02/26/2025
This one really belongs with my VAM Jaime Jo Wright - Author, but this story is fascinating…
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In the late 19th century, the body of a young, unidentified woman was pulled from the River Seine in Paris. Presumed to be a teenager who had taken her own life, her identity remained a mystery, and she became known as "L'Inconnue de la Seine," the Unknown Woman of the Seine. Authorities, hoping to identify her, displayed her body at the Paris Morgue, a common practice at the time to encourage recognition. However, no one came forward, and her story ended there, except for one striking detail: her serene and peaceful expression.
A doctor or mortician, captivated by the tranquility of her face, made a plaster cast of it. This "death mask" quickly became an object of fascination, and replicas were produced and sold across Europe. Her peaceful, enigmatic expression resonated with the Romantic ideals of beauty and mystery. Over time, artists and writers became entranced by her likeness, comparing her serene smile to the Mona Lisa, and L'Inconnue’s face became an icon in Parisian culture, symbolizing the unknowable beauty of the tragic.
Her legacy took an unexpected turn in the 1950s and 60s when CPR was being developed. As mouth-to-mouth resuscitation gained prominence, two doctors—Archer Gordon from the American Heart Association and Bjorn Lind—realized that medical students needed a better way to practice the life-saving technique. Practicing on one another risked injury, so they sought help from a Norwegian toymaker, Åsmund Laerdal, to create a mannequin for training.
Laerdal, already committed to the cause after saving his own son from drowning, agreed to design the dummy. While searching for the right face for this mannequin, Laerdal recalled seeing the death mask of L'Inconnue de la Seine. Her face, calm and neutral, seemed perfect—soothing and non-threatening. This became the face of the mannequin, which was named "Resusci Anne," or "Annie," and went on to revolutionize CPR training.
Since the 1960s, Resusci Anne has become the most widely used CPR dummy in the world. It’s estimated that over 300 million people have been trained using this mannequin, earning her the title of "the most kissed girl in the world." The connection between L'Inconnue’s peaceful death mask and her role in teaching millions to save lives adds a poetic layer to her story. Though she died young, her face has indirectly contributed to countless rescues, a strange and beautiful legacy for someone whose life ended in anonymity.
