Top 20 Scary Facts about the Catacombs in Paris

Top 20 Scary Facts About the Catacombs in Paris

Originally published by Molli in April 2021 Updated by Ruth in August 2022, Updated by Vanessa R on July 2023, and Updated by Ian.S in March 2024

While the Catacombs in Paris aren’t the most famous landmark in the City of Lights, they just may be the spookiest. If you’re unfamiliar, the Catacombs are a system of underground (and exposed) tombs. When you enter, be prepared for the hundreds of human bones that will meet you there. And, make sure not to get lost!

Intrigued yet? Keep reading to discover the top 20 scary facts about the Catacombs in Paris!

1. There are hundreds of miles of tunnels under Paris

The Catacombs of Paris by Jorge Láscar – Flickr

It’s hard to believe that there’s an entire world sitting underneath Paris, but there is! I always tell visitors to make sure that they look up while exploring the French capital because there is so much to see everywhere that you look. The same goes for looking down – when talking about the Catacombs, of course.

The tunnels that would go on to make up the Catacombs weren’t originally meant to be used as a mass grave, they were created by old quarry miners. We can only guess how many tunnels are under Paris, but some estimates come in at a whopping 200 miles!

2. In 18th-century Paris, the cemeteries had become overcrowded

Paris in the 18th century by Étienne Jeaurat – WikiCommons

If you know anything about European history (or history in general, really) you know that our ancestors didn’t live as cleanly as we do. In their defense, they didn’t know any better! Streets were often made of mud and dirt, and people tended to throw their trash (including human waste, and gross) out the window onto the roads. And, in times of major disease, even the dead were left on the side of the street until someone would bring them to a cemetery to be buried.

By the 18th century, the cemeteries in Paris had grown extremely overcrowded. Those who lived close to them complained of strong odors and even started to get sick themselves. Something needed to be done, and fast.

3. The original entrance to the Catacombs was in Montrouge

In response to the complaints and the arising health problems, the city of Paris decided to bring bodies out of the city. The solution? An abandoned quarry in Montrouge, a small town just outside of the capital. The quarry was made up of tunnels that led into Paris.

In 1785, the city began moving bodies out of Saints-Innocents, a long-closed cemetery in the center of Paris. The graves were moved during the night to avoid upsetting Parisians. Hundreds of bodies were transferred from 1785 up until the French Revolution.

4. When Paris got a makeover in the 19th century, so did the Catacombs

Paris before Haussmann. Panorama de Paris – Pris de la tour Saint Jacques, ca. 1865 by Charles Soulier courtesy of The United States Library of Congress – WikiCommons

In 1840, Napoleon III, alongside the famous city planner Baron Haussmann, decided to give Paris a facelift. They completely remodeled much of the city (you can still find parts of the old city in Le Marais), opening up crowded sections to introduce the wide boulevards that we see today.

The large-scale renovation involved moving more graves into the Catacombs. The site was officially named the “Paris Municipal Ossuary” in 1860 and was quickly dubbed the “Catacombs,” a nod to the recently discovered Roman Catacombs in Italy. There are over 6 million people now buried there.

5. The Catacombs were opened to the public and Parisians loved the creepy landmark

Paris Catacombs by Vlastul – WikiCommons

You technically could visit the Catacombs from 1809 on. In the early days, you were required to make an appointment to see them as the site was dangerous and unstable. In 1810, to make the area safe to visit, the Catacombs were temporarily closed and redesigned.

Today, you can visit a specific section of the Catacombs and you don’t need an appointment. You’re required to stay in the designated area, however, which means that much of the Catacombs remain closed to the public.

6. There are people known to break into the off-limits sections of the Catacombs

A Hidden Portion of the Catacombs by TheDigitalArtist- Needpix

The majority of the Paris population may be too scared to venture down to the off-limits sections of the Catacombs (there have been several stories and legends about people who went down never to come back up again!), but there is one brave group of explorers who don’t let the law get in the way of their fun.

Dubbed cataphiles for their interest in the Catacombs, these clandestine groups take advantage of the space under the city. People go swimming there, a secret movie theatre was once discovered, and the Paris police once found an all-out restaurant in the Catacombs.

7. Robbers once drilled through a wall in the Catacombs to rob a Parisian apartment

Map of the visitable Catacombs, drawn by the IGC (Inspection Générale des Carrières) in 1858 – WikiCommons

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More sinister characters have used the Catacombs to commit serious crimes. In 2017, a group of robbers broke into a Parisian apartment’s wine cellar through the underground tunnels. There were over 300 bottles of vintage wine taken, valued at close to 250,000 euros!

8. mushrooms are growing in the Catacombs

The Catacombs of Paris by Jorge Láscar – Flickr

In the 19th century, a man named Monsieur Chambery was exploring the Catacombs when he discovered a patch of mushrooms growing. He decided to start planting his crops, and soon other people followed. These new mushroom growers were even recognized by the Horticultural Society of Paris!

9. During World War II, the French Resistance movement utilized the Catacombs

The entrance to a secret Nazi bunker called Le Bunker de Passy by 4.4.2 Explorations – Flickr

Paris was an occupied city during WWII, with Germany under control. The French Resistance emerged at the beginning of the war as a way to save Jewish people and others who were stuck in the city. The movement would go on to play an important role in the Allies’ victory over Nazi Germany.

French Resistance fighters took advantage of the elaborate system of tunnels to outsmart the Germans on many occasions. Unfortunately, the Nazis were also aware of the Catacombs and also used them to their advantage.

10. Admire interesting art in the Catacombs, if you dare

The Barrel in Catacombs of Paris – WikiCommons

I’ve already mentioned that you can visit the Catacombs today! You’ll find hundreds, if not thousands of bones. Some have been arranged into patterns that line the walls, while others have been made into pieces of art.

One of the more famous structures is called the “Barrel,” which also acts as a support beam. As you can see above, it gets its name from its round shape.

There are other works to be seen such as the sculptures of the quarry miner François Décure. Knowing the conditions down in the Catacombs (damp, dark, creepy), they are impressive, to say the least!

11. The Catacombs house the Remains of Over Six Million Dead Parisians

Paris catacombs from Dale Cruse – Wikimedia Commons

In the 18th century, the cemeteries of the ever-growing city of Paris were running out of space. If that wasn’t bad enough, some bodies weren’t buried properly and were spreading disease. Ultimately, Parisian officials chose to condemn the city’s cemeteries and move the remains they contained elsewhere.

The officials turned to some of the city’s underground quarries. They were able to organize the movement of more than six million bodies underground from the 1780s to 1814. They were all taken from previously existing graveyards throughout Paris. The dead were transported via carts and deposited in their final resting place

12. The Catacombs were established to replace a crumbling medieval cemetery

Paris catacombs by Dale Cruse – Wikimedia Commons

The Roman city of Lutetia extended on the Left Bank of the River Seine which means that the city’s first burial grounds were located here as well in what was then the city’s southern outskirts. 

Following the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, the city expanded on the Right Bank of the River Seine. The main cemetery of the medieval city was located right next to Les Halles, the main marketplace of Paris back then.

Starting in 1130, this cemetery was referred to as the “Holy Innocents’ Cemetery.” Multiple centuries later, this cemetery was packed with remains of the dead into a mound that reached a height of over 2 meters.

In the year 1780, a gruesome collapse of one of the cemetery’s basements urged King Louis XVI to do something about the situation, and the idea to stack the remains into the former mine shafts came about.

13. Moving the remains from the cemeteries of Paris into the Catacombs took 12 years

Paris catacombs by Dale Cruse – Wikimedia Commons

By the 18th century, the cemeteries in Paris had grown extremely overcrowded. Those who lived close to them complained of strong odors and even started to get sick themselves. Something needed to be done, and fast.

The process of moving the remains from the cemeteries of Paris into the Catacombs was a complex process that took over 12 years to complete.

The first cemetery emptied was Les Innocents which, after a long spring of rain, caused bodies to spill out when a wall crumbled. The bodies were moved under the cover of darkness, to tamp down on reactions from the Church and Parisians.

14. A group of criminals used the catacombs to pull off a wine heist

Entrance of Paris Catacombs by Campola – Wikimedia Commons

In 2017 though, a group of criminals used the catacombs to pull off one of the biggest wine heists in recent memory. 

The thieves in question drilled into a wine cellar from the catacombs and made off with more than 300 bottles of vintage wine, reportedly worth €250,000. 

15. The catacombs are so big people get lost

Paris catacombs by Dale Cruse – Wikimedia Commons

The catacombs are thought to be some 300 km in size, reaching depths of some 60 meters (200 ft) below sea level. Moreover, large portions of the catacombs remain uncharted and unmapped, with some areas simply being too difficult to access.

Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of stories of people getting lost down there. Most are unconfirmed. In 2017, two teenagers almost suffered a tragic fate after getting lost in the catacombs for three days. Thankfully, in this case, some fire service dogs managed to sniff out and find the pair.

16. The Paris catacombs used to have a different name

It wasn’t always known as the Paris catacombs. Because of a shortage of space, Paris’ greatest cemetery, which had been used for generations to bury the dead, had to be closed. It was then necessary to relocate the remains from that location. To serve as final resting places for the dead remains, underground quarry sites were prepared.

On April 7, 1786, the Paris Municipal Ossuary was finally inaugurated. Even though the ossuary occupied a relatively small portion of the mines, this location eventually came to be known as a catacomb by those who were fascinated by Roman catacombs.

17. It was a bunch of mines before it became a tomb

Dale Cruse from San Francisco, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The area was originally a collection of mines known as the Tombe-Issoire quarries before becoming a graveyard.

It was mined for Lutetian limestone, a specific type of limestone. Around the 15th and 16th centuries, this limestone was used for several structures in Paris, including the Louvre Museum, Les Invalides, and others. When there were no more stones in the quarries, miners stopped to use the shafts, and the quarries were abandoned.

18. Famous people have visited the tombs

In 1809, the public was allowed access to the ossuary, or catacombs as they are now known. For many years, the only way to get inside was to put your name in a register that was kept at the door.

This made it possible to keep an eye on how many individuals were using the tunnels while also recording their visits. As notable people were buried there, some famous people came to pay their respects, while others visited the catacomb out of curiosity. Among them were Napoleon III and his son, Charles X (Count of Artois), the former emperor of Austria, and Francis I.

19. There’s a “gate of hell” below

Here is another scary fact about the Paris catacombs! The Barrière d’Enfer tollhouses, which are located on the outskirts of Paris, were once city gates (Gate of Hell).

Despite not being used for what they were designed for, the structures are still there. Others believe that the gates were given their name after the notoriously criminal Rue d’Enfer. Some argue that it might be a result of the construction material (en fer, which is French for “of iron”) used to make them. Nonetheless, the catacombs extend south from these Gates regardless of the name’s origin.

20. The bones were rearranged from 1810 to 1814

Rijin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Louis-Étienne Héricart de Thury, a French mining engineer and politician, chose to rearrange the bones between 1810 and 1814. The place where the bones were first dumped became a museum where they were presented as pieces of art.

Since then, people have valued artistic exhibitions and macabre art has its fan base. Bones and skulls were organized in shapes, used as archways, and placed in patterns.

Ghosts and Legends: 10 Haunting Tales from the Catacombs

You think you’ve heard scary until you read about the infamous Catacombs of Paris – hundreds of miles of dark, twisting tunnels lined with the bones of the dead. Join me if you dare as we explore 10 chilling tales that have emerged from this labyrinth beneath the City of Lights.

As an avid explorer obsessed with the paranormal, I live for that spine-tingling rush that comes from a true haunting. Follow along nervously as I recount eyewitness stories of ghostly figures, strange noises, and an evil presence lurking in the shadows.

We’ll unpack local legends of restless spirits that refuse to leave their underground tomb. With each creepy tale, we reveal, the line between myth and reality starts to blur. You won’t believe the terrifying mysteries we unravel in the catacomb’s claustrophobic darkness.

Let’s jointly confront our worst fears as we review these hair-raising stories from the crypts. Just be warned – you may never want to set foot underground again after hearing these chilling tales!

1. Some adventurous individuals have entered the catacombs and never returned

Shadowgate from Novara, ITALY, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

There are instances where adventurous individuals have entered catacombs and faced perilous outcomes. Catacombs, underground burial sites often with intricate tunnels, exist in various parts of the world, such as Paris and Rome.

Explorers, thrill-seekers, or trespassers occasionally venture into these subterranean labyrinths, sometimes encountering dangers like cave-ins, getting lost, or facing environmental hazards.

In some cases, individuals have entered illegally, leading to tragic consequences as they navigate the dark and complex passages. While urban legends may exaggerate the frequency, caution, and adherence to safety regulations are crucial for anyone considering entering such underground spaces.

2. Rumors persist about secret societies conducting meetings in hidden chambers within the catacombs

Rumors and myths have long persisted about secret societies and cults using the catacombs for clandestine meetings and rituals, but there is no definitive evidence to support these claims.

The vast, maze-like nature of the catacombs certainly creates an air of mystery and intrigue. Additionally, some chambers deep within the tunnels are still unmapped or closed off, fueling speculation about what may transpire in these off-limits areas.

However, while legends of secret gatherings in the catacombs continue to captivate the imagination, most historians agree these stories are unsubstantiated.

The catacombs’ sheer size and the logistical difficulties of accessing remote areas have likely contributed to myths about covert activities that remain unproven despite their persistent mystique.

3. Legends tell of sealed-off chambers within the catacombs, rumored to contain ancient artifacts or forbidden knowledge

Cesar I. Martins from Jundiai, Brazil, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Legends persist of sealed-off chambers deep within the catacombs, shrouded in mystery and believed to harbor ancient artifacts or forbidden knowledge.

Speculation surrounds these concealed spaces, sparking imaginations with tales of arcane rituals, hidden manuscripts, and elusive relics. The notion of secret chambers adds an air of intrigue to the catacombs, suggesting that beneath the surface lies undiscovered wisdom or enigmatic treasures.

While historical evidence may be lacking, the allure of these sealed realms contributes to the captivating lore surrounding the subterranean world.

4. Visitors often report hearing strange sounds, echoes, or whispers within the narrow passages

Visitors navigating the dimly lit passages frequently report eerie encounters—strange sounds, mysterious echoes, and haunting whispers.

The underground labyrinth’s acoustics contribute to an atmosphere of spectral resonance, where every footstep or rustle takes on a ghostly quality. Whether these auditory phenomena stem from natural echoes of the hidden mysteries of the catacombs remains uncertain.

Nonetheless, the persistent tales of both sealed chambers and otherworldly sounds enhance the mystique of this subterranean realm, fostering an environment where history and imagination intertwine in haunting harmony.

5. Visitors have reported seeing a ghostly figure resembling a quarry worker from the catacombs’

Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

Reports from visitors within the catacombs include sightings of a ghostly figure resembling a quarry worker. Witnesses describe encountering an ethereal presence, often dressed in attire reminiscent of historical laborers in the catacombs.

These apparitions, though fleeting, contribute to the eerie ambiance, suggesting a spectral connection to the site’s past.

Whether these encounters are manifestations of residual energy, vivid imagination, or something unexplained, the tales of ghostly quarry workers add to the catalog of mysterious and haunting experiences reported by those who venture into the subterranean depths of the catacombs.

6. Moans and phantom footsteps of restless spirits echo through the tunnels at night

Reports persist of moans and phantom footsteps echoing through the catacombs’ tunnels at night, contributing to the belief in restless spirits haunting the subterranean passages.

Visitors describe chilling encounters with unseen entities as if the very stone walls carry the echoes of departed souls. These nocturnal phenomena add an unsettling dimension to the catacombs, fueling the perception of an otherworldly presence.

Whether attributed to atmospheric conditions, psychological effects, or something beyond explanation, the tales of haunted sounds enhance the mystique of the catacombs as a realm where the boundary between the living and the departed seems to blur in the darkness.

7. A group of 18th-century cataphiles get lost and slowly driven mad by hunger and the never-ending tunnels

Rc1959, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The legend persists that in the 18th century, a group of catacomb enthusiasts, known as cataphiles, became lost within the labyrinthine tunnels, succumbing to madness due to hunger and seemingly endless passages.

While the specific historical accuracy of this tale is challenging to verify, it has become part of the lore surrounding the catacombs.

The story serves as a cautionary reminder of the complexities and potential dangers of navigating the subterranean network, contributing to the mystique surrounding those who dare to explore the depths beneath the City of Light.

8. There is a ghost of a young woman dressed in 19th-century garb who wanders searching for her lost love

Legend has it that within the catacombs, a ghostly figure, a young woman adorned in 19th-century attire, roams the passages in perpetual search for her lost love.

The spectral presence adds a poignant and romantic element to the subterranean lore, with tales describing her melancholic journey through the labyrinthine tunnels.

Whether rooted in historical accounts, imaginative storytelling, or atmospheric experiences, the ghostly apparition contributes to the enduring mystique of the catacombs as a space where echoes of love and loss resonate through the ages.

9. There was a killer known as “The Catacomb Butcher” who disposed of his victims within the tunnels in the 1950s

Dale Cruse from San Francisco, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The chilling legend persists of a 1950s killer dubbed “The Catacomb Butcher,” believed to have disposed of victims within the catacombs. This macabre tale weaves a narrative of dark deeds beneath the City of Light, with the killer exploiting the subterranean labyrinth for nefarious purposes.

While historical evidence of such a figure is lacking, the legend adds a sinister layer to the catacombs’ mystique.

The notion of a hidden killer using the tunnels as a gruesome hiding place evokes a sense of dread, transforming the underground realm into a haunting landscape where shadows conceal the secrets of a bygone, macabre era.

10. There is a discovery of an ancient cursed relic that drives its finder in the catacombs insane

Legend has it that the catacombs conceal an ancient cursed relic, discovered by a hapless seeker. This malevolent artifact, once unearthed, is said to cast a dark enchantment, driving its finder to madness.

Tales circulate of individuals who, drawn by the allure of hidden treasures, encountered the cursed relic and succumbed to its sinister influence within the subterranean depths.

While historical documentation may be lacking, the legend speaks to the enduring fascination with the catacombs as a realm where the line between reality and the supernatural becomes blurred, and where the pursuit of forbidden knowledge can lead to ominous consequences.

These haunting tales from the catacombs blur the line between myth and reality. While firsthand accounts evoke terror, much remains steeped in legend. Exploring these stories has been a thrilling way to confront fears of the unknown and reflect on our mortality.

Emerging from the darkness, one feels humbled by the resilience of the human spirit. Though the restless dead haunt the imagination, the living possess the power to find meaning. With courage and an open mind, peace can be made with the past.

As we close the book on these macabre mysteries, may we remember that even in the shadows, light persists if you keep an eye out for it. The unknown loses its grip when we cling to hope.

Conclusion

If you’re in Paris and you’ve already seen landmarks like the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe, head to a lesser-known monument like the Catacombs. It’s a unique experience but be warned that it’s not for the feign of heart. And, it’s also important to remember that the Catacombs are a grave first and foremost, so you should be respectful.

If you don’t want to brave it alone, consider joining our Catacombs of Paris guided tour! Click here to learn more and make a booking.