Descent into hell

h2. How a clairvoyant made a fortune by destroying a young woman’s life

Throughout our lives, we all experience ups and downs. Sometimes the lows are so low that it feels like you’re hitting rock bottom. At this point, it is almost impossible to find the energy to return to the surface on your own. So we turn to a parent, a friend, a psychologist. Some of us call on a psychic. Because we think that this person already knows our history, because we need to be reassured in a future that seems very uncertain. Some clairvoyants provide real help to the people who consult them. Others take advantage of the distress that arises in their office to rob bank accounts.

In 1993, Sandrine was 21 years old. She is in love with R… from whom she is expecting a child. Everything is going well in the best of all possible worlds for this young woman who has her life ahead of her. But one day, Sandrine loses her job. This event, which might seem trivial when you are 20 years old, will turn Sandrine’s life into a nightmare of 8 long years. According to the famous Murphy’s laws, a problem never arises alone, it leads to a second, then another and another… Thus, Sandrine sees her friend leaving her. Then she has to leave her apartment. Finally, his dog and his cat are crushed in turn in the street. Sandrine almost hits rock bottom when she gives birth to an adorable little girl in January. But the baby is very fragile and his start in life is fraught with problems.

h2. The genesis

No longer knowing which saint to turn to, Sandrine decides to consult a clairvoyant, just to find out if her future looks better. She therefore makes an appointment with Ghislaine, an undeclared clairvoyant who receives people at her home. Mathilde welcomes Sandrine with open arms, especially since she sees this very young person as the ideal victim. Lost, desperate, Sandrine is ready to cling to anyone who gives her a semblance of moral support. Mathilde listens very attentively to Sandrine’s story. Very quickly, the ax falls: Sandrine is open to demons, those around her wish her harm and spray her with evil spells. Terrified, Sandrine agrees to pay for the implementation of secret work. In eight years, Mathilde will take 900,000 francs from Sandrine.

h2. Machiavellian intelligence

Like all clairvoyant thugs, Mathilde knew how to perfectly use mental manipulation techniques which make it possible to create a person’s total dependence on the crook. She never stopped blowing hot (promise of good things) and cold (promise of great misfortunes). Caught in a spiral, the victim agrees to pay for occult work which will allow him to get rid of the evil eye which constantly watches over him and to hasten the arrival of more enviable events. And, like her charming fellow clairvoyant thugs, Mathilde was able to make people believe that the occult work was carried out by a mage living in a wild region located more than 5,000 kilometers from France. But what characterizes Mathilde is her extraordinary intelligence as well as a mythomania pushed down to the smallest details. Although poorly educated (she could barely read and write), Mathilde is capable of detecting in each of her victims the fears and anxieties that grip them. Thus, she knows exactly when to predict this or that misfortune. She also knows the maximum amountthat she can ask for in order to carry out the so-called occult works which will make it possible to avoid these misfortunes. In addition, Mathilde was able to invent a personal story by borrowing scraps of life here and there. She also knew how to invent characters that she has brought to life for years in her head and in that of her victims.

h2. The Ogre and the Child

During eight endless years of suffering, Sandrine believed, Sandrine felt guilty, Sandrine paid. Mathilde quickly became Sandrine’s confidante, protector and advisor. From the start, Mathilde takes charge of the failing health of Sophie, Sandrine’s daughter. She very quickly makes Sandrine believe that different occult work must be done to improve Sophie’s health. Because in the absence of occult work, Sophie is condemned to death. Panicked, guilty, Sandrine pays. Obviously Sophie’s health is improving a little and Sandrine believes in Mathilde, without even thinking that medicine has something to do with it. From then on, Mathilde does everything to monopolize Sophie. She goes so far as to pretend that certain occult work requires Sophie’s presence so that Sandrine entrusts her with the child. Over time, Sophie refuses more and more to go to this person whom she fears so much. Because Sophie is experiencing a real ordeal at Mathilde’s house. An educated little girl, Sophie must endure the violence of Mathilde’s younger daughter. She even sees herself regularly accused of the countless stupidities committed by the latter. Claiming her innocence, she is nevertheless reprimanded by her mother who, at that time, cannot believe that Mathilde is telling her lies. Sophie will undoubtedly be marked for life by this painful experience lived during her early youth. But Mathilde doesn’t care.

h2. Once upon a time…

Mathilde takes advantage of the events to strengthen her aura with Sandrine. Knowing that Sandrine’s mother is threatened with dismissal, Mathilde asks her victim for 12,000 francs to launch secret work with a view to rehabilitation. Some time later, Sandrine’s mother gets her job back and Mathilde does not fail to make it her own. Later, Sandrine’s mother sees a spot appear on her stomach. For Mathilde, it’s a cancer and an opportunity to extract money from Sandrine. Occult works are supposedly carried out and the stain disappears. Sandrine will once again be very grateful to her protector. She would learn years later that it was actually an allergy to bubble bath and that her mother had simply changed brands. Thus, from promises of cancer to promises of accidents, Mathilde will gently extract money from Sandrine. From 1993 to 1995, the sums thus defrauded were supposedly entrusted to Olive, grandmother of a certain Patricia, who served as intermediaries between Mathilde and the magician. A very common thing in the world of clairvoyance scams. Sandrine has never seen Olive or Patricia, just as she has never seen Walibi. This strange character appears at the beginning of 95 and becomes the new intermediary. Olive, the unworthy old woman must undoubtedly be too tired to continue her long imaginary journeys. A pure product of Olive’s imagination, Walibi is described to Sandrine as a tall black man in his forties, with the particularity of having blue eyes. Her name was found by Sandrine while Mathilde seemed incapable of pronouncing an African-sounding name. The funniest thing is that Mathilde will convince herselfthat the big black man is really called Walibi (I’m baba). At this same time, Mathilde announces to Sandrine that important work must be carried out on a specific day in January (Sophie’s birthday) to put a definitive end to all the problems of Sandrine and those around her. An appointment is therefore made for this date. When the big day comes, Sandrine receives a phone call from someone who tells her that everything is canceled. So she leaves for her work. It’s then that Mathilde calls him to reproach him for not coming and that everything failed. Sandrine and her family will therefore continue to suffer, unless… You guessed it, our suburban Zorro offers to help the young woman in distress. But now, Tornado has spun off and Zorro has to put gas in his car. Sandrine had to pay, and in October 1995 she took out her first loan (60,000 francs). Indeed, a “mother” has made babies inside her. She must be rid of it, as well as her daughter who was infected during pregnancy. It seems obvious that Mathilde is a huge fan of Alien, but Sandrine doesn’t realize it. She therefore pays, covering herself with debt without realizing that she is paying for nothing. No one around him can make him open his eyes. And for good reason. Using the methods of sects, Mathilde distances Sandrine from anyone capable of making her see the truth. The matter is simple: each time Sandrine meets a new acquaintance, Mathilde declares that this person wishes Sandrine harm. And the young woman immediately breaks the bonds that were beginning to be established.

h2. The beginning of the end

Mathilde and Sandrine have become so intimate that Sandrine gets to know her protector’s family, and in particular Daniel, Mathilde’s nephew. Young people like each other and hang out more and more regularly. At the same time, Sandrine begins to have doubts about the reality of the multiple occult works started by Mathilde. She quickly realizes that the clairvoyant dials wrong numbers when she calls in front of her and that she sometimes gets confused in the stories she tells her. Sandrine finally begins to understand that Walibi is just an amusement park and that Mathilde is manipulating her. Feeling the tide turning, Mathilde tries to keep Sandrine away from her nephew, the latter also being very critical of the pseudo-clairvoyant. But Sandrine and Daniel are holding on. Mathilde becomes more and more threatening and promises the worst misfortunes to Sandrine and her family if the latter does not return to her fold. Fortunately, this time Sandrine did not allow herself to be bewitched and in September 2001 she ceased all relations with Mathilde. Sandrine decided, with the help of Inad, to take Mathilde to court. Sandrine hopes that Justice will be able to sanction Mathilde and force her to put an end to her activities which have thrown several other victims into despair and misery.

h2. A personality worthy of Hannibal the cannibal

Today around 70% of Sandrine’s salary goes into repaying the loans she took out to pay Mathilde. She doesn’t think she can recover the 900,000 francs she paid to the scammer during these eight years of ordeal. Since only 210,000 francs were paid by check or transfer. The rest was paid in cash. Because once again Mathilde demonstrates remarkable intelligence. Quarantine barely approached,RMI recipient, declared single while living with her friend in the Paris suburbs Mathilde loves luxury and leads a bourgeois lifestyle. She drives a nice car, goes on vacation to Spain in a villa with a swimming pool, goes to the casino, plays trifecta, treats herself to liposuction, buys a 12,000-dollar TV and has expensive renovation work carried out on her home. Such a lifestyle should inevitably attract the attention of social security and the tax authorities. Well no, because the shrew is cunning: the goods are purchased in the name of her friend and the work is paid under the table. Mathilde leads a suburban jet-set life at the expense of the State and above all on the broken lives of her victims. Does she sometimes feel remorseful? Does he ever have nightmares? Nay! Mathilde is one of those cold intelligences, devoid of all feelings. All that interests her is money and this pathetic notoriety that she maintains in an unhealthy way among the people she meets. Because Mathilde has an urgent need for recognition. She cannot live without attention being focused on her in some way. She needs to dominate, to possess those around her to the point of swallowing up the people who approach her, of ‘emptying them of their life’. Mathilde doesn’t like others and her heart is as empty as the bank accounts of her victims.

Bertrand CAILAC