France
The Catacomb Museum 1, place Denfert-Rochereau 75014 Paris
France
Tel: 33 (0) 1-43-22-47-63
L'Empire de la Mort reads the sign over the archway 20 meters below the city of Paris in the silent tunnels of a very old limestone quarry. "Stop! Here is the Empire of the Dead" is the translation. Once you walk through the arch, you're greeted by millions of human bones. Rows of skulls stare out at you from a retaining wall of leg and arm bones. The skulls form macabre patterns throughout the maze-like tunnels. There are patterns of skulls displayed in valentine heart-shapes, Christian crosses, arcs, and columns of bones and skulls all adorn the edges of the tunnels. The human re- mains housed in here—more than 6 million bodies representing 30 generations of Parisians—were moved to the underground tunnels between 1785 and 1859 because the cemeteries of Paris were overflowing with rotting corpses. With so many dead disturbed, it's little wonder why so many consider these tunnels to be haunted.
The limestone quarries began in 60 b.c.e. by the Romans. They used the build materials to construct ramparts and buildings for the city that would become Paris. Over the centuries, the city grew—its buildings became taller, and the city spread across the landscape. More building materials were needed, and the only direction left to go was down.
More than 300 kilometers of tunnels were carved under the city of Paris—a city that was constantly growing in population and size. As the buildings closed in around the cemeteries that were once on the outskirts of town, there was no longer room for the bodies. As the rotting bodies spilled into the streets and buildings, people who lived close by found themselves getting sick from the terrible smell. So the bodies were moved into the quarrying tunnels below the city. People have claimed to hear voices in the tunnels. Darting shadows have been seen by those who pass through, and some psychically sensitive people have claimed to get impressions from some of the various skulls and bones that are intertwined with so many others.