Paris is a very romantic city to visit, its climate, its landscape and its ancient architecture which is ideal to visit in couple and first choice for a honeymoon. But who would imagine that such a beautiful and attractive city has such a dark underground?
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Catacombs of Paris
First, it is important to know that they are catacombs although the origin of the word is not really known, Wikipedia gives us the following concept:
The catacombs are galleries or underground tunnels that some ancient Mediterranean civilizations built and used as funerary lands. Source
With an extension of about 300 kilometers below the ground of Paris is the Catacombs, which should be one of the most emblematic and characteristic elements of the city because it is so dark and scary that it Curiosity is one of the most famous cemeteries in Paris where there is a network of tunnels and underground rooms supposed to be limestone mines in Roman times. These mines were converted into a common cemetery at the end of the 18th century. At present, it is still preserved as an ossuary of more than six million human skeletons. Only the general public has access to 0.5% of the "underground quarries of Paris" and visits to the rest of the site are prohibited by ministerial decree of November 2, 1955
History
Formerly in the eighteenth century, in the cemeteries of the city where they had already reached its maximum capacity bodies were located. The cemetery known as Saints-Innocents Cemetery lacked health as being the oldest in the remains of corpses were kept more than ten centuries, should also take into account this cemetery has covered the remains of over 22 parishes for the century, then in the days the ground of the cemetery had increased by 2 meters above the ground level of the street by unhealthy tension and this continued to grow, that with a risk of triggering an important epidemic possible by pollution, besides the bodies were handled incorrectly because because of the large amount of debris that had at the time, the managers with great negligence salubrious have mass graves to make room, which displeased the inhabitants of the region and even came to worry. It is said that the action was taken in this matter when in 1780 the wall of a subsoil yielded under the pressure of gases coming out of a mass grave and was that the authorities took action on the matter and decided to close the cemetery and look for someone who was away from the people and avoid the risk of possible disease of contamination.
The best option was taken by the police governor Leonoir, giving as proposal and project the transfer of corpses and bones to the current Catacombs and this would be done under a plain of an area known as Montrougue. Finally, the bones and remains were moved in the year 1786, following the rituals to show respect for the souls who are in their rest. It was under the authority and supervision of Charles-Axel Guillaumot, Inspector General of Quarries. It took about 15 months to move millions of bones from a multitude of cemeteries to Paris, which was done at night, crossing the city in carts, accumulating the remains of about 6 million Parisians.
Since then, there have been countless stories that revolve around the catacombs: one of them says that in 1871, the commune of Paris murdered a group of monarchists in one of the rooms of the catacombs . Moreover, during the Second World War, Parisian members of the French Resistance used this system of tunnels and, during this period, German soldiers installed an underground bunker in the catacombs, under Lycée Montaigne, a high school in the 6th arrondissement. These are just some of the historical monuments where the site has been used for other purposes.
The internal system of the Catacombs
By decision of the Inspector General of Quarries, the bones were arranged in the form of a wall, in which are found plates identifying the origin of bones and even small altars containing epitaphs in Latin. At the entrance, there is a strange and frightening sign that warns: "Stop! This is the empire of death!"
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If you are talking about public access only about half of the Catacombs kilometers open to the public and the company of a tourist; the reason for the restrictions is that the Parisian authorities have discovered that the interior lent to the sinister ritual practice of black masses.
Because the tunnel system is too complex plates have been placed with street names as on the surface this so that the visitor is not lost and identify where he is because it is very easy to get lost on the way. There are also too narrow and low passages, in which people who suffer from claustrophobia could not be, and its size and location some are prone to flooding, for this reason, it is strongly recommended that visitors should get the With the help of these potential dangers, from 2 November, 1955 is considered illegal any visit without an official guide, and to be mandated and if not satisfied can be fined 60 euros imposed on the visitor by the cataflics or the special police patrolling the catacombs.
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Even so, there are secret entrances throughout Paris, these very secret and elusive, in which it allows to enter the catacombs through the sewers or the metro. On rare but dangerous occasions, curious and adventurous people use these accesses to enter.
It is incredible that until recently there were people who gave many and varied uses to the Catacombs of the projection room, parties, concerts among others, it is said that there was an artistic movement called "Mexican "Perforation" in what has turned some of the tunnels into modern movie theaters with light electrical food and even phones.
Myth
The brave tourists who are determined to enter are greeted by sinister skulls, with disproportionate jaws extended in an infinite row that leads to darkness. As one might expect in such a macabre place, there are certain urban legends of which one is that there are visitors who have found the specter of a lady dressed in white, who rarely appears before the distraught tourists who are separated from the group, because according to legend, after this meeting, the poor wretch has more than a year to live. One more reason not to enter.
SourceThere are people who say that although they are closed and forbidden to go through certain passages, there are elusive groups who break with this rule and go inside to perform strange rituals inside, and they even found remnants of these rituals.
Because it's a macabre place, many people say that they have felt strange things like feeling persecuted, others that they feel that in some cases they are affected by invisible forces and other cases more extremes claim that they were strangled. There are also those who claim to see silhouettes of shadows or ghosts in the depths of fossils and claveras. Probably, the alteration of all the souls that are there has left wandering souls ideal for paranormal investigations that claim to have made recordings where they have captured inexplicable aspects such as voices, lights, shadows, unexpected phenomena among others.
"I'm always amazed at what Paris has to offer"
And you? Would you dare to enter the Catacombs?
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