So Supernatural - THE UNKNOWN: Camille Monfort

Episode Date: October 2, 2026

In the late 1800s, an opera singer named Camille Monfort captivated audiences across Brazil with a voice so extraordinary, witnesses struggled to describe it. While accounts of her performances varied, those who saw her agreed on one thing — something about her presence felt otherworldly. Whether she was a gifted performer, a practiced manipulator, or something far more sinister, the legend of Camille Monfort and her alleged taste for blood has never been fully explained. For a full list of sources, please visit: https://sosupernaturalpodcast.com/the-unknown-camille-monfort Did you know you can listen to So Supernatural ad-free? Join the Crime Junkie Fan Club! Visit https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/fanclub/ to view the current membership options and policies. So Supernatural is an Audiochuck and Crime House production. Find us on social! Instagram: @sosupernaturalpod Twitter: @_sosupernatural Facebook: /sosupernaturalpod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Think about the last song that stopped you mid-sentence, mid-thought, mid-everything. Maybe it came on in the car and you sat in the driveway and you sang out loud to the very end. Maybe it played at just the right moment and brought tears out of nowhere. Maybe it was the song for the first dance at your wedding. The song for me and my husband was, The Closer I Get to You by the legendary Luther Van Dross. and Beyonce. It stops me dead in my tracks no matter what I'm doing or where I am. What about the song that got you through the worst year of your life? I think of Maxwell, a woman's worth when our mom

passed away, Rosh. I mean, music does something to us that we just can't quite explain. Scientists have spent decades trying to understand why. And what they've found is pretty remarkable. Music can lower blood pressure, ease chronic pain, reduce stress, and there's even evidence it can reach people with dementia or Alzheimer's, unlocking memories that seem completely gone, through nothing more than a familiar melody. Music gets into our spirit, our soul, and stirs us and sometimes against our will. And that's what can make it dangerous too. Because if music can lower your defenses, calm your nerves, quiet your fears, make you

feel completely safe, what happens when someone learns to weaponize that? There are accounts of a woman who could do exactly that. An opera singer with a voice so extraordinary, so underlie. unnervingly beautiful that it caused some members of her audiences to fall into a trance. And according to those who witnessed it, that's exactly when she would strike. Her name was Camille Monfort. And if the stories are true, she wasn't just feeding on their attention. She was also feeding on their blood.

I'm Rasha Pekarero. And I'm her sister, Yvette Jentele. This is so supernatural. Many people probably thought my life growing up in Hawaii was hard to complain about. I mean, think about it. The ocean breeze, stunning sunset, basking in the glow of paradise at a pace that slows the mind and eases the soul. Although the small city of Honolulu will always be home to me, I'll be honest. Once I moved away, I realized how much I actually love big,

cities, like Los Angeles and New York, places chaotic, lively, and bustling, ones that never stop moving. I dream of one day going to the city of Tokyo, one of the most populated urban areas on planet Earth, nearly 37 million people, all of them going somewhere with intention. What's interesting is every city has its time, when it goes through an economic boom and becomes a place the rest of the world wants to visit. In the late 1800s, that city was Baleem, Brazil. Baleem sits at the mouth of the Amazon River, the gateway between the jungle and the rest of the world. Any goods coming out of the rainforest had to pass through the city first, and in the late 1800s, one commodity was worth more than almost anything else. Rubber. The industrial world was a

hungry for it, bicycle tires, car parts, machinery, I mean, you name it. Rubber was essential to it. And the primary source of natural rubber was latex, harvested from trees that grew almost exclusively in the Amazon, which meant that Belém wasn't just a port city. It was becoming the center of a global empire. A few shipping executives, farmers and traders, capitalized on high. high rubber demand, and they became millionaires pretty much overnight. In other words, like the unsinkable Molly Brown from Titanic, they were new money. And they loved showing off. They made huge donations to build museums, theaters, even trains, and sewer systems.

They also built lavish mansions for themselves and wore the most luxurious clothes they could find. Back then, it was very trendy to embrace. race European culture and styles. And many of these rubber entrepreneurs liked extravagant expenses because it gave them an excuse to throw their money around and get some attention. Honestly, they had so much money they would spend it on some pretty unimaginable expenses. For example, some families shipped their dirty clothes to Europe just to have it washed overseas. for no practical reason other than to show off their wealth. It also became trendy to take baths in mineral water rather than tap water,

and not just any mineral water, but it was imported from other countries. Keep in mind that most of the people flaunting this kind of wealth were men. The rubber barons who controlled the trade, the businessmen who profited from it, the industry was almost entirely mailed. dominated, which makes it all the more interesting that one of the most talked about over-the-top residents of Bilem was a woman. Her name was Camille Montfort. Before we get much further into the story, we need to acknowledge that the record-keeping in Brazil at the time

was very poor. And that was especially true when it came to women. Many city officials assumed that only men were worth mentioning in their paperwork. So they only tracked men's business deals and accomplishments. Women like Camille were mostly ignored. So very little is known about her life. We do know she was born somewhere in France in 1869. Her father was a diplomat who traveled the world helping negotiate with France's allies,

and her mother was from an important noble family. It was said she had ties to French royalty, but it's unclear exactly what those ties were. It seemed the Montforts were very wealthy, given their jobs and connections. So it's safe to assume Camille received the best education money could buy. It's also unclear exactly where she grew up, if it was France or another country. But we can assume that, like many women from her time, she studied history, foreign languages, and music. Camille learned to speak English, Italian, German, and Portuguese, which is the main language spoken in Brazil.

And that was all on top of her native language of French. She also knew how to play the piano, the violin, the guitar, and she could sing. Somewhere along the way, Camille moved to Baleem. Some reports suggest she immigrated as a child, that her father was sent to Baleem to do diplomatic work on behalf of the French nobility. and he brought his family with him. According to that account, Camille spent her early years in Brazil and it became a second home for her.

By the time she was an adult, Camille realized she was an extremely talented musician with an amazing soprano voice, and she was good enough to make a career as an opera singer. However, we also came across another story in our research, one that says Camille spent her entire childhood in France, When she was young, she traveled to Paris to become a formally trained singer. In the late 1880s or early 1890s, when Camille was in her early 20s, she gave her first performance in Paris. And she blew the audiences away with her voice.

Critics praised her in the papers and her fame spread across the city. And before long, Camille Monfort was a household name in Paris. Then suddenly, she vanished without a word. Rumors spread that Camille had moved to Belém. And she'd done it without telling anyone. I mean, there wasn't even a farewell performance, which was the norm for established opera singers at the time. It almost seems like something forced her to flee the country.

People actually wondered if she was having some kind of torrid affair. Others said she was skipping out on debts. But there was no evidence to back up any of the speculation. Regardless of when Camille arrived in Belém, one thing is clear. She was destined to become a star. In 1878, a brand new opera house opened in the city, the Teatro de Paz,

and that's where Camille gave her first ever performance in Brazil. It's unclear what show she was appearing in or what role she had, but people said Camille was a stunning performer, not just because of her voice, but because she was incredibly charismatic. Even when her co-stars were in the spotlight, audience members felt like they couldn't take their eyes off of her. She commanded the stage every moment she was on it. Plus, Camille had incredible range. When she was performing a tragic role, she'd play up the sadness and the emotion of each piece

until there wasn't a dry eye in the house. But she also started comedies. And thanks to her natural sense of timing, she made audiences explode into laughter. It's also worth noting that Camille had a very striking appearance. She had unusually pale skin even for a white European.

She also had a slim build and long dark hair. Everyone who met her picked up some kind of a vibe or energy from her. They couldn't put their finger on what it was, but something about Camille just felt different, captivating, impossible to ignore. Critics said her voice was almost hypnotic, literally. According to gossip, it was so common for audience members to get caught up in the emotion of Camille's performance. They'd fall into a trance while she sang. even stranger, it mostly seemed to happen to women. They'd go to the Teatro de Paz and some of them said

they would pass out in her dressing room and wake up to find these inexplicable red marks on their necks, almost like something had bitten them while they were unconscious. It's unclear if they experienced any more symptoms after the fact, but the more time went on, the more people sensed there was something strange about Camille Montfort. She never went out during the day, almost like she was avoiding the sun. And sometimes late at night, she'd go on long walks on the streets of Baleem.

She was often alone and always wore long, flowy black dresses. Then, during full moons or on stormy evenings, Camille would strip off most of her clothes and dance on the vows. banks of a local river practically naked. Camille didn't seem to care about society's rules or expectations. So naturally, people talked about her and speculated about her private business too. They suggested that maybe there was a reason for her hypnotic voice, the fainting audiences, and her tendency to avoid sunlight. Maybe Camille Munfor was actually a vamp. It didn't take long before rumors swept across Belem.

Camille Munfort may very well be a vampire. Some rumors claimed she was turned during a visit to London. It's unclear how that story began or what evidence anyone had to back it up, but the rumor is quite interesting because many people believe Camille was the first vampire to ever set foot in the Americas. Before she came along, many believed bloodsuckers were confined to the old world. Whatever the truth was, Camille didn't seem to mind the speculation. In fact, she sort of embraced her bad reputation.

The more famous she became, the more she pushed boundaries. After all, she was wealthy and independent. Camille didn't need to get married. she could provide for herself with her opera career, and the people of her time weren't used to women having so much financial freedom. So she'd be caught out at fancy parties with important people. She'd smoke, even though tobacco was considered unladylike at the time. She even learned to drive a car, which again was considered a masculine skill back then.

And it was no secret that Camille loved luxury. Earlier, we mentioned how wealthy Baleem citizens like to bathe in mineral water. Well, Camille did them one better. She reportedly soaked in bathtubs full of champagne. I feel like that's something you would do, Yvette. Yes. That is on my bucket list. Camille also wore dresses that were considered very sexualized for the time, and it's

that she had numerous lovers. Allegedly, some were married men. But it seems none of these men were able to convince Camille to settle down. Even stranger, any time someone would try to court Camille, they'd come down with a sudden illness right afterwards. They were said to become very weak, and their skin would turn pale and waxy like the blood had drained right out of their bodies. In fact, many of these names,

men may have died before their doctors could figure out how to treat them, which only made people gossip even more. Camille had to be a vampire, which only seemed to intrigue people more, because the locals in Belém kept going to see her perform. They were enchanted by her beauty, her talent, and for some, her religious beliefs, because Camille was very involved with spiritualism. Spiritualism is a religious and philosophical movement built around one core belief that death is not the end of consciousness.

The souls of the dead, according to spiritualists, linger close to the living world and can be contacted and communicated with typically through a medium acting as a go-between. If you ever played with a Ouija board or attended a seance, or even hired a medium. Well, then congratulations.

You have dabbled in spiritualism. Done all three. All three. I mean, if you are a true follower of So Supernatural, I am sure you have done all of that and above. This is true. But practitioners also believe in prophetic dreams, intuition, and mind reading.

Overall, the philosophy argues that there's a lot of magic and energy in the world that we don't fully understand. and much of it comes from the spirit realm. During Camille's lifetime, spiritualists often hosted seances to connect with spirits, or they consulted with mediums to ask for messages from their departed loved ones. This belief system was very popular in both Europe and the U.S. in the mid-1800s,

and it eventually took off in Latin America too. But spiritualism wasn't mainstream in Belem, at least while Camille was alive. But as always, Camille was a trendsetter. And at some point in or around the 1890s, she reportedly began performing her own seances. Every now and then, Camille would invite people to meet her for a private gathering. She'd perform a kind of ritual, the details of which were never leaked to. the press, but at some point during the session, a strange, slimy cloud would burst out of her body. This was the word for a mysterious, poorly understood substance that allegedly coats ghost spirits

and other entities. Sort of like how slugs and snails are always covered in that gooey slime. Allegedly, when physics and mediums made contact with other planes of existence, ectoplasm oozed out of their bodies too. Sometimes it was soft like fabric. On other occasions, it was slimier. People who attended seances often saw it dripping from the medium's ears, noses, and mouths. When it came through Camille, it apparently lingered in the air like a thick, viscous mist.

And Camille could communicate with it, almost like it was a physical gateway between the world of the living and the dead. So yeah, Camille seemed to have some serious occult powers. Some even accused her of being a witch or a sorceress on top of being a vampire. They also said Camille would sacrifice animals in dark magic rituals to ensure

she never aged. After all, she was incredibly beautiful, almost unnaturally so. And that was on top of being rich, accomplished, talented, confident, all the things. Yet, despite all of that, Camille lived a pretty short life. We believe she passed away in 1896 at the young age of just 27 years old. And the cause of her death is unknown, but once again, there are a number of rumors about how and why she passed. The simplest explanation was one that she could have actually died of cholera, because that year, a terrible epidemic swept through Belém. Cholera spreads through contaminated water, but in the late 1800s, scientists hadn't quite figured that out yet. Many cities had bad hygiene and didn't do a good job of keeping their water clean, so the disease spread like wildfire.

Reports say that during the epidemic, Camille checked in on a lot of patients, many of whom seemed to pass away quickly after her visit. Not just that, their bodies were reportedly shriveled into husks, as though someone had sucked all of the blood out of them in their final moments, which is how people suspect Camille might have caught the disease herself, though I also think it's worth noting that cholera can lead to severe dehydration, which might be what people were actually seeing. Other rumors suggest she had been murdered,

perhaps by a jealous lover or given her alleged tendency to sleep with married men, she might have been killed by one of her lover's wives. However, many people believed Camille wasn't really dead at all. She may have faked it to hide the fact that she was an immortal who didn't age. That's because after her supposed death, it was said that Camille's body had been sent to a morgue. Later, someone went to check on her body, but when they went to the slab where her remains were supposed to be stored, it was empty. Like, she just got up and vanished into the body. the night. Others said Camille convinced someone to bury her empty coffin and pretend like she was

still inside. That way, she could trick everyone at her funeral into thinking she was actually dead. And they say her tomb is empty to this day. The inscription on it apparently reads, quote, The Voice That Captivated the World. After Camille's alleged death, a woman was said to be spotted traveling throughout South America. According to the few reports we have, she was originally from France but spoke both French and Portuguese, just like Camille. This woman claimed to be either a scientist or an anthropologist.

Her name isn't recorded in any research journals from the time. However, the woman or multiple women fitting this description joined a number of scientific expeditions to the Amazon rainforest. She claimed to be particularly interested in meeting the indigenous people who lived deep in the jungle. And we'll admit, there isn't a ton of hard evidence connecting this mysterious anthropologist to Camille Munfor. But if a famous, renowned opera star wanted to disappear, there aren't many places she could have gone without being recognized. The Amazon rainforest must have been the only place that felt safe for her. Well, there are some who say Camille never really left Belem at all.

To this day, there are numerous sightings of a pale, dark-haired woman who meets Camille's description wandering around the city. She often attends shows at the Teatro de Paz, the same opera house where she once performed. people have also caught glimpses of a mysterious woman walking along the river. She passes over the same banks where Camille was said to have danced in the moonlight. She even wears dresses that look like they're from the 1800s. If Camille is still out there, she'd be over 150 years old by now, meaning she can't be an ordinary human. But you don't need to believe Camille.

Camille was a vampire to accept that blood-sucking fiends may walk amongst us. Because there have been other strange sightings across the world, all from people who say they've come face to face with real-life vampires. Some people believe Camille Munford died in 1896, but others said she was immortal because she was actually a vampire. though she wasn't the only one at the time. 26 years after Camille's supposed funeral, something strange happened.

It was April 1922 when a man whose identity is unknown. He was walking down a London street. It was about 6 a.m. When out of nowhere, he felt a sudden sharp pain in his neck. It felt like something had bit him. The man didn't get a good look at whatever had attacked him because he passed out right after he felt the pain in his neck. Sometime later, he woke up in a hospital.

They said he was being treated for bloodlots, but his doctors admitted they couldn't find any major injuries on his body, just one little hole in his neck. To them, it looked like someone may have sucked his blood out through a tube. News of this strange incident got out, and that same night, two more people said they too were attacked by something. It had bitten their necks and drawn blood, and the attacks were on the exact same street as the man before them. Like the first victim, they also hadn't seen whoever or whatever did this to them, and they needed treatment for blood loss afterward. Other people in London said they'd spotted a huge bat flying around the area, and much bigger than an ordinary bat.

And according to blogger Alexander Michaels, the sign suggested a vampire was prowling through the city. Then just as suddenly as they started, the attack stopped. No one else saw the bat or reported bites to their necks after it began. became public. By the end of April, whoever was responsible for the attacks just seemed to have moved on. A decade later in 1932, a 32-year-old sex worker named Lily Lindistram was found dead in her apartment in Stockholm, Sweden. She'd been beaten to death, but crime scene investigators found something really disturbing, a blood-crusted ladle near her body. body. The detectives assumed her killer had used the ladle to collect her blood and drink it.

But it gets even stranger. There were no signs of struggle in Lily's apartment. Nothing of monetary value had been stolen. Aside from her body, a bloody towel and that ladle, her unit was spotless. Lily didn't have any known enemies and there was no clear motive for the crime. It was almost like her killer had only targeted her because they wanted to drink her blood. And they'd managed to subdue her without a struggle or a fight, as though she had been hypnotized. Lily's murder is still unsolved as of this recording, which only plays further into the theories that she might have been murdered by a vampire. Now, it may be tempting to dismiss these stories since they're so old. I mean, the people who lived a century ago were more superstitious than we are today.

So you'd think vampire sightings would be rare, if not unheard of, in the 21st century. But guess what? You'd be wrong. Reddit is full of posts from people who believe they've encountered real blood-sucking minds. And we know we have to take them with a grain of salt, but some of them are so striking we couldn't help but share them. Just take this story from a user we're going to call Amy. Well, back in 2009, Amy went out with some friends to celebrate her birthday. It's unclear where she was at the time, but we know they all ended up at some bar together. There was a group of men at the bar who Amy and her friends had never met before.

They were well-dressed and very good-looking. And before long, they began talking to Amy and her friends. Soon they were drinking and dancing. And when the night began to wind down, Amy said she wanted to take a photo with these new guys that they had just met. Except the men seemed a little bit nervous about getting their picture taken. Still, Amy encouraged them to pose and eventually the men agreed. One of her friends took the photo, and when she looked at the screen,

there was no sign of the men, just empty gaps where they had been standing. But Amy came out perfectly in the picture. They'd all been posing in front of the bar, so they could see the rows of booze on the shelves behind where the guys were standing. So it's not like they were out of focus or underlit. It was more like they'd turned invisible for the camera. It made no sense. So they figured let's just take another photo.

And the same thing happened. happened. Amy came out beautifully, but the guys were invisible. One of the men looked at the camera, and when he saw what they were seeing, he said, quote, huh, looks like you're alone. Have a good one. Anyway, the guys just turned away after that. When Amy looked for them a second later, she said they were gone, as if they'd just disappeared into thin air. Amy never figured out what had been going on with her camera, but she had heard old legends about vampires and how they don't show up in mirrors or reflections. For years afterward, she found herself wondering if she'd actually spent the night partying it up with some vampires. Oh my goodness. Well,

as creepy as that story is, it doesn't hold a candle to this next account. And this was shared by an anonymous user we're just going to call Dallas. At some point in the past, although we don't know exactly how long ago, Dallas was having a casual fling with a female acquaintance, and let's just call her Erin. The thing about this fling was, Dallas and Aaron never made plans during the day. Aaron had very sensitive skin and tended to burn easily, so she refused to leave the house when the sun was up. She said this was symptoms of lupus, which she actually had. And, Dallis, and she had. Dallas accepted that explanation at first.

But one night, when Aaron came home to Dallas, she was covered in blood. Aaron explained that she had been in a bar fight, so Dallas likely bought the story at the time, until it got weirder. Sometimes when Dallas and Aaron were together, she'd playfully nibble at their neck, except she always bit Dallas harder than they were comfortable with and drew blood almost every time. That's because Aaron's canine teeth were unusually sharp. Every time she smiled, Dallas could see how pointed they were. I mean, all to say, the longer Dallas and Aaron were together, the more Dallas wondered if they were hooking up with a vampire.

Now, we have to acknowledge we can't verify Amy's or Dallas's stories, but for the sake of argument, let's say vampires do exist. That still doesn't mean Camille was a vampire, especially given how little we know about her life. There's no proof she could actually hypnotize people with her voice. While it's possible some souls really did faint during her operas, It could have been due to heat or maybe restrictive corsets, not magic. But full disclosure here, I truly believe in the supernatural.

But, as you know, Yvette and I have to play devil's advocate sometimes. With that being said, once you get past the stories about fainting audience members and dehydrated bodies, there isn't much about Camille's story that specifically screams vampire. Sure, she apparently enjoyed. night-time walks, dancing nude in the rain, and doing seances. But that could just mean she was a free spirit and that she defied convention at that time. After all, Camille was rich, beautiful, and accomplished. She never settled down or got married. She didn't listen to people who told her what to do. It is possible the men of Belém felt threatened by Camille as a powerful,

woman. Maybe that's why they spread rumors about her being a vampire to just try and destroy her reputation because they were intimidated by a powerful woman. Strong woman. Independent made her own money. Oh yeah. Well, I mean, again, some think Camille never existed at all. She isn't mentioned in any public records from Belim in the late 1800s. There's no mention of her birth, and maybe that's because it happened in another country, and since she was never married, there's no marriage certificate either. And if she ever had a death certificate or a formal obituary in the newspaper, it didn't survive to modern day,

which is why some suspect her entire story might have been invented online. And as her story spread across social media and blogs, it just took on a life of its own. I do want to believe that Camille was real, though, especially because a dear family member is the one that told us about her story. Whether Camille was real or not, her legend endures, and that means something. We opened this episode talking about what music can do to us, how it bypasses logic and goes straight for something deeper, how it can heal us, move us, unlock parts of ourselves we'd long forgotten about. But a song can also hypnotize you.

A beautiful voice can make you trust someone that you shouldn't. And sometimes the most dangerous things in the world are the ones that feel the best. At their core, that's what vampire stories have always been about. Not monsters, not capes and coffins, but the seductive, thing you never saw coming because you were too busy enjoying it. The good news is that most of the time, the beautiful thing is just that, beautiful and totally worth the risk. This is So Supernatural, an audio chuck original produced by Crime House. You can connect with us on Instagram at So Supernatural pod and visit our website at so supernaturalpodcast.com. Join Rasha and me next Friday,

for an all-new episode. I think Chuck would approve.