Written by Christine de Vedrines, “We Were Not Armed” was published in 2015, as a personal account of one of France’s most bizarre brainwashing cases, at least in recent history. The bare bones of the story can be found all over the media, often dubbed “L’affaire des reclus de Monflanquin”, leaving the public puzzled. How could this have happened to perfectly functional people? If nothing else, the book seeks to shed some light on the sequence of events.

Note: this post contains a couple of corrections, as I had misunderstood some things by watching coverage online; these were clarified by reading Diabolique.

The public is used to jaw-dropping claims made by cult leaders, such as having paranormal powers, albeit of doubtful usefulness at times (such as Nithyananda’s claim of teaching cows to speak in Tamil). They are used to seeing the vulnerable plucked off the street and off to the compound, eventually spouting any conceivable absurdity. Most are isolated from confused and frightened family members, who seek to get them out. When an entire family is trapped in a cult, the cult is typically well established and claims to be a religion or religious denomination.

The feat of sophisticated crook Thierry Tilly, who maintained a small cult for a decade, was entirely different. None of the typical elements apply here; the story is unique.

Between 1999 and 2009, Tilly brainwashed an aristocratic family of three generations into giving him everything they had. He claimed they were the targets of a conspiracy by a secret society, and that he alone could protect them, with his network of secret agents. Once he had depleted their fortune, even selling most of their properties, he turned them into indentured servants.

Average people would realise Tilly was a fantasist and scam artist upon meeting him – but not the de Vedrines, convinced their own importance was such that plots were being orchestrated against them.

Before and after Tilly

The de Vedrines were, in terms of social status, distinguished through their aristocratic lineage and community involvement at Monflanquin, where for years, they had been organising a festival known as Music in Guyenne. They were gregarious and participated in the area’s agricultural life. Between them, they owned many impressive properties, most notably Martel, a renovated chateau passed down through generations. They were intelligent, educated people who enjoyed a high level of financial security, if not privilege. There were, of course, personal and relational issues, as is the case with most families, if not all. But nothing that would stand out, and no indication of how they would eventually treat each other. The youngest members caught up in this insanity were students, ostensibly headed for a bright future.

In 1997, Ghislaine Marchand, nee de Vedrines, a pivotal character in this story, was introduced to Thierry Tilly by lawyer Vincent David, whose daughters attended the secretarial school she was running in Paris. Ghislaine was determined to save the failing school, but by all accounts, she was not suitable for the role and had little idea of what she was supposed to be doing. She needed help. Enter Tilly, the “well-connected” know-it-all who soon became indispensable to her.

Fast forward 12 years.

In 2009, when Christine escaped, members of the family were living in subpar conditions in Oxford, in unfinished houses managed by Tilly. They worked menial jobs and handed him 90% of their earnings, in exchange for his “protection” from imaginary enemies. In a state of constant paranoia, they had been deprived of any agency and often the most basic needs, like food, medical treatments or suitable housing. They had lost everything, financially, socially and professionally, where that applied. Most importantly, they were now in their own state of mental isolation, pushed by Tilly to launch spurious complaints and drag each other through the courts. They were at their wits’ end, both physically and mentally. Two members, Christine and her son Amaury, had undergone actual torture.

Upon Christine’s escape and return to France in 2009, French authorities finally took this matter seriously. Cooperation to apprehend Tilly was more limited in England, as laws differed. It nonetheless existed: when Tilly’s documents were returned, covertly for this purpose (as he was in legal trouble in England as well), he fled to Switzerland, where he was finally arrested for his crimes against the de Vedrines.

It took a further few months for the rest of the family, still living in England, to be exfiltrated with the help of cult expert Daniel Picotin. Such was their belief in the non-existent conspiracy that they saw the fraudster’s arrest as an attack by their enemies. Ghislaine was, again, central to this, prolonging the nightmare of her family members.

Three years later, Tilly was on trial in France, in a magistrates court, where the maximum sentence would have been a decade. As Christine explained, they opted for this instead of a jury trial, which could have put him away for decades, as the process would have been longer and more daunting. Obviously, avoiding juries is always a wise decision.

It was then that the family found out the complete truth about this so-called secret agent and maverick. His life story had mostly been falsified; he was nothing but an ordinary crook with an extraordinary power of persuasion. They’d had nothing to fear the entire time, on his part or that of others. They had lived a complete lie.

Tilly was sentenced to eight years, but after appealing, this was ironically extended to ten, as opposed to shortening his sentence. After serving his time in prison, he now resides in a psychiatric institution. While he could easily appear insane, by blabbering torrents of nonsense in court, professionals examining him testified that his distortions were of a moral nature. The con artistry spanned over a decade and was masterfully executed. Every detail, personal and financial, was seized upon by this predator and integrated into his plan. The triangulation between family members, orchestrated exclusively by him, was off the Richter scale. In fact, it took him years of diligent manipulation to properly ferret his way into the family. He had his eyes on the goal, much like a psychopath.

“Diabolical”

This book was not the only one written by Tilly’s victims, about the long years of mind-fuckery. “Diabolical” is a joint account by Ghislaine and her husband, Jean Marchand, one of the main heroes in this entire saga. After being demonised and excluded from the family as a member of “enemy forces” (for not believing Tilly’s bullshit), Jean Marchand never gave up on them. He appealed to local authorities and the media, time after time, until the exfiltration was completed and his family was reunited. For his participation alone, the book will be a very interesting read. It will, undoubtedly, be interesting to read Ghislaine’s justifications for her own behaviour, though for the reasons detailed below, it’s rational to take these with a pinch of salt.

Guillemette de Vedrines (“Mamie”)

Addressed as Mamie in the book (perhaps to avoid confusion with Ghislaine’s daughter, also named Guillemette), the matriarch of the family was the oldest and lived until the age of 98, ultimately having the joy of seeing her family reunited. She was described as partially benign in terms of behaviour during the Tilly years, at least the latter part. In truth, by that stage she was incapacitated and blind, as she had developed cataracts during the family’s self-imposed quarantine at Martel. Not wanting her to get treatment (and risk letting her speak to outsiders), Tilly told her that her eyesight was being affected by laser beams coming through the window from people surveilling Martel from the woods. It was only after returning to France that her eyes were operated on and she regained her eyesight.

Although Christine writes fondly of her on many occasions, she does describe how easily influenced Mamie was, particularly by her daughter, Ghislaine, who would routinely slander family members on Tilly’s instruction. There is a scene during their final Christmas at Martel, where Mamie becomes enraged with Christine and throws a plate at her head, over the table.

During those times, as the family lived cooped up inside Martel with nothing to do but await more instructions from Tilly, Mamie is said to have been pleased with the weird tasks everyone was given, such as excessively cleaning every item in the house, and then doing it again. Somehow it made sense to her.

Although out of her remaining children, she would leave Martel to Charles-Henri, Christine’s husband and her youngest son, Mamie seemed quick to believe any slander regarding Christine and dish out frequent criticism of everything she did. It couldn’t have been easy to live with someone like that.

Philippe and Brigitte

Mamie’s oldest son, Philippe, was a retired Shell executive when Tilly entered his life. He had four children (who thankfully didn’t fall under Tilly’s spell, but were alienated from their father for a decade). His partner, Brigitte, also had a daughter, whom she became estranged from in the same manner. Philippe’s home was known as Talade, one of the self-imprisonment sites of the de Vedrines in France. Christine described life at Talade as austere and awful, since they were not allowed (by Tilly) to leave to purchase basic necessities, like soap or toothpaste.

Christine describes Brigitte as inoffensive and presumably in a similar situation to hers, as the other half of one of Mamie’s sons, and a sister-in-law to Ghislaine, who would reportedly slander everyone around her. The two didn’t talk much, as even while self-isolating in the same property, communicating freely with others was discouraged.

Documentaries describe one of the mental health episodes that ultimately facilitated Philippe’s departure from the 11; Christine mentions it briefly. It took place in England, when, after another family meeting, Philippe started shouting that they were all blind. He ended up in a physical altercation with Francois, whom he slapped, and Diane, whose arm he bit. However, unlike some sources claim, this was not the decisive event. There was a second occasion in France, when he attacked Ghislaine, beating her up and trying to kill her, which she describes in her and Jean’s book, Diabolique. He reported himself to the police immediately and was taken to a psychiatric hospital.

Although he was the first of the 11 to leave, it took him a long time to agree that action against Tilly should be taken, and he remained under Tilly’s spell for quite some time. Efforts were made to help him and eventually succeeded.

Jean Marchand

When his wife, Ghislaine, stressed out over the secretarial school, met Tilly in 1997, Jean had been married to her for more than two decades. He was a journalist. They appeared to have a normal and faithful marriage, which had resulted in two children, Francois and Guillemette. They had a home in Bordeneuve, which was thankfully not sold, and which Jean still occupied while Ghislaine was self-isolating, as shown in documentary footage.

Tilly was not introduced to the rest of the family until 1999. By then, he’d become Ghislaine’s omniscient confident. We are not given the exact time Jean was ostracised. However, it was preceded by another event – his family organising an intervention for him at Bordeneuve, by calling a psychiatrist and sequestering Jean in his bedroom for a few hours. The psychiatrist, of course, concluded there was nothing wrong with him. Tilly had claimed he was suicidal.

By the time Ghislaine was ready to oust him, Tilly had convinced her that Jean had 40 mistresses and was working for the secret organisation trying to destroy the de Vedrines. He was in fact so faithful that he didn’t give up on her or their children for ten years.

Minding his own business, Jean was, one day, confronted by Ghislaine, in the presence of her brothers. She threw a gardening glove and some flowers at his feet, reciting a phrase dictated to her by Tilly. This was meant to signify she had identified him as belonging to a secret society. Imagine living normally and having that happen to you out of the blue. Ghislaine told him to pack a suitcase and leave. He was driven to the train station and dumped there, in complete shock. Days later, he discovered that their joint bank account had been emptied.

From then on, he became the Snowball type of character in Orwell’s “Animal Farm”. Imagined acts of malfeasance, or troubles occurring to the family (caused by Tilly) were attributed to Jean.

It was through his efforts that a team was put together to exfiltrate the remaining family members in 2010, after Christine had escaped, and lodge a formal complaint against Tilly.

Francois and Guillemette

Drawn into Tilly’s web by their mother, Ghislaine, and later the rest of the family, these two young people spent what should have been their best years in confinement, convinced they were being watched at all times by people wishing to harm them. Francois is not mentioned often in the book, apart from enjoying certain privileges along with his sister (presumably for being Ghislaine’s children, with Ghislaine being Tilly’s main enforcer).

They are both mentioned as treating Christine’s children as inferior and enforcing punishments against them in England, particularly Amaury, kept on a near-starvation diet and forced to live in an office for a few months. When Amaury moved into the flat the two shared with his sister, Diane, he was forced to only occupy the lobby, with no access to the rest of the place, and certain privileges, such as watching TV, were forbidden to him. These two young people considered it normal to treat him that way.

With Guillemette, Tilly managed the incredible feat of breaking up her marriage of only 3 months, to a pianist named Sebastien, who was also vocal about the family’s situation during their self-isolation at Martel. The wedding had also been organised under Tilly’s watch, with certain family members being uninvited. The main issue arose when Guillemette disclosed to her husband that she had entrusted a large sum of money to Tilly. As he objected, he became persona non grata. Guillemette went home for a family visit and never returned to her husband, who was left in utter shock, unable to comprehend what had happened. There is mention in the book of Ghislaine later travelling with Guillemette to obtain a divorce, maneuvering it all.

Guillaume, Amaury and Diane

Christine and Charles-Henri’s children give personal accounts of what happened to them; how they were brainwashed, treated all throughout and eventually recovered.

Guillaume comes across as an overachiever, having studied law, determined to cement his place in the family out of sheer loyalty. He was made to feel important, as someone who Tilly could open doors for, and coaxed into dealing with difficult legal matters pertaining to the de Vedrines. In England, he was an unpaid personal assistant to Tilly, running errands for him and his family constantly. At one point, he was told he was to be no farther than 10 feet away from Tilly, whose home he lived in. He would regularly tend to Tilly’s children, whom he was fond of, and do the school runs.

Later, as if this were not enough, he was compelled to get a day job and give most of his earnings to Tilly. He slept little and was constantly stressed out, unable to have an autonomous life. Tilly interfered in his attempts to form romantic relationships, ensuring he remained alone. Towards the end, he started telling Guillaume that his family would “do him dirty”, as Tilly himself was planning on scapegoating him for certain financial matters. Once he had moved out of Tilly’s house, complaints were lodged against him, dragging him to court repeatedly, signed by his nearest and dearest. Tilly even tried to convince his father, Charles-Henri, that Guillaume was not his son, but instead, the product of incest between Christine and her own father. Ghislaine propagated this narrative, as she would propagate every absurdity conceived by Tilly’s rotten brain. In the end, Guillaume was helped to mentally survive by his new job and immediate entourage, before the exfiltration, when he himself had trouble believing Tilly was a mere crook.

Amaury was targeted through his existential malaise, which Tilly claimed to understand. He had “shockingly” (perhaps in his social stratum) taken to smoking marijuana for a while, which his family considered a massive issue. Unlike Guillaume, he was not promised the moon, as in a job at the UN. Instead, while in England, he found himself living in an office building for 4 months, on one meal day, which his cousins and sister would bring him, sleeping in a sleeping bag and washing with cold water in the communal toilets. He was only to circulate at night, so as to avoid the enemy spotting him. Eventually, he was thrown out of there, as the rent had not been paid, and admonished for “losing perfectly good accommodation”. It’s dumbfounding that someone in the prime of their life would accept such conditions, making no attempt to change their life. Later on, he would work and similarly, give most of his money to Tilly; occasional treats such a chocolate bar were forbidden. He was, as were the others, convinced that Tilly would immediately know if he made the wrong move. Tilly had eyes everywhere.

Diane comes across as a sweet and caring person, positive regardless of circumstances. When Tilly took over her family, she was only 15. She complied with anything demanded of her, such as going to a boarding school, moving to England, working and giving Tilly most of her earnings, and having a stricter schedule than her cousins. For a lengthy period of time, she was Mamie’s carer at night, developing anxiety and not managing to sleep properly. She operated as a buffer between the “Marchand clan” (Ghislaine and her children) and her own family, being treated more favourably by the former. At the same time, she was told she had been more privileged than Ghislaine’s children while growing up, inducing guilt. At some point, she was convinced, as was Guillaume, that her parents didn’t love her. Towards the end, after her mother left, she was coaxed by Ghislaine into accusing her of sexual misconduct, after telling Ghislaine that Christine had accompanied her to buy a bra. She was easy to exfiltrate, as she just wanted the nightmare to be over, and of course withdrew the false complaint.

Charles-Henri

An obstetrician and gynecologist, Charles-Henri did not seem the type to be drawn and locked into a fantasy world. He also gave two accounts of events in the book. In hindsight, he recalls his flaw as being simple-minded, trusting his sister and going along with her narrative. Nonetheless, he was a witness to and accomplice in the torture of his own wife in Oxford. Not only was Christine imprisoned in a bedroom for a few months; she was tortured in a room for two weeks, deprived of sleep, food and water and at times even toilet breaks.

How did Charles-Henri, a medical professional, believe that Mamie’s cataracts were the result of laser beams from the woods? How did he believe that it was imperative to deprive his wife of sleep for days on end, as she had been subjected to hypnosis earlier in life, and if allowed to sleep, she would go insane? How did he not realise what would happen to her, physically and mentally, by being forced to sit on a chair in a room for two weeks, in said conditions, under constant interrogation? At some point, Tilly even punched her in the back. While Christine writes that Charles-Henri tried to intervene, how had he partaken in the process up to that point? It’s unconscionable. Such is the nature of brainwashing.

It’s worth mentioning that prior to those events, which surely precipitated Christine’s departure, Charles-Henri had not only handed over his assets, and their joint ones, to Tilly – he had handed over his wife’s inheritance, leaving her with nothing. She, as the obedient wife, had complied.

Christine mentions that despite Charles-Henri’s simple and pragmatic nature, he was quick to believe Tilly’s conspiracy hogwash, as it wasn’t implausible to him that there would be plots against his important family.

Christine

The book’s author, and surprisingly still part of said family, Christine comes across, all throughout, as a very forgiving person, although she imputes her compliance as a weakness. Could she have done things differently, instead of trusting her husband and his advisors? Sure. She could have sought advice of her own, at many points. She didn’t. She allowed herself to be alienated from her family of origin and her friends. Had she told someone – anyone – what was happening, they might have been able to intervene.

As Tilly infiltrated their lives, Christine had many questions and misgivings. Her husband, claiming to want to protect her, would not explain much about the conspiracy and threat to the family, as if someone could simply carry on with those unanswered questions, aware of secretive family meetings they are kept out of. Charles-Henri was severely lacking in the emotional intelligence department.

She describes her childhood and youth, which gave no indication that she would ever be prone to be brainwashed by a fraudster. Her life was not lacking. And since she had married into the family, and was not of their blood, she was, accordingly, treated as an outsider, particularly by Ghislaine. Nonetheless, she went along to get along, to the point of becoming suicidal and zombified.

While in France, she had to deal with bailiffs twice. Once, when they came to remove the furniture from Martel, as the family had not paid their taxes (apparently, Tilly was in charge of this). The second time, they came to confiscate their crops, as a large amount of money was due to the local cooperative providing the harvest equipment. Prior to this, the family had never owed them money. It was unheard of, and distressing for her to witness.

In 2007, in Oxford, Tilly, who had (God knows how) hidden or depleted the stolen fortune, came up with the most bizarre idea. He started talking about a “transmission” that Christine, whose own family had deep roots, was in possession of. It referred to a hidden treasure, or perhaps money in a bank account somewhere. This had been passed down to Christine, but since it was such a burden, her mind had repressed it, and the information had to be somehow retrieved.

Some in the family resisted this hypothesis at first, which Tilly claimed was a certainty. It was, perhaps, too ludicrous even for them. Nevertheless, they did not attempt to stop Tilly from interrogating Christine and eventually, holding her responsible for the financial state of the family. Tilly knew the money was running out, or had run out. It had to be extracted out of a rock, or the lack of it had to be blamed on someone.

At first, this took the form of persuasion and insistence, obviously fruitless, as there was no hidden treasure. Gradually, it morphed into frustration at Christine’s reluctance to try to remember. She was ruining them by withholding the transmission! If only she remembered, their financial troubles would be over forever. Not only this; she was endangering her family by withholding access to funds which could ensure Tilly’s continued protection. She was putting them in danger.

Christine ended up travelling to Brussels with Guillaume, going to every possible bank, asking if there was an account in her name there. Of course there wasn’t. She knew it. Guillaume and everyone else should have known it. After so many years of being neck-deep in sheer insanity, these two people, mother and son, on a trip abroad together, did not find the mental space for an honest conversation. Tilly wasn’t with them. He wasn’t anywhere near them. And yet, this absurd trip changed absolutely nothing. Christine still “had the transmission”; she just hadn’t remembered it yet.

This led to her being sequestered in her bedroom for months. When they moved house, this ended. However, in January of 2008, she was subjected to the torture described above, in order to obtain the “transmission”. When this inevitably failed and she had to be released from said torment, the “transmission” story didn’t disappear. It was argued that Guillaume, and then Diane, must have it instead.

Ghislaine

One would expect that the tone towards Ghislaine, throughout the book, will gradually soften, at least post-Tilly. It doesn’t, and it’s easy to understand why.

The media portrays all 11 members of the family as victims, which they are. They are victims of a con man who sold them a story. They all eventually bought it, which renders Ghislaine no different from the rest in that sense. However, I beg to differ, and so would anyone reading this book, which has doubtlessly been looked over by a legal professional, to eliminate the possibility of defamatory claims.

One could forgive Ghislaine for being naive and finding a guru in Tilly. It happens. One might even forgive her for giving dismal financial advice and pressuring people to believe Tilly’s narratives.

However, her behaviour was personally sadistic and unflinching. She was not a fellow prisoner; she was the warden. She came up with false accusations to launch at people who had jumped ship – like the accusation she had Diane make against her mother. She would make the cruelest claims, such as that Guillaume was a product of incest, and not Charles-Henri’s son. When Christine was about to begin her two weeks of torture, she tried sitting on the sofa next to her husband. She was not to sit there, for some reason. Ghislaine threw this in her face, telling her that her own husband would not sit beside her, and she would lose her husband and children, over her reluctance to reveal the transmission. She pressured her daughter to get a divorce and travelled with her to make sure it was done. I could go on and on.

Even after the exfiltration, Ghislaine reportedly attempts to remain a control freak and asks unreasonable things of people, such as Charles-Henri remaining in England for some time, after he had just been reunited with his wife, who lived in France. She reportedly continues to be demanding and shows poor judgement. Towards the end of the book, we learn that Christine, in a family gathering, finally stands up to Ghislaine, which is a satisfying moment (of doubtful impact on Ghislaine herself).

As a brief note, this is only Christine’s version of events, which is completely understandable. By reading Diabolique, written by Ghislaine and Jean, one can see far more nuance in Ghislaine’s thinking. Please see this post, written after reading Diabolique. If you got this far, you definitely want to read it, as the book is priceless in terms of the Tilly saga.

Tilly’s own family

Seldom discussed by the media or content creators, we learn that Tilly had a wife and children. His wife (presumably now former wife), Jessica, is described as quiet. Christine mentions that one time, Tilly got angry with her and reduced the amount of food she was allowed to eat, which shows he was controlling and abusive towards her, confirmed in Ghislaine and Jean’s book, as Ghislaine had lived with the Tilly family for a period of time, acting as a housekeeper of sorts. Christine’s son, Guillaume, was usually in charge of the children, whom he remembered being fond of. No one knows what happened to these people; hopefully they managed to cut ties with Tilly completely after he was arrested and imprisoned.

A further post will go into brainwashing methods Tilly used, in order to entrap these people into a paranoid fantasy.