Émile Zola died of carbon-monoxide poisoning in September 1902. A 1927 deathbed confession — eventually published in 1953 — said he had been murdered. Who confessed?
Buronfosse confessed on his deathbed in 1927 to his Paris parish priest, Father Pierre Hacquin. Hacquin was bound by confessional confidentiality and kept the story for 26 years; it was released to *Libération* via a Catholic clerical source in October 1953 after Hacquin's own death. Buronfosse claimed an unnamed anti-Dreyfusard accomplice had recruited him to block Zola's flue with rags. The confession has no independent corroboration but matches the physical chimney evidence.
Read the full story →A Paris roofing contractor named Henri Buronfosse reportedly confessed on his deathbed in 1927 that he and an unnamed accomplice had deliberately blocked the chimney of Émile Zola's apartment on the night of 28 September 1902, causing the carbon-monoxide poisoning that killed the novelist. The confession was relayed through a Catholic priest and was not published until 1953.
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