n 23 December 1888, frustrated and ill, Van Gogh confronted Gauguin with a razor blade, but in panic, left and fled to a local brothel. Deeply lonely at the time, he often visited the prostitutes at a brothel on Rue du Bout d'Aeles as his single emotional and sensuous point of contact with other people. While there, he cut off parts of his left ear, probably his left earlobe and some more.[note 12] He wrapped the severed ear in newspaper and handed it to a prostitute named Rachel, asking her to "keep this object carefully." He staggered home, where he was later found by the police and Gauguin, lying unconscious with his head covered in blood.[109][110][111]