Marie-Madeleine-Marguérite d'Aubray, marquise de Brinvilliers (born c. 1630—died July 16, 1676, Paris, France) was a French noblewoman who was executed after allegedly poisoning numerous family members.

It starts within the walls of the Marquise de Brinvilliers Castle in Lorraine, France: A now abandoned palace built in the early 1800s.

Abandoned (again) for over 50 years and reclaimed by the wild—Could castle Marquise de Brinvilliers hold within its walls the story of a slain 17th-century witch, killed for her magic? Or is marking her as a serial killer, for nearly a millennium, the truth?

The land in Lorraine, France was first built on in 1547; passed down from father to son, Antoine marquis de Brinvilliers who married Marie-Madeleine d'Aubray in 1651. These are not women or witch friendly days. It’s said that she had her husband poisoned in 1666 and then her father and two brothers in order to inherit the castle. The chateau was taken with her life in 1676 after her beheading. Purchased on paper 30 years later, in 1708, by Nicolas-Joseph Foucault (whom had a stillborn son the year of Madame Marie’s execution) and was known for “covering the manipulation of documents.” He turned the castle into a hotel. It was abandoned shortly after for reasons that are yet untold.

Also referred to as The Castle of Saulxures, the chateau was seemingly brought back to life in 1861—nearly 160 years after being at the helm of a haunting past—during the Second Empire by Élisabeth Géhin, widow of the city’s first industrialist. She continued to build and live here until her death to honor her late husband, who died prematurely amidst the palace's restoration. More on his death is mysterious and difficult to find. Before her life ended, Élisabeth poured her heart, art by Louvre sculptor Georges Clere—who lined the castle with life-inhabited statues that represent the four seasons—and the wealth of the industrial world into the estate. It served as a refuge for the village's population during the Second World War and was donated as a hospital and adjacent parish where her and her husband remain buried.

The notoriously abandoned chateau began as family estate to Marie-Madeleine d'Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers (22 July 1630 – 16 July 1676), a French aristocrat who was beheaded by the French government for allegedly murdering her husband, father and two of her brothers amidst abuse and to claim the estate. Her alleged crimes were discovered after the death of her lover, Captain Godin de Sainte-Croix, in letters detailing dealings of “poisonings” between the two. After being arrested, she was tortured, forced to confess, and finally executed. Convicted on the strength of letters allegedly written by her dead lover and a confession obtained by torture, after her death, speculation rose that she poisoned over 30 sick people in hospitals to test out her “poisons,” but these rumors were never confirmed.

Her trial and death spawned the onset of the “Affair of the Poisons,” a scandal of nobility during the reign of Louis XIV, accusing aristocrats of practicing witchcraft and poisoning people. In a period of five years, the King executed thirty-six prominent French aristocrats on charges of witchcraft and poison.

Three women were prominently implicated in the “Affair of the Poisons” scandal: the Marquise de Brinvilliers, whose trial rocked the royal court of Louis XIV and whose decapitation shocked and garnered the public imagination; the sorceress Catherine La Voisin, who was prosecuted and burned alive for providing important members of the royal court with magic powders and venomous potions; and finally, the Marquise de Montespan, one of the favorite mistresses of Louis XIV, who allegedly purchased love powders from La Voisin and participated in black masses, but whose direct involvement in the scandal was never conclusively determined by the Chambre Ardente.

As for the castle, it has been abandoned (again) since 1972, and even if it stays that way for another hundred years (again), I’m certain that whoever walks there does not walk alone.

Sources: Golden Gate University School of Law on Gender and Crime, French Wikipedia, Bonjour Paris History Article, Britannica, Dumas, The Louvre, Teofilo Ruiz, The Terror of History: The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe, UCLA, Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House