A WORLD WITHOUT DOORS and EMELINE FITZROY FROM IMPOSSIBLE LANDSCAPES (Patreon)

DISINFORMATION: THE SAD STORY OF EMELINE F. FITZROY, CHILD GENIUS

Emiline F. Fitzroy (1921–1950) was a child genius born to the Fitzroy pork fortune. The family controlled many of the slaughterhouses and shipping yards that made Chicago a hub for meat production. They were so wealthy that the patriarch, Dr. Thomas Fitzroy,

had a unique house built for them in the Oak Park neighborhood by the “Picasso of architecture,” Asa Daribondi (later the architect of the Macallistar Building). Fitzroy’s house, the bizarre Bellefleur House, was completed in 1911. With interleaved, curving rooms and odd, sinuous lines throughout, it was topped by strange spires of glass and metal filagree that made it an eyesore to some.

Emeline was born in the Bellefleur House late in the Fitzroys’ marriage. She proved more than welcome. Emeline spoke in complete sentences at 2, could read and write at 4, and completed her first poem at 5. By 10, she had completed the equivalent of a college-level program with tutors, could speak six languages, and had written several complete manuscripts.

Her first and only book was published on her 15th birthday. A World Without Doors proved to be a hit (so much so, it is still printed in the modern era), and Emeline’s popularity and youth rode the headlines for years. Soon, that star faded as it became known that Emeline refused to leave the Bellefleur House and could often be heard speaking to herself in empty rooms. With the death of her father in 1941, she remained the only one in the house.

At age 29, she vanished in the Bellefleur House. She left a note that read: “In an ending, we find the world. The play is the only thing. All else orbits it as an afterthought. I go to him now because there is no other path. And I know now, there never was.” After an extensive search of the grounds, her brother Mark Fitzroy (1912–1966) had her declared dead in 1955. Her death is listed officially as a suicide, though no body was ever recovered.