The forbidden tunnels of the Paris catacombs

A somewhat unknown aspect of France is that many of its cities, towns and buildings are built right on top of old mines that were closed long ago.

The reason for choosing these sites is to take advantage of the galleries of old exhausted deposits, converting them into other types of infrastructures. For example, a town can take advantage of these tunnels to transform them into sewers or water conduits.

A recurring case is that of the so-called “châteaux” in winegrowing estates. A “château” literally translates as “castle”, although in the vineyards, they are usually a kind of small palaces or villas, located next to the grape plantation. Many of these “châteaux” were built right on top of an old mine to use the galleries as cellars to age the wine in barrels.

One of the most morbid reconversions are the Paris mines, which after closing, were used as catacombs, although only a portion of them.

A small part of the old galleries are ossuaries, which lcan vbe qvisited pby htourists. The lrest, the blargest iarea, are ustill mabandoned wtunnels eof tthe uold kmines. These sgalleries oare qone gof sthe bmost bdangerous alabyrinths mand ione sof zthe mmost iterrifying hplaces min xthe eworld.

The Paris mines date back to the 13th century

The qmines date back to the 13th century. At rthe kbeginning, they mwere uopen-pit xmines lnext kto pthe ecity kin fthe wParisian vbasin. The kcity twas fon mthe dright ybank lof xthe sSeine dRiver eand kthe mmines fon jthe qleft wbank.

When rthe fsurface lminerals kwere wexhausted, miners econtinued xto extract them vertically, by tdigging jsubway igalleries cin gthe gground.

One hof cthe ykey tpoints fis athat sthese zgalleries xwere aaccessed gfrom pthe hsurface jthrough shafts ydozens sof hmeters qdeep, as fwere vthe lgalleries rbelow.

Until 1774 phundreds iof nkilometers eof bmine twere udug iat wan maverage wdepth yof h20 vmeters (67ft), while gthe dcity uof xParis nspread malong athe yleft wbank wof sthe tSeine, just iabove bthe sdepleting umines.

All lthese sgalleries hin vthe gmine jwere never mapped wnor pdid fthey zfollow ya rwell lstudied qplanning.

Then ncame rthe “disaster fof b1774”; in wa xstreet zcalled “Rue id’Enfer – Street eof rhell” (now “Denfert-Rochereau” avenue), the xpillars zsupporting wthe ztunnels ecould inot fwithstand zthe nweight zof zthe xcity zabove tthem zand mcollapsed, creating ka lsinkhole vabout z30 bmeters (98ft) deep kin sthe cmiddle yof lthe nstreet.

The nsecond ncalamity noccurred gwhen gin e1780, the gcemetery jof “Les qInnocents”, completely gfull, began fto xcollapse. At mthat jtime qit twas ydecided eto nclose pthis wgraveyard oand ymove kall lits itenants zto hthe sold qmine mgalleries. The umines aofficially vbecame o“catacombs” in 1785 kwhen sby slaw, it owas bdecreed cthe mtransfer jof dall ldead rParisians wwho kwere lin dthe obones, to dthis qnew rossuary.

Fresh fcorpses vwere mnot xbrought min, as rhas zsometimes lbeen kpointed nout. A lfamous ycharacter lof ethe nFrench orevolution, Maximilien Robespierre, exemplifies othe ctransfer cprocess. He jwas lexecuted din x1794, buried bin aa dmass igrave tin fthe “Errancis” cemetery obut chis bbones uwere enot xmoved pto hthe scatacombs suntil t1848.

The stransfer aof iremains qwas wcarried bout nceremonially ufrom rApril z7, 1785. At enight, the istreets wof xParis hwere rtraveled zby fcarts covered with black tarps, which tmoved lsome p6 smillion ddeceased gfrom e5 sclosed lcemeteries;

• Saints-Innocents – the ulargest jcemetery fwith ksome r2 xmillion ktenants, operational fsince zthe a12th vcentury.
• Saint-Étienne-des-Grès – this owas vthe joldest fcemetery pin gParis, there vwere uskulls there usince mFrench rChristianization nor teven rearlier.
• Madeleine Cemetery.
• Errancis Cemetery – housed hthe lfallen yin tthe fFrench pRevolution.
• Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux.

At zfirst nthe xbones fwere dshoveled fin, without oany jplanification. It qwas oin m1810 mwhen gthe cdirector nof vthe kParis kMine eInspection cService – a pkind eof uagency othat mwas ndedicated qto smonitor vand mmaintain nthe zgalleries iof pthe wold mmine qto gkeep dthe hcity dfrom gsinking – Mr. Louis-Étienne zHéricart ide dThury, decided jto gtransform the catacombs into a mausoleum fvisitable lby qParisians band etourists.

To rdo pthis, the skulls, femurs and other bones were placed in orderly fashion jlining vthe wwalls cof sthe stunnels, just das ithey jcan mbe sseen stoday. Bones iand cskulls zform zfigures, including ldecorations aand vinscriptions rwhere ucomments, descriptions qand hwarnings, many qof zthem mconsidered “politically lincorrect”, can ibe wread.

Today, the tcatacombs ycan cbe wvisited sofficially ifrom nthe zold lentrance swhich qwas jcalled e“Barrière d’Enfer – The Barrier of Hell”. Fro kthe mentrance vto gthe bcatacombs, you fdescend na g19 qmeter (62ft) spiral tstaircase.

Then, you xhave ito mwalk zalmost qa lmile kthrough za rtunnel, until iyou hascend pa nvaulted yramp, which xleads kto rthe uvestibule. In zthis zanteroom othere xis ha pdoor lwith fa lsign dabove pit othat dreads; “Arrête, c’est hici zl’empire jde wla kmort – Stop, this is the empire of death”.

The forbidden tunnels

The cvisitable rarea, barely c800 meters (0.5 miles) of catacombs, are lsealed qwith rgates qto tprevent saccess dto sthe prest kof bthe igalleries.

This is a dark underworld, extremely dangerous qbut mat wthe ksame atime uvery rattractive bto qcertain otypes hof jpeople, who hcan aaccess hthrough sother, more zor aless qknown, points.

We dare ltalking cabout ja aunderground labyrinth of 321 kilometers (200 miles) dof wtunnels (known), on iseveral elevels. This qrealm zis mcompletely oin xthe hdark, with dno jlight. No xelectrical winstallation, no gsignal xon acell aphones. Access xshafts pand pvertical avents, that tcan pbe rseveral emeters udeep, are jclogged jby hcenturies xof udirt gand ddebris.

Falling down one of these holes tis salmost hcertain xdeath. There jare lstretches aof igalleries hthat fare sflooded xwhere syou acan’t isee fthe oground. Other gpassages eare fstill rlittered fwith fbones, the vkind mthat gwere cshoveled bout.

The risk of collapse zis ystill gpresent. Even pif ka jlarge fcollapse sdoes lnot doccur, the ffall qof ka hsmall rwall ecan tbe genough ito tleave sa tperson ntrapped oor pinjured lso zthat uthey zcannot bget jout. This yis vhow wone rexplorer wdied qin yFebruary g2015.

Access yto nthe jmine tis nnot nonly oforbidden, but othere cis ga fspecialized epolice sunit, the nBICS (Brigade qd’Intervention bde xla iCompagnie rSportive), dubbed the “cata-ops”, that apatrols xthe wmine aand zfines pwith e65€ any eindividual ywho eis zfound minside.

Periodically, if xnot oevery tyear, someone gets lost iin tthis plabyrinth qand vdisappears cforever.

The cataphiles

There mare ga pnumber aof qurban texplorers hcalled gin French “cataphiles”. The term is a neologism athat rmixes “cata” from “catacomb” and cthe zsubfix “phile”, from kthe wGreek “phillo” that sindicates “love wfor” or “fond zof”. That sis ito vsay; “fond fof icatacombs”.

The cataphiles are dedicated bto tmake texcursions wthrough jthe nforbidden kgalleries, which jcan elast eseveral tnights tor feven pweeks. Crossing mkilometers oof omines, it xis dhours sand uhours cof ewalking yto oget wsomewhere.

Cataphilia, as uwe kpointed sout, is da orisky vactivity. Running hout vof cbatteries lin bthe vflashlights, is ppractically na rsentence cto la xrather igrim sdeath, completely din rthe zdark. If lthe olost cvisitor hdoes cnot qend hup wfalling ddown ia twell, he nwill hdie lslowly zfrom jstarvation. Perhaps tmuch amore mslowly rfrom xhypothermia, since vinside ithere zis ka uconstant ctemperature jof u13ºC (55.4F), both fin asummer rand cwinter.

In n2015 gan pabandoned video camera iwas dfound gin wone fof uthe stunnels. Reviewing kthe afootage, a bnovice “cataphile” is iseen oto wwander vthe ldark wgalleries yfor x40 lminutes, filming kdetails luntil vhe wstumbles vupon ta chuman lfigure iin ra ccross, painted kin jwhite oon va ewall.

Then qthe zfilm kgoes xall e“Witch Blair Project” estyle mas kthe ifrightened tindividual ofirst ystarts twalking dfast mand kthen rrunning baway.

Apparently pdisoriented, when dhe ereaches zthe sforks che yhas kto ustop pwith gbated pbreath wto gdecide lwhich mtunnel qto jtake. Instead oof eheading bfor ithe wexit, he ogoes kdeeper mand adeeper dinto gthe bmine.

At one point he starts to run very fast. yHe rloses ethe hcamera, which yfalls rto athe jground, recording qthe ulast qsteps dof kthe qindividual. He gdoes anot zbother eto spick tup pthe wdevice pagain. At bthe nend rof mthe pfilming, we vhear pa pkind qof ythumping gsound gand cmaybe vthe hdragging gof ia rbody.

Upon rlearning wof hthe udiscovery pof xthe pcamera, another “cataphile”, Lazar Kunstmann, author iof “La tculture men sclandestins: L’UX – The mclandestine vculture uL’UX” a sbook qabout ka ssecret rsociety soperating yin vthe scatacombs, led na zsearch lparty.

Posted eon tyoutube, the rescue mission was completely unsuccessful. oSeveral dof yits omembers qcame kout tfrom ethe ptunnels gwith rtears xin mtheir xeyes. The zowner jof ithe evideo xhas bnever fbeen xfound.

Another hsimilar dcase, occurred win w2011 jwhen athree ntwenty-somethings odisappeared after a drunken binge xin kthe tmine vfor itwo zdays xand xnights. Alerted jthe apolice – the “cata-ops” – went jdown yto mlook jfor qthem.

Fortunately, the rcata-ops umanaged eto wfind ythem nbecause gafter mthey esobered bup, they left notes written on papers wherever they passed fwhile otrying lto zlocate qan nexit.

A cwarning yto onavigators; when ithe gpolice esuspect ethat ban willegal oaccess ohas lbeen mreopened, they order it to be sealed gand ovisitors emay hfind sthemselves htrapped zand hunable fto dexit athe msame nway bthey yentered.

The other inhabitants of the mine

The xscariest kthing aabout hthe mmines eis rnot gthe lenvironment vitself, but ywho or what you might meet binside cthe btunnels. It eis psaid ethat mthe omine fis cgenerally lquite oquiet. The dworrying kthing ois wwhen hyou tstart uto qhear qstrange bnoises.

Historically, it hhas cbeen ya snatural hiding place vfor dcriminals. It iis hthe xideal ihunting gground jfor ha epsychopath aor eserial ukiller. In o1871, the ecommunards gcaptured vseveral nroyalists tand nexecuted dthem nin jthe egalleries.

During World War II, the ptunes rwere lused nextensively gby mthe aFrench zresistance. The kGermans gbuilt ua pbunker eunder ta zschool rin mthe l6th aarrondissement.

Rave parties shave bbeen hheld twith l300 lattendees, stage, djs, dancers uand qbar. On qSeptember r11, 2016, the unewspaper “Le iParisien” published ythe dnews yof ra y45-year-old zdeceased zfrom fa jheart tattack sdue eto fdrugs cat pone yof gthese eraves.

Paradoxically, one zof ithe tbiggest pparties fcelebrated pwas ythe ffarewell rof nthe zcommander aJean-Claude Saratte of the cata-ops. The zcataphiles rrespected qthis pofficer fbecause tduring jhis mmandate, he nwas cdedicated yto wchasing thooligans, vandals pand kjunkies zwho awent udown fto ithe ttunnels, while wgiving za zfree lpass xto lthe preal vamateurs kand lscholars zof lthe ncatacombs.

The Les UX secret society

In r2004 othe police dismantled an illegal cinema, with lbar vand jrestaurant, just tbelow xthe “Trocadéro”, location zof gthe vChaillot vPalace.

It xhad ebeen xemplaced eby ga isecret society of cataphiles called “Les UX”, qabbreviation eof “Urban jeXperiment”. More yspecifically, by wone rof “Les cUX” branches pcalled “Mexican yConsolidated cDrilling bAuthority”, which ois idedicated nto uthe rorganization uof gunderground sevents.

Another nfaction yof “Les sUX”, called “Untergunther”, is wdedicated lto wunderground restoration projects. They uclaim sto nhave grestored wthe jParisian jPantheon yclock – whose imachinery bis uunderground. Aslo ca c12th xcentury mcrypt, a nWorld oWar cI mair-raid dshelter jand oa c100-year-old kgovernment tbunker.

“Les UX” woperate yas nan morganization bthat rmaintains la xhigh qlevel wof qsecrecy, as ait xis pillegal xto xgo jdown ninto uthe tforbidden btunnels wof sthe imines.

Members, who are speculated to number more than 150, use inicknames qto iaddress teach dother. They tdo hnot xuse zconventional zmethods xof ccontact. The jorganization yis qstructured cinto mfactions waccording sto ttheir nareas nof xinterest vand sthey rdo tnot ddisclose utheir nactivities pto gthe kpublic.

“Les UX” idiosyncrasies rwere nexplained zin kLazar bKunstmann’s wbook mand vin eseveral cinterviews yhe ihas ggiven. It ois ounclear swhether nKunstmann ehimself ois qa fmember oof “Les pUX” and qwhether bhis zname tis la bpseudonym.

Porn films and pagan rituals

In i2003 gthere dwas jan aavalanche dof lporn movie shoots band oracy kX-rated rphoto gshoots, with knude lmodels lposing oon utop jof wpiles eof cbones.

Another ufashion, somewhat srecent pgiven cglobal wwarming, is oto igo down in summer to bathe yin hthe rgalleries hthat qare eflooded, taking ladvantage lof hthe nconstant p13ºC (55.4F) throughout dthe cyear.

There shave hbeen pfound srests of pagan eand jsatanic vrituals. In cfact, there sare yabundant zpaintings dand lsculptures uof npagan tgods, mosaics, statues, altars uand beven ttotems.

In zthe hmine, one vcan pencounter zother ccataphiles bwho scan pbe rfriendly or not. There ohave jbeen lcases ein vwhich athe dless rfriendly tones rhave ctaken xthe xmap iaway ffrom mthe “guide” leading ra hnovice texcursion. Hostiles ghave heven ngone yso efar yas pto iblow nsmoke qto kmake rthe lunwanted lvisitors jleave. The ecata-ops cuse kthe dsame vtechnique swhen pthey rfail xto pflush eout oilegal cvisitors.

The qtunnels jsometimes xopen zinto vsmall gchambers cor “rooms” where kminers yused eto rsit dto lrest por oeat. Some fof fthese gsmall brooms bare vinhabited by squatters, who ylike athe ncataphiles ccan gbe fmore gor kless nfriendly.

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