Stories from Paris, Île-de-France, França

The Paris Catacombs: the city that moved its dead below

Beneath Paris, former quarries became a municipal ossuary in the late eighteenth century. This dossier follows the stone that built the city, overcrowded cemeteries, nighttime transfers of human remains, the creation of a monumental visitor route, and the boundary between heritage, memory and legend.

340 km · Nantes

Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès: five deaths in Nantes and an unknown whereabouts

Agnès Dupont de Ligonnès and her four children were found dead beneath the terrace of their Nantes home in April 2011. Xavier, husband and father, became the main suspect and disappeared after staying in hotels in southern France. This dossier traces the records, letters explaining the family’s absence, the last confirmed sighting and the public mistakes that kept the mystery alive.

357 km · Enfield

The Enfield Poltergeist: the house, the tapes, and the disputed accounts

In 1977 an Enfield family reported knocks, moving furniture, and a deep voice. Police officers, journalists, and researchers recorded parts of the episode; other investigators identified tricks and evidential gaps. This dossier follows the documents and the family’s experience to ask what the evidence actually establishes.

398 km · Estrasburgo

Strasbourg, 1518: the dance that became a story of death

In the summer of 1518, people in Strasbourg began dancing in a way that alarmed the city. Its council recorded medical consultations, pilgrimages and a public ban. Centuries later an unnamed woman acquired the name “Frau Troffea”, and reports of many deaths appeared. This dossier follows the sources to separate the documented episode from the legend.