken only 40 minutes to consider and found that Christine and Lea Papin guilty of the murder. Lea had received a 10-year prison sentence while Christine had to face the guillotine, though the sentence had been transformed to life in prison. The gruesome double murder had infuriated the city and shocked the whole of France since there had never been such cruelty in a murder such as this.

Several people wondered why these two girls who seemed to be decent and had been treated well in their domestic positions could be so full of deep hatred that had led them to commit this hideous crime The murder seemed to be very atrocious and the gouging out of eyes along with their fingers seemed to be an act of animal savagery.

No Logical Motive For Crime

Philosophers, psychotherapist, writers together with the others started to chime in with their theories and some intellectuals expressed sympathy with the two girls. They saw the crime as a reflection of oppressive class divisions, poor working conditions together with prejudice while others believed strongly that since the girls had worked in decent employment with kind family, ate the same meals which the rest of the family had and had generous monthly salary, there was no logical motive for this kind of crime.

Some sources presumed that the girls could have been starved of love and affection. They had spent their formative years away from their parents’ instability with the members of the family who should have shown love to them. However they eventually had to go to a Catholic orphanage and there is no indication that they had suffered or were not cared for.

At the trial, a fourth doctor had testified and the girls could definitely not be normal. He had proposed that the relationship between Christine and Lea was a total merger of personalities. Lea had lost her identity to the dominant personality of Christine. In principle, there was no Christine and no Lea. The killer could really be the joint personality of two, a third identity. Psychotherapists all over the world are scrambling for a diagnosis.

Sensational Theory

Another more sensational theory had emerged – did Mrs Lancelin discover that the girls were having an incestuous homosexual relationship and did she perceive something which was not intended for her eyes and that could have been the reason why the girls gouged out the eyes with their bare hands. Christine did not fare well without her sister, in prison.

 She had displayed bouts of madness and had become strictly depressed and dejected and ultimately refused to eat at all. The prison officials then transferred her to a mental institute but there she continued to starve herself till she died in May 1937. Lea on the other hand had shown exemplary behaviour and served only 8 years of her 10-year sentence. She became a free woman in 1941 and lived with her mother in Nantes, France.

 There she worked in hotel housekeeping under an assumed name. Some say she died in 1982 but in 2000 while making a film – In Search of the Papin Sisters, Claude Ventura claimed to have found Lea living in a hospice centre in France. She had suffered a stroke and had been partially paralyzed and not in a position to speak and has passed away in 2001.

Emilia Papin Sisters: The Shocking Housemaids’ Crime That Shook France – Part I

Credit:neil-paton.tripod

Christine & Emilia Papin – Famous for Murdering

In a location in northwest of France is a city called Le Mans known for little famous car race which tends to take place once a year – the `24 Hours of Le Mans’. However with a brief fleeting look at the entry of `Le Mans’ in Wikipedia in the section of Notable People one would perceive down in the 7th position in the midst of twenty difference aristocrats, priest together with well-known musicians, names of Christine and Emilia Papin. These two sisters had gifted the city with some amount of dishonour which would then never have been achieved.

The Papin sisters instead of being famous for a splendid and promising accomplishment were famous only for murdering in the most horrific manner, their domestic employer together with her daughter in 1933. The Papin sisters belonged to a troubled family in Le Mans. Their mother was Clemence Derre and their father Gustave Papin. Though there were rumours circulating that Clemence had been having an affair with her boss, Gustave seemed to love her.

When she got pregnant in October 1901, Gustave had married Clemence and baby Emilia Papin was born in February 1902. However it kept Gustave wondering if Clemence still continued with her affair. He then decided to get a job in another town to take Clemence away from Le Mans.

Birth of Emilia Papin

Two years after the birth of Emilia, Gustave made an announcement that he would be taking a new job in a different town. At this Clemence had threatened to commit suicide instead of leaving Le Mans. This gave rise in strengthening his suspicions that had she been having an affair. After she had come round to her senses, the couple then moved and began life afresh.

As they progressed their relationship seemed to be more volatile and according to reports Clemence showed no affection for her husband and children, becoming an unstable individual. Gustave on the other hand turned to alcohol. Clemence had sent Emilia who was 9 or 10 years old to the Bon Pasteur Catholic orphanage. Thereafter there were rumours stating that her father had raped her. Later on she had joined the convent and had become a nun.

Clemence had also given birth to two other children and both of them had been sent away at an early age by Clemence and her husband. Christine was born in 1905 being the middle child of the family seemed to be the difficult child. Immediately after her birth, her parents had handed her over to her father’s sister who had been happy to have her. She remained there with her aunt for seven years after which she went to a Catholic orphanage.

 

Christine - Strong Personality/Lea - Shy

Though Christine preferred joining the convent, her mother did not permit her and sometime later engaged her into service. Having an average intelligence she seemed to have a stronger personality than Lea her sister. Her employers had stated that she would be rude at times though she was a hard worker and a good cook. Lea born in 1911 on the other hand was shy and the youngest child of three girls.

She seemed to be somewhat lower intelligence than her sister and was an introvert, quiet and obedient. Lea had grown up with her mother’s brother till he died and thereafter had joined a religious orphanage till the age of 15 years. In 1926, Christine and Lea Papin being of age were fortunate to have a domestic live-in job together in the home of the Lancelin family in Le Mans. It was a home of a retired lawyer, his wife Leonie together with their adult daughter, Genevieve.

 Christine worked as the family cook and Lea cleaned the house. The Papin sisters seemed on most account good and mode housemaids and every Sunday they would dress up and attend church service. They had built up a reputation of being diligent workers with good behaviour.

The Papin Sisters – Unsocial

Being known to be quite unsocial, Christine and Lea preferred to be by themselves and everyday during their two-hour break after lunch, instead of going out to enjoy themselves, they rather preferred staying in their bedroom. The Papin sisters, by 1933 had been with the Lancelins for 6 years. Christine was 27 years while Lea was 21 years old. That year on February 2, Mrs Lancelin together with her daughter have returned home at around 5.30 to an almost dark house and it had been the second time in a week when due to malfunctioning of iron while Christine had been ironing ,had resulted in the electrical fuse to blow up. Strangely the repair man who had returned the iron that day found nothing wrong with it.

When Christine had informed Mrs Lancelin that the iron had broken down again, she became angry and an argument took place. Mrs Lancelin had been a strict employer and would often put on white gloves to check for dust, would give feedback on Christine’s cooking and make Lea redo the cleaning when she found that she had missed a spot. However this time seemed to be a different affair. It was said that Christine had snapped and being at the top of the stairs on the landing of the first floor had leaped at Genevieve tearing out her eyes with her fingers.

Emilia Papin Sisters Brutally Slaughtered the Two Women

Lea had quickly joined in the struggle and grabbed Mrs Lancelin. Christine had ordered her to gouge out the eyes of Mrs Lancelin after which Christine ran downstairs to the kitchen to get a knife and hammer and returning back upstairs had clubbed and sliced the mother and her daughter. The sick sisters also utilised a pewter pitcher lying on a table at the top of the stairs to bash the heads of the ladies.

According to experts the incident had lasted for about 30 minutes but eventually the maids had brutally slaughtered both the women. When Mr Lancelin together with his son-in-law had returned home between 6.30 and 7.00 pm the door had been bolted from inside and they were unable to enter though they knew that someone was at home. The house had been in total darkness except for a faint light coming from the upper level of the house. This gave rise to suspicion and hence they sought the help of the police.

Why They Fight Russia in the Air, But Not at Sea

Open Ocean Combat

We have been observing rising violence on the land, sea as well as in the air, after a break of some years, from some familiar sources. As in the past few months there have been recurrent conflicts on the sea, particularly from the Chinese as well as the Iranians.

But in the case of the Russians we only seem to knock up against their elements in the sky which is due to two core elements namely geography and terror. Though several may not be aware of it, it was not till recently that such things like an `open ocean’ combat had taken place in military history. Navies had for most of the time, found themselves restrained either by depth, winds or currents to certain routes.

Besides that there had been the tussle to essentially discover their opponent out on the open ocean and for this purpose, certain chokepoints have envisaged various naval clashes. Credits of our own independence is due to one such fight between a French battle fleet and the British Royal Navy which had stopped the British from being capable of evacuating Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781 and eventually had terminated the war.

Chokepoints – Straits Leading to Ocean

The fight had begun right at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay where the French had been waiting for the Brits and hence it had been that these chokepoints like straits leading to the ocean had turned out to be blockages for those following them also.

 It was this that had been driving the Russian crazy for at least four centuries. The Russia Empire since the time of Tsar Peter the Great had pursued expansion to increase not only their wealth but regularly endless search in obtaining unfettered access to the sea. Fettered termed has been utilised since the Russia had actually been restrained with regards to their access to the open oceans.

Their port towards the top of the Baltic Sea in the Gulf of Finland had been initiated by the same Tsar Peter and had been humbly named after him. St Petersburg has long given the Russians the facility to move in the adjoining bodies of water though a bit more.

Getting to the actual blue water and the whole of the globe would mean getting beyond the Danes as well as the Norwegians or even both and that alone was not a convincing proposal even before NATO.

Deep Water Sheltered Port – Access Black Sea

Destined towards the north by geography at the entrance of the Baltic and with ice above the Arctic Circle, the Russians moved south and ran into the same kind of situation as they stretched. Tsarina Catherine the Great had pressed downward and had incorporated the Ukraine together with it the Crimean peninsula into greater Russia.

 The Russian naval base of Sebastopol with her founding had a deep water sheltered port which enabled them to access the Black Sea. However they still has been hemmed in now for a number of centuries by the ironclad lock of the Bosporus more recently at least nominally by the Treaty of Montreaux.

Even if they managed to get out, they would still only have access to the Mediterranean and not the actual open ocean. They tend to have access to the Pacific though it is quite far away from their epicentre and there their operationary to be mostly expeditionary just on leaving the base.

Rodina – Motherland – Land Issue

All this goes a long way in comprehending half of the reasons why the Russians are seen nudging up against us from the sky. To comprehend the remaining half, one could recall that the Russians tend to be really, extremely, fearful. It seems to be all about defense of the Rodina, the `Motherland’ for them and that seems to be a land issue.

 All that they do and design is said to be directed upon that individual prevailing passion. For this purpose, the Russian and before that the Soviet, Navy was and is, designed with power projection in mind as well as with disruption of anyone who tends to influence events on land and hence would be a land threat to them.

It is for this reason that they tend to have an extensive, and to some extent technologically striking, track record in submarines building though not aircraft carriers. This is also the reason why they seem to make long-range anti-ship missiles though are not progressing anything even distantly impending an oceanic system of at-sea replacement or restoration.

A century ago, they had given up on true battleships and knew that they could never combat their way out from their two significant naval bases on the surface and stopped attempting. On the contrary they aimed on developing the weapons which could stop America as well as the other NATO and world allied from getting to Europe and through it, on land, to the Motherland.

Existence Of Orbiting Supermassive Black Holes Confirmed

Research on Interaction Between Black Holes

Astronomers at The University of New Mexico have informed that for the first time they have accomplished observing and measuring the orbital motion between two supermassive black holes hundreds of millions of light years from Earth, a discovery said to be more than a decade in the creation. Krishma Bansal, graduate student of UNM Department of Physics & Astronomy is said to be the first-author on the paper `Constraining the Orbit of the Supermassive Black Hole Binary 0402 +379’ published recently in The Astrophysical Journal.

 Bansal together with UNM Professor Greg Taylor and colleagues at Stanford, the U.S. Naval Observatory and the Gemini Observatory had been researching on the interaction between these black holes for 12 years. Taylor had informed that for a long time they had been looking in space to attempt and find a pair of these supermassive black holes orbiting as a result of two galaxies reunion.

Though they conceived that this should be happening, no one had seen it till now. An international team of researchers in early 2016, comprising of a UNM former student working on LIGO project had identified the presence of gravitational waves endorsing the 100-year-old prediction of Albert Einstein, surprising the scientific community.

The Very Long Baseline Array - VLBA

These gravitational waves had been the consequence of two stellar mass black holes bumping in space within the Hubble time and due to the latest research, the scientists are now in a position of beginning to comprehend what leads up to the merger of supermassive black holes that tends to create ripples in the fabric of space-time.

 They have begun to learn regarding the evolution of galaxies together with the role these black holes tend to play in it. Researchers have been able to observe several frequencies of radio signals emitted by these supermassive black holes – SMBH by utilising the Very Long Baseline Array – VLBA, which is a system made up of 10 radio telescopes all over the U.S. and operated in Socorro, N.M. The astronomers, over a period of time had been capable of planning their course and confirm them as visual binary system.

It meant that they observed these black holes in orbit with one another. Bansal had informed that when Dr Taylor had handed over the data, he had been at the beginning of learning how to image and understand the same. As he learned there was data going back to 2003 and they planned it, determining they were orbiting one another and the same was thrilling.

An Unbelievable Achievement

The discovery for Taylor was the outcome of over 20 years of work with an unbelievable achievement considering the accuracy needed to pull off these measurements. At approximately 750 million light years from Earth, the galaxy called 0402+379 together with the supermassive black holes in it, were exceedingly isolated though were also at the precise distance from Earth and from each other to be observed.

Bansal has informed that these supermassive black holes tend to have a blend of mass of 15 billion times that of the sun or 15 billion solar masses. The incredible size of these black holes means that their orbital period is about 24,000 years. While the team has perceived them for a decade they have still to look out for the slimmest curvature in their orbit.

Roger W. Romani, professor of physics at Stanford University as well as the member of the research team had informed that if one imagines a snail on the recently discovered Earth-like planet orbiting Prixima Centauri – 4,243 light years away, moving at 1 cm per second, it is the lanky motion they are determining here.

Binary Stars Offer Incredible Insights

Taylor had commented that what they have been able in doing is a true chemical achievement over the 12-year period utilising the VLBA in achieving adequate resolution and accuracy in the astrometry to really see the orbit happening, has been a bit of victory in technology to have been able to do so. Though the technical accomplishment of this finding has been really remarkable, Bansal and Taylor have stated that the research could also teach them a lot more regarding the universe where galaxies come from and when they go.

An astronomer with the U.S. Naval Observatory, Bob Zavala stated that the orbits of binary stars offer incredible insights regarding stars and now we will be in a position of using same techniques in understanding supermassive black holes as well as the galaxies they tend to reside in. On-going observation of the orbit and interaction of these two supermassive black holes could be helpful in obtaining an improved understanding of what the future of our galaxy could look like.

 Presently the Andromeda galaxy that has a SMBH also at its core is said to be on a path to run into with our Milky Way. Bansal has informed that the research team would be taking another observation of the system in three or four years and confirm the motion and gain an accurate orbit. The team in the meantime, anticipates that the discovery would encourage related work from the other astronomers across the globe.

'Second Earth' Proxima b Could Support Alien Life After All

ALIEN LIFE ON THE PROXIBA B

People can’t take away that we belong to the mother Earth and we are her children. Now, ever since the space travel came into inception, man has travelled to far distant lands in search of water and life and air. They have been successful to some extent. The best thing is that the last summer the researchers and the other scientists announced that the nearest star which is close to our Earth can be considered as the Second Earth. The name has been given Proxima b. the report suggests that alien life is possible on this second earth as the conditions supports that of the survival of life. it is indeed a great news.

THE FACTS

Last year in the month of August, the news of Proxima B came into existence. The planet is not more than 4.2 light years from our own planet. The discovery has led to the conclusion that the second earth has the perfect atmosphere to receive enough sum of light in order to sustain the fluid water on the body. There were some questions raised after the discovery of the Proxima b. well, the first one to shoot was that it might be the cause of a huge amount of radiation due to the proximity. Finally, the conclusion from the scientists is that this new planet can support life.

THE DISTANCE

The planet is very cool and is only 25.2 trillion miles from our earth. It is a red dwarf planet which belongs to the system of Alpha Centauri. This second earth is now a part of the Star shot project. The name is given as it is almost the same size of our own earth. The atmosphere is considered to be the same as that of our own earth. To break the barriers of climate’s knowledge, the scientists from the University of Exeter are doing their research.

THE WORKING

The Met office unified model have been used in order to understand the climate of the second earth. This is a great step as the weather pattern is the most important part of the planet. It will ensure whether life is possible or not. The weather is almost similar that of the earth. So, life is habitable on this second earth. The atmosphere comprised of carbon dioxide traces. So, life is possible on this planet.

THE FURTURE

The future is unpredictable but still we live with our hopes. This is what makes our lives more enchanting and give us one more reason to live another day. In the near future, there may be experiments held on the grounds of the second planet whether life can rally sustain with the elements found on the surface of the planet. The temperature of the planet is between -90 degree Celsius to 30 degree Celsius. The presence of liquid water makes the possibility even clearer.

Your Guide to Solving the Next Online Viral Maths Problem

Precise Means of Online Equations - Explained

Several times we may have come across an online post or a fragment of a social media feed stating something such as `This math Problem is Stumping the whole Internet & Can You Solve It? Or Apparently 9 out of 10 people get this wrong. Do you know the answer?

‘At the core of the post there tends to lie numbers and symbols. Irrespective of how hard you may tend to try, it may seem impossible to accept the challenges. One may attempt to do so and on checking on the comment sector you are likely to get to know that some have agreed with your answers while the others tend to have a different point of view. The precise means of approaching these online equations with the least of hassle is explained below:

Language of Mathematics

We tend to read from left to right in the English language and hence it seems natural to view mathematical equations in the same manner. However one would not try to read Arabic or Mandarin in the same way nor would they try to do so with the discrete language of mathematics. In order to be maths-literate, it is essential to comprehend some of the applicable rules regarding spelling and grammar in mathematics.

 A set of firm rules called the order of operations tends to express the precise arithmetical grammar wherein it conveys to us the system in which the mathematical operations need to be performed such as addition and multiplication when they both appear in an equation. The mnemonic BODMAS – Brackets, Order, Division, Multiplication, Addition, and Subtraction, in Australia tends to teach students in assisting them to recall the correct order.

In BODMAS, the order tends to refer to mathematical powers like squared, cube or square root. This could be taught in other countries as PEMDAS, BEDMAS or BIDMAS though all these may come down to precisely the same thing. For instance, it would mean that if we have an equation containing addition as well as multiplication we tend to carry out multiplication first irrespective of the order where they are written.
While considering the equations:

• (a) 3 x 4 + 2 
• (b) 2 + 3 x 4

When BODMAS is applied we see that these equations are precisely the same or equivalent and in both the cases we tend to calculate 3x4=12 and then calculate 12+2=14. However some may tend to get an incorrect answer for the second equation since they would have tried solving it from left to right. They may do the addition first (2+3=5) and thereafter multiplication of (5x4) in order to get a wrong answer of 20.

Brackets tend to make a difference

It is here where the brackets tend to be beneficial segment of arithmetical punctuation. A well placed bracket in maths could change the calculation completely. They are utilised in providing a specific part of an equation and we always carry out the calculation within the bracket before dealing with what is outside the bracket. If brackets are introduced around the addition in equation in the above equations we then tend to have two new equations namely

• (c) 3x(4+2) 
• (d) (2+3)x4

Correct Understanding of Operation

These equations are not equivalent to each other and in both the cases, the bracket conveys to us to carry out the addition before doing the multiplication. This would mean that we have to compute 3x6 for (c) and for (d) 5x4. We now arrive at different answers wherein the answer for (c) is 18 and (d) is 20. In the case of (a) and (b) equations brackets were not essential since BODMAS conveys to us to do the multiplication before addition.

But with the addition of brackets which reinforces the BODMAS rules could be helpful in evading confusion. Comprehending BODMAS is likely to get us most of the way with regards in resolving the problem though it also assists in being aware of the commutative as well as the associative properties of mathematics. Calculated process is said to be commutative if it is not considered in which order the numbers are said to be written in and addition is commutative since a+b=b+a. However subtraction is not a commutative since a-b is not the same as b-a.

 Moreover it is also direct to display that multiplication is commutative while division is not. An operation is said to be associative when we have numerous successive incidences of this type of operation and it does not matter to which order we carry them out.

Moreover addition as well as multiplication seems to have this property and though subtraction together with division does not have the same. Once the understanding of the correct order of operation together with the associative as well as commutative properties has been arrived we tend to have the tool-box in solving any well-defined arithmetical equation.