Follow me down into the Catacombs of Paris
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I recommend that you listen to this song and its slowly built up panic and rage while reading this...
'The Catacombs of Paris or Catacombes de Paris are an underground ossuary in Paris, France.
Most of Paris's larger churches once had their own cemeteries, but city growth and generations of dead began to overwhelm them. From the late seventeenth century, Paris's largest Les Innocents cemetery was saturated to a point where its neighbors were suffering from disease, due to contamination caused by improper burials, open mass graves, and earth charged with decomposing organic matter.
After almost a century of ineffective decrees condemning the cemetery, it was finally decided to create three new large-scale suburban cemeteries and to condemn all existing within the city limits; the remains of all condemned cemeteries would be moved discreetly to a renovated section of Paris's abandoned quarries'.
From wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombes_de_Paris.
The truth is that no matter how much you read about it, NOTHING can prepare you for the feeling you get when you are actually down there. If you go, I recommend you put on some haunting music and your headphones, stay a bit behind, and isolate yourself.
20 meters below ground level, you walk for 500 meters through small and narrow corridors, and you reach the core of the Catacombs of Paris. Everywhere around you, you see piles of bones and skulls. Piles which are sometimes decorated in certain ways.
This is a massive tunnel system. You can't actually take a wrong turn because the path for the public is controlled, but MY GOD if you did. You'd be lost forever. No one would hear you. No one but the dead, that is. No night or day, just a permanent hazy darkness. It's the kind of place that if you spend too much time in, you'll start to hear whispers. Voices. Spend even more, and you'll start to obey them, too. It's not ghosts and zombies that you should be scared of down there, no. It's yourself. The games that your mind will start to play on you. The hallucinations. The steel-like taste of self-induced panic and fear. The adrenaline pumping through your veins. And the smell...that indescribable smell of death. Smell of lives long gone, of veins long drained, of flesh long rotten. Tricky preaches life is like a movie, it's like a blow to my head. If that's true, then what is death like? Descent into the claustrophobic morbidness of the catacombs and you'll find out...
BOO!
Comments (31)
Looks opening scenes of Herzog's Nosferaturu
Why thank you, I try ;o)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
HA! Bet you're wishing you've given me some candy now!
I'd love to check that out.
Run away!!!!! Scary!
Greg, it's a great experience. If you ever go there, remember to have your mp3 player with you :)
Run, Kori, run! But give me some chocolate before you do heheheh :D
lol did you say chocolate? I happen to have some lovely dark chocolate sticks here.. have a few! they are nommie!
Wow, Anna. This is Palin-as-VP scary!
Kori, I always say chocolate. Even when I say "candy", "cake", "cheese cake", what I'm really saying is "CHOCOLATE!" ahahhaha
Why thank you very much! Delicious :)
Fluxy, I'm honoured. That's as scary as it gets..... Palin or treat!
aaaaaaaaahhhhk
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... lovely
Wow. Great track, spooky narrative and scary photos; an altogether perfect Boo-day experience. This is why you are the queen Anna.
Did you take those pictures yourself?
Nick...you've scared me with your posts so many times these past few days, that I had to scare you back at least once! Hehehe
Aww thank you, Daniel! I'm on a major Halloween kick.
I'm no queen! Queen of the dead maybe...mwuahahhaha!
Yes, I did. Some are a bit hazy because the artificial light down there is very low, but I think that works in favour of the spookiness :)
A good reason to be cremated, but how big would my Carbon footprint be then?
sweet! and great soundtrack.
it's inspired me to dust off some of the old Tricky / trip-hop albums.
saw a special on these, would kill to see them in person
thats frackin intense yo.
okay, even the photos gave me chills. i could NEVER go down there...
Freaky. Did you just recently visit the catacombs A? Or did you just save the experience to post about near Halloween? Cool Tricky track too, quite deliciously devilish!
Funny that you talk about being scared of yourself. We ultimately are the only ones to be frightened of aren't we?
"And the smell...that indescribable smell of death. Smell of lives long gone, of veins long drained, of flesh long rotten." - well now you're just talking sexy. ;p
what a trip this post is, darksis. perfect with the Tricky tune. and those lovely morbid photos. a good friend also tells me i should visit the Paris ossuaries. i'd bet i'll return so often they'll give me my own parking space ...and graveyard space, possibly.
That looks like the inside of my head.
Eep! I've seen documentaries about the catacombs, but never had the "pleasure" of venturing in myself. Whenever I manage to get off this continent onto yours, I'll add that to the itinerary.
But I probably wouldn't watch this video first. Creepy!
That is tops on my list if I ever get back there. Spooooky post!
Yeah, the catacombs in Paris aren't bad at all. The ones in Rome are even more extensive, though, and there are several of them. I've only seen one of them; another one has a network of crypt galleries about 12 miles long if I recall right. I'm still bummed that during my last visit to Rome in 2004 the Capuchin Church was closed for renovations, so that I couldn't get to see the Capuchin Crypt beneath it. The crypt contains bones of over 4,000 monks, some of them still in the full skeletal form, many arranged in patterns. I want to see it, badly.
Neill, only one way to find out mwuahhahaha!
Thank you very much, Erin! And I'm really glad that you will dust off those sonical gems...they are really worth it.
Kevin, well, come to the UK, and we'll take a speed trip to the catacombs (killing is not mandatory....I think) :)
Sam, why thanks! BOO! And then some :)
ardyjormkiv, chills are good, very good! Promise.... /evil laugh
Uncle A, I visited them last May. I never posted about my trip to Paris, but when Halloween was upon us, I thought this would be appropriate :)
True dat. It's exactly why I keep treating myself, I want to be on my good side :o)
poe, awww shanks! You're the uber macabre sexy talker, I am just an amateur :)
Thank you very much. You'd feel right at home down there, I know I did.
Jonh, in that case, you should have tickets for people who want a peak. Being John Ingham would be an appropriate title for the concept, methinks ;)
See how many erm, goodies our continent has, Dale? You need to visit us ASAP!
Your video, omg, your video! *runs away screaming!*
You won't be disappointed, Kev! Thank you, monsieur :)
Pekka, I just followed that link and all I have to say is HOLY CRAP. Disturbing, breath-taking, and I MUST SEE IT IN PERSON. I know what I'll be dreaming about tonight.
Damn, Anna! That's Creep City - with a side of "Yikes!" and a smidgen of "Uh-oh!" Very...Tricky of you.
I've been meaning to go down there for years, but have yet to make the trip. Next jaunt to Paris, f'sure.
As it happens, one of my fave cartoons is a French, post-"Batman: The Animated Series" program from 2000-2001 about a mysterious phantom named Belphégor who lurks in the catacombs and haunts Paris, while the police and a pair of journalists try to uncover the truth about him and stop his evil plans. That's right. His EVIL plans...heh, heh, heh.
These look really interesting/creepy and i have been meaning to go!
I dont know about you but i think radiohead songs would be perfect to sort of let go and think
great post - love the music too. Very ominous beginning.
I've never been to the Catacombs in France - apparently they're spectacular and I love how vividly you describe them. I did, however go to a much smaller catacomb in Assisi, Italy - under this town small town, though still thriving even 200 years after an earthquake almost destroyed it all. It's a pretty creepy feeling being underground with no escape in a small dark, cramped space, surrounded by death.
To the comment above me - Radiohead would be great, but what could really get you going is TOOL - No Quarter (cover of Led Zeppelin) or TOOL - Pushit (Salival edition) both on Salival Album that comes with DVD. Amazing.
I agree "No quarter" would be great
"house of cards" by radiohead
i dont know if im just getting carried away but "Untitled" by Interpol
"ocean of noice" Arcade Fire
"the eraser" Thom Yorke
this might not fit at all but, "into dust" by Mazzy Star
I am new to mog sort of and i love finding good music. but i would love to know what other people think :)
Why thank you, Mikey! I was on a big spooky kick mwuahahahha!
That cartoon sounds amazing....can we have a link it? Or its artwork? Can we can we?! :)
Chocodile, thank you very much!
"It's a pretty creepy feeling being underground with no escape in a small dark, cramped space, surrounded by death" excellent description! Now I really want to visit Italy and investigate its macabre offerings. Thanks for sharing that.
As far as Tool is concerned, I prefer my creepy music to be more on the quiet side, but I totally understand why and how it works for ya :)
geopug, Untitled, Ocean of Noise, and The Eraser work just fiiiiine for me :)
I also like Radiohead's Idioteque (you get lost in the catacombs, and you have Yorke saying "this is really happening" in your ear, GREAT!) and Emilie Simon's victorian-tasting cover of Come As You Are for this:
Catacombs of Paris playlist, yay!
This was all I could find on short notice, Anna. Not the best image and only the credits, but, as I said, very much in the mode of "Batman: TAS." Only Frenchier. It just makes me wanna see a complete episode again...