The Catacombs of Paris

by Micah Brewer

Photo by National Geographic, photographer Stephen Alvarez

Deep under the streets of Paris lie a labyrinth of tunnels stretching eleven-thousand square miles with walls lined of bones. The bones used to construct these come from the millions of people that were transferred to the catacombs from graveyards in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Graveyards such as Cimetière des Innocents, were considered threats to the public. The overcrowded graveyards were detrimental to the overall health and cleanliness of the city due to the smell of the graveyards and the bacteria. The catacombs are known for housing a few notable figures such as Madame Elisabeth, Simon Vouet, and Salomen De Brosse.

Some people who decide to venture off into the dark depths of the catacombs do not always return to the surface. Some individuals who have returned claim to hear the walls speaking to them after midnight. The eerie voices were encouraging them to lose their way by travelling deeper into the tunnels and suffer a horrible death. Catacomb explorers recovered video evidence of this. The video displayed a man wandering, without direction, deeper into the dark pathways of the Paris catacombs. Eventually, the man panics and drops the camera. He is then seen running off into a dark corridor. It is also believed that different cults steal bodies from morgues which are then brought into the catacombs for satanic rituals.

Catophiles is the name given to the people who enjoy being in the catacombs and exploring them. Catophiles often throw parties in the tunnels of the catacombs. Catophiles also journey into unmapped areas of the catacombs in search of naturally made swimming pools. To reach these pools they must venture into claustrophobia-inducing tunnels and wade through murky waters to reach a natural oasis.

Organized catacomb tours are offered to the public in Paris. A ticket can be purchased for as low as twenty-nine euros which is equivalent to thirty-three dollars and six cents in U.S. currency. It is best to stay with your tour group to reduce this risk of getting lost and to reduce the likelihood that the walls will start talking to you.

Works Cited:
Roger-Viollet, “The Origin of the Catacombs.” Les Catacombs, 2018, http://www.catacombes.paris.fr/en/catacombs

Hill, Jacob, “Ten bone-chilling facts about the catacombs in Paris.” Listverse.com, 2018, http://listverse.com/2018/05/14/10-bone-chilling-facts-about-the-catacombs-of-paris/

Cooney, Caroline H., “Ten chilling stories from catacombs around the world.” Graveyardshift.com, https://www.ranker.com/list/ghost-stories-about-haunted-catacombs/caroline-cooney, accessed 2018

Further research links:
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/france/paris/articles/forbidden-paris-the-secret-world-of-the-parisian-catacombs/
The link above gives you a more in-depth explanation of the history and structure of the Paris Catacombs.

https://epicpew.com/interesting-facts-catacombs-book-review/
The link above gives us more interesting facts about the catacombs.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/archaeology/rome-catacombs/
The link above gives you insight into the Rome catacombs to compare and contrast with the Paris catacombs.

The Ideal Palace

Kayla Heyward

Looking up at the image above, you may be wondering what this large piece of artwork is. This artwork is known as a place called “The Palais Ideal” (Ideal Palace), also known as the Postman’s Palace. This beautiful four-sided castle is made from limestone, cement, stones, and wire. In 1879, it was built in Hauterives, France by a man named Ferdinand Cheval. Ferdinand “Postman” Cheval was born in 1836 in the French commune of Charmes-sur-Herbasse. Cheval had received a minimal amount of formal education. At the age of thirteen he dropped out of school to become a baker’s apprentice, but he ended up becoming a postman instead. This is where his nickname Postman Cheval came from.

So you may be wondering how did an ordinary man like him built such a magnificent creation. It began in 1864 after Cheval had a dream about building the Palais Ideal. But he never shared this with anyone, because he was afraid of the thought of being laughed at. So fifth teen years after this he had nearly forgotten this dream. Until one day in April 1879 while he was on his regular mail routine and he tripped on a stone. So Cheval stopped to examine the oddly shaped stone, which he found interesting and decided to keep it.  The next day he went back to the same spot and found some more unique stones that he took back home. From this day forward, Cheval began a 27 year period of collecting stones. Cheval would carry these stones in his pants pockets, until his wife started complaining of his pants become worn from the weight of the rocks. So he decided to start using a basket, but since the stones weighed so much he had to use a new strategy. That’s when Cheval began to start using a wheelbarrow. For the next thirty years Cheval’s wheelbarrow would become a big contribution to building his magical garden. To complete his project he would go on his regular mail route and any stone he saw along the way, he would mark them so he could come back to find them. Then after his rounds he would return with his wheelbarrow to pick up the stones that he marked. Every stone he collected would become step closer to his dream coming to life.

Cheval quoted “Since Nature provided me with sculptures I shall become an architect and a mason (besides who isn’t a bit of a mason?). While tramping I thought of Napoleon who said the word ‘impossible’ does not or should not exist. Since then I agree with him. The word impossible no longer exists.” With this quote and these rocks of varied and unique shape would inspire Cheval to create his “fairytale- like palace”, the Palais Ideal. Cheval devoted 33 years of his life to build his dream palace. 

Works Cited:

“Palais Ideal.” PBS.com, 2016 www.pbs.org/independentlens/offthemap/html/travelogue_artist_4.htm?true. Accessed on 11 Oct. 2016

Mitchell, Beverley. “Postman builds incredible palace from thousands of pebbles in Southeast France.” inhabitat, inhabitat.com/le-palais-ideal-industrious-postman-builds-a-palace-of-pebbles-in-south-east-france/. Accessed on 11 Oct. 2016

Kavshik. “The Postman Who Built a Palace With Stones Collected Over 33 Years.” Amusing Planet, 22 May. 2011, www.amusingplanet.com/2011/05/postman-who-built-palace-with-stones.html.

Links for further research:

http://www.facteurcheval.com/en/index.html

The link above directs you the Palais Ideal website which gives you the history, videos/pictures, and tour dates of the palace.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/le-palais-ideal

The link above provides a brief history, Google map of the location, and pictures of the Ideal Palace. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noeQNfFFTuM

The link above provides a video that gives a tour of the palace while giving you a brief history along with the tour. 

The Beast of Gevaudan

Darrell Craig

The Beast of Gevaudan was one the first serial killers recorded in the world’s history. This animal, or demon as some may recognize, was double the size of a normal wolf and had many ways that were different from the way it lived and hunted. This beast terrorized the south-central mountains of France for years before they “killed” it. The story goes back to the first recorded sighting in 1764. There were many distinct features on the beast which included: sharp long teeth, coarse black hair, and a very massive body. This animal was the perfect killing machine, its body was perfectly made to survive in the mountains of France which is also a factor of why it took so long for them to “kill” the beast. Many victims had their lives taken by this beast and only some were lucky enough to live another day after the encounter with the beast.

There were many ways the citizens of France could tell if the beast of Gevaudan had struck or not. The beast usually only attacked women and children. Their bodies would be found sometimes unclothed, or with their throats ripped out, and in many of the cases their bodies would drained of blood. This caused many of the people to say “werewolf” or even “demon”. The beast had taken over 200 lives while it made its way through France. Many of the people became outraged by the animal and started to go out and hunt the beast. They would begin to cover the land in small groups. Then soon as time passed the searches became large parties of men, and soon after that a whole army of men began to search for the beast. The beast even got the attention of King Louis XV who sent much of his army to find and kill the beast. The search went on for a while and many rewards were offered for the capture of the beast. During the search for the beast, there were hundreds of wolves were massacred. The population of the wolves were troubled in that area after this. The reason of the killing of the wolves was thought that they could have also been apart of the murders as well and not just the beast alone. In 1767, the beast disappeared around the middle of that year. Many say that the vast amount of poisoned carcasses are what drove the beast out the area. There were no more reports or sighting of the animal after that year. 

Many people today struggle, including myself, to grasp if this creature actually existed or not. This could’ve easily been a rather large wolf that people could’ve mistaken as a werewolf simply because of its size in general. The blood being drained from their bodies was another factor of the werewolf conspiracy. The only facts that are truly held firm are that people were dying in large numbers and in a span of three years without any explanation. The victims were obviously attacked and killed viciously with evidence of it being an animal. Many will never know if the beast did really exist or if this was simply an overgrown wolf. All we know for sure is the murders stopped in 1767 and did not continue. 

Works Cited:

GuestBlogger. “Solving the Mystery of the 18^th Century Killer Beast of Gevaudan” National       Geographic. 27 September 2016. http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/27/solving-the-mystery-of-the-18th-century-killer-beast-of-gevaudan/

Linda Duprat, Slideshare. 15 November 2015. https://johnknifton.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/222222.jpg      

theCajun Cutthroat. The Beast of Gevaudan-The True Story. 18 November 2011. Youtube.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fyTL50hQKM

Tricurioso.http://www.tricurioso.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/besta-gevaudan-eutesalvo-tricurioso-2.jpg

"Gevaudan Beast."Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers Harrap, 2007. http://library.usca.edu:2048/login?qurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.credoreference.com%2Fcontent%2Fentry%2Fchambun%2Fg%25C3%25A9vaudan_beast%2F0. Accessed 19 Oct 2016

The Ideal Palace, Hauterives, France

Author: Ashley Henderson

Hauterives is a small French town that is home to the Ideal Palace built by Postman Cheval. Hauterives is home to other popular sites but most people are interested in the Ideal Palace. Ferdinand “Postman” Cheval was born in 1836 Charmes-sur-Herbasse in France. He left school at the age of thirteen to become an apprentice in a bakery, but after working there for a while he changed his mind and decided to apply for a position as a letter carrier. This is how his nickname Postman Cheval came about. Delivering mail to all the farms was an extremely hard job, because the farms were so spaced out throughout the city, he often had to sleep in barns or in open fields until the next morning. During his mail runs, he used to keep a small journal with him and write about how his day had went. One quote he wrote, “"What else is there to do when one is constantly walking in the same setting, apart from dreaming? To fill my thoughts, I built in my dreams a magical palace…"  This quote is a foreshadow for his next amazing adventure. One day while walking his mail route he stumbled across an oddly shaped stone, he was taken aback by its size and shape. He took the stone home and from there on out this particular stone started the pathway for what became known as ideal fantasy castle. "Whatever your age, whatever your wish to achieve, if you are courageous, persistent and hard-working, you are sure to succeed."
~ Ferdinand Cheval

Works Cited: 

Wild,Fida.” Palais Ideal, Hauterives, France, A Fantasy Castle”(http://www.unusual-travel-destinations.com/Palais_Ideal.html) Web

Links for Further Research:

Postman Chevals Ideal Palace

 facteurcheval.com 

Googlebooks-Life Magazine

book.google.com

artdesigncafe

 Artdesigncafe.com

All three sites provides information about Postman Chevals life and why he decided to build the Ideal Palace.