Henri Buronfosse | DeadlyCurious

The Footnote June 25, 2026 · 21bis rue de Bruxelles, Paris

The Roofing Contractor Whose Deathbed Confession Said He Had Murdered Émile Zola

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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The Coroner’s Report June 18, 2026 · 21 bis rue de Bruxelles, 9th arrondissement, Paris

The Novelist Who May Have Been Murdered by His Own Chimney

Émile Zola was found dead in his Paris bedroom on the morning of 29 September 1902, asphyxiated by carbon monoxide from a smoking fire. The chimney was blocked. A bricklayer's deathbed confession decades later named the man who had blocked it.

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