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Haunted places in France
What are the most haunted places in France? The best-known are Catacombs of Paris, Petit Trianon, Versailles, Château de Brissac and Château de Puymartin, among 7 on file.
France’s ghost lore is written into its stone. The Loire valley and the Dordogne are crowded with châteaux, and many come with a lady in green, grey or white: the Green Lady of Brissac, said to be a daughter of Charles VII killed by her husband in 1477, or the White Lady of Puymartin, walled up in her tower in the Périgord. Beneath Paris, the bones of some six million people line the old quarries of the Catacombs, the city’s municipal ossuary since 1786.
- 7 hauntings
- 12 recorded sightings
Haunted places in France
Catacombs of Paris
Twenty metres under Paris, the bones of some six million people line old quarry tunnels – a city museum wrapped in legends of lost souls. Widely reported
Petit Trianon, Versailles
In 1901 two Oxford academics said they saw Marie Antoinette in the gardens of the Petit Trianon – the most famous ‘time slip’ ghost story ever told. Widely reported
Château de Brissac
The Loire’s tallest château, home of the Dukes of Brissac, is said to be haunted by the Green Lady – a king’s daughter killed by her husband in 1477. Widely reported
Château de Puymartin
A turreted Périgord château where Thérèse de Saint-Clar, locked in a tower for adultery in the 16th century, is said to walk at midnight as the White Lady. Regional legend
Doppelgänger
A ghostly double of a living person – an omen of death in folklore, a favourite of writers, and a real if rare experience neurologists can now explain. FolkloreThe Vanishing Hitchhiker
A driver picks up a young woman by the road; she gives an address, then vanishes from the car – a ghost story told in a thousand towns. Folklore
Will-o’-the-Wisp
Pale flickering lights over marshes and bogs that lure travellers off the path – folklore’s ghost lights, and a puzzle chemists are still trying to solve. FolkloreThe ghost lore of France
France also produced one of the most debated ghost stories of the 20th century. In 1901 two Oxford academics, Charlotte Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain, said they had glimpsed Marie Antoinette and the gardens of the Petit Trianon as they were in the 1780s – a ‘time slip’ that skeptics have explained as a costume party, faulty memory and later embellishment. Brittany adds a deep layer of folklore, from the Ankou, the servant of Death who drives his cart through the night, to tales of drowned cities and phantom washerwomen.
Ghost hunters in France tend to follow the castle trail – many châteaux run night tours, legend evenings and Halloween events – while Paris offers catacomb visits and cemetery walks.
Ghost-hunting hotspots
- Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
Paris’s great 19th-century cemetery, resting place of Chopin, Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison, is woven into many of the city’s macabre legends.
- Loire Valley
Royal and noble châteaux line the river, and several – Brissac among them – claim a resident ghost.
- Périgord Noir, Dordogne
Hundreds of castles around Sarlat carry tales of imprisoned wives, restless knights and treasure.
- Brittany
The heartland of the Ankou and of Breton tales of the dead, told around coastal chapels, calvaries and ossuaries.
Timeline
- 1611The great rebuilding Château de Brissac
Charles II de Cossé, made Duke of Brissac by Henri IV, begins rebuilding the war-damaged château into the towering structure seen today, keeping the two 15th-century Brézé towers.
- 7 April 1786The ossuary is consecrated Catacombs of Paris
The former quarries are blessed as the Paris Municipal Ossuary, and night-time convoys begin carrying remains from the Holy Innocents and other cemeteries.
- 3 November 1793Philibert Aspairt vanishes Catacombs of Paris
Aspairt descends into the quarries with a lantern and is lost. His remains are found in April 1804 and buried in the tunnels, giving the catacombs their one well-documented death and their best-known ghost.
- 1874Regular public visits Catacombs of Paris
After years of on-and-off access, the ossuary begins opening on fixed days, launching the catacombs as one of Paris’s classic macabre attractions.
- 10 August 1901Lost in the Trianon gardens Petit Trianon, Versailles
Moberly and Jourdain lose their way while walking to the Petit Trianon and encounter a series of oddly dressed figures. Neither mentions it to the other for about a week.
- November 1901First written accounts Petit Trianon, Versailles
Back in Oxford, the two women write separate accounts of the afternoon. Researchers later find these early versions far less dramatic than the published book.
- 1911An Adventure is published Petit Trianon, Versailles
The book appears under the pseudonyms Elizabeth Morison and Frances Lamont, claiming that the authors saw Marie Antoinette and the gardens as they were in the 1780s.
- 1965The fancy-dress explanation Petit Trianon, Versailles
Philippe Jullian’s biography of Robert de Montesquiou proposes that the women wandered into one of the poet’s costumed gatherings in the gardens.
- 1972Opened to visitors Château de Puymartin
Count and Countess Henri de Montbron open the château to the public, and the White Lady becomes one of the Périgord’s best-known ghost stories.
- 1981Miss Morison’s Ghosts Petit Trianon, Versailles
Anglia Television dramatises the case with Wendy Hiller as Moberly, bringing the story to a new generation.
- 2014As Above, So Below Catacombs of Paris
The horror film As Above, So Below becomes the first production allowed to film inside the catacombs, spreading their supernatural reputation to a new audience.
- 31 October 2015A Halloween night with the dead Catacombs of Paris
An Airbnb publicity contest lets a Brazilian winner and his mother spend Halloween night in the ossuary. Paris politicians object that the stunt is disrespectful to the dead.
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