Buried below the streets of Paris, the Catacombs house the bones of over 6 million people and have become one of the eeriest places in Paris. Many legends now surround this ossuary, and each year, more and more people visit the darker side of the City of Light. Here are the most bone-chilling Paris Catacomb legends and myths.
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Bone-Chilling Paris Catacombs Legends and Myths
Who doesn’t love a good story? Some places naturally produce better stories than others. The Paris Catacombs, the final resting place of 6 million people and a tourist attraction with lines wrapping around the block, falls into this category. Here are a few of the most bone-chilling stories from inside the Paris Catacombs sure to inspire you in your exploration of its dark depths.
Not ready to book a tour? Check out our Paris Catacombs Guide for more resources.
The Uncovered Video Camera
This is, by far, one of the creepiest Paris Catacombs legends. In the early 1990s, a group of cataphiles (people who study and explore the Paris Catacombs regularly) was walking through the dark chambers of the ossuary when they found a video camera on the ground.
The camera still had footage on it. As they watched, they heard disturbing noises. From the video, they could tell the man holding the camera was lost and had no idea how to escape. The more they watched the more it became clear: the man was going mad in the underground network of tunnels.
The video ends abruptly with the man dropping his camera to the ground. To this day, no one knows who he was or if he ever managed to get out alive. Many believe that the movie “As Above, So Below” was inspired by this tragedy.
Voices at Midnight
Possibly linked to the video camera story above, a famous Paris Catacombs legend has it that something terrifying happens in the burial site after midnight.
Keep your wits about you if you’re inside the Paris Catacombs after midnight. According to this legend, that’s when the walls begin to speak. It is said, disembodied voices will try to persuade you to venture ever deeper into the catacombs until you can’t find your way out again.
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The Ghost of Philibert Aspairt
During the French revolution, a man named Philibert Apsairt was a doorman at the Val-de-Grâce hospital. On a mission to fetch a certain liqueur from a cellar, Philibert actually ended up entering the Paris Catacombs by accident.
Walking around the pitch-black catacombs alone with just a single candle, Philibert became lost and confused. Many believe he may have been intoxicated at the time. Ultimately, Philibert’s candle went out and everything turned to black, making it impossible for him to escape the profound darkness of the catacombs.
His body was only found 11 years later by a group of cataphiles. They identified him by the hospital key ring hanging from his belt. Aspairt is buried in the catacombs in the exact place where he died with a tombstone describing his death. Cataphiles and catacombs folklorists say that every November 3rd, Philibert’s ghost haunts the labyrinth of the catacombs.
Secret Hideout Inside of the Paris Catacomb
In 2004, a group of police officers was exploring a part of the Paris Catacombs restricted from public access when they uncovered some very strange things. First, they found a PA system playing pre-recorded guard-dog barking. Then, they found 3,000 square feet of galleries, wired for phones using pirated electricity.
The officers also found a bar, living area, workshop, lounge, and even a cinema with room to seat 20 people. Shockingly, the cinema seats had been carved into the stone of the catacombs. The creepiest part of all, though, was that they discovered cameras on the ceilings recording them.
A few days later, the police squad went back to the area with a larger team to investigate further. However, everything they’d discovered, from the phone lines to the Paris Catacombs cinema, had vanished. The only thing that remained was a note that read: Ne cherchez pas (Don’t search).
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