Henri landru bluebeard plant

While French soldiers were dying by their thousands at the front during World War I, the country's first modern serial killer was murdering the lonely women left at home and burning their bodies in his kitchen stove.

In a cautionary tale for the Tinder generation, Henri-Desire Landru -- nicknamed "Bluebeard" for bringing to life the folk story about a killer who prayed on lovelorn women -- lured his victims with personal ads promising romance.

His trial, which opened exactly a century ago, both captivated and horrified France, with the little bald charmer with his long black manicured beard mesmerising the packed courtroom.

In one of his many dramatic flourishes during the three-week trial, Landru denied all the charges and demanded: "Show me the bodies!" knowing that all that remained of his 11 victims was ash.

The prosecution wheeled in Landru's stove in an effort to upstage him and it later made its way to a Paris wax m