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Exposing the story of Maria Monk as a fraud...
Exposing the story of Maria Monk as a fraud...
Item # 629942
August 09, 1836
NATIONAL GAZETTE & LITERARY REGISTER, Philadelphia, Aug. 9, 1836 Page 3 has an interesting article with small heading: "Maria Monk's Awful Disclosures". For the background on this I will refer you to our item 629961, a issue of an unusual publication: "The Downfall of Babylon". One of the more sensational stories exploited in later issues of this newspaper was " The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk", a story of a nun which revealed that the nunnery at the Hotel Dieu in Montreal was little more than a harem for the use of the local priesthood. Maria Monk's story was filled with sensational detail of secret entrances, underground tunnels, prisons & even a mass grave for the babies born of illicit liaisons. Her eventual escape from the nunnery allowed her to tell the story.
But her story was entirely untrue, & Maria Monk had very little to do with writing it. When Maria Monk's book was published it met an audience that was predisposed to accept the fantastic story she presented. Ultimately contradictions and falsehoods were discovered that proved her story to be a hoax.
This article in the "National Gazette" exposes the story as a hoax (see).
Four pages, never bound nor trimmed, minor fold wear, generally nice.
Category: Pre-Civil War
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