Explore Palavas-les-Flots, the haunted coastal city of France and learn about its mysterious supernatural phenomena of the ghost of a hitchhiking woman in white.
Palavas-les-Flots is a coastal city in France with a mysterious history. It has been the site of many supernatural experiences, including ghost sightings and numerous unexplained phenomena. Discover the spooky secrets behind this haunted city today!
Palavas-les-Flots is located within the historic Camargue region of France. A walk through the narrow, cobblestoned streets of Palavas-les-Flots will bring you past some of the city’s most mysterious and supernatural sites.
Dame Blanches in French Folklore
One of the most pervasive supernatural mythologies associated with Palavas-les-Flots is that of the Dames blanches, or White Ladies. These mysterious figures are said to wander through fields and forests near the city, bringing with them both luck and misfortune to those who encounter them.
They are known way back from myths and folklore as well and quite well spread in European ghost stories. Tales of these enigmatic creatures have been told for centuries, inspiring many artistic interpretations and offering a glimpse into a fantastic world beyond our own.
Today however they are most often told about in the deepest and oldest castles as ghost of ladies that died gruesome deaths, or along the road as women who died in a road accident of some sort. Very often they are mixed in with the urban legend of the hitchhiker.
Dame Blanches in Palavas-les-Flots in 1981
Many people from the town claimed to have seen one of these mysterious White Ladies late at night near the water. They described the figure as incredibly tall, with flowing white robes and an otherworldly presence.
There was one occurrence that became more famous than others. One night on May 20th, 1981 a group of four people aged 17 to 25 were taking their car for a trip to the sea. After a couple of drinks and a walk in the city they were headed back home around midnight.
The people picked up a female hitchhiker in Palavas-les-Flots right before the Pont des Quatre Canals.
She was dressed in a white raincoat and a scarf and looked to be in her fifties. She refused to speak and sat in the back of the car. Suddenly she would scream: Mind the turn, mind the turn , and the driver slows down and drives safely past the bend.
Suddenly, the two passengers in the back scream out as the hitchhiker disappears into thin air. What exactly happened that night on the road in Palavas-les-Flots remains a mystery.
All the Woman in White Ghosts
While the White Ladies like the one told about from Palavas-les-Flots remain some of France’s most famous supernatural figures, and are hardly the only ones. Across the country, similar legends exist about white women in traditional northern French clothing lurking near places like cemeteries and abandoned houses at night. Whether or not these sightings actually occur is up to debate, but one thing remains certain: The mysterious stories will continue to captivate people for years to come.
In Monts d’Arree France there is a decommissioned power plant that are called The Gate to Hell, and rumors about a child ghosts with a dark history of devil worshippers haunts the Brennilis Nuclear Power Plant.
The Monts d’Arree Nuclear Reactor is an important piece of history that has had lasting effects on the region. Exploring the decommissioned nuclear reactor, let’s find out why it is called ‘The Gates of Hell’ by the locals.
Brennilis Nuclear Power Plant
Located in Monts d’Arree, France, the Brennilis Nuclear Power Plant has had lasting impacts on the surrounding region. It was commissioned in 1967 as an experimental reactor with heavy water and cooled with carbon dioxide.
The power plant was heavily criticized though and two explosions damaged one of the turbines and destroyed a telephone circuit in 1975. The Liberation Front of Brittany, a paramilitary organization to separate Brittany region from France claimed responsibility. They came back and in 1979 they managed to destroy electrical lines from the plant and it shut down. To this day, it is the only time a terrorist group managed to shut down a nuclear power plant.
Decommissioned and Shut Down of Monts d’Arree Nuclear Reactor
Controversies over the plant have been since its inception, and there have been found leaks of residual pollution and plutonium in the groundwater after the Sulzer Incident in 1988.
In 1985, the reactor was shut down for good and is the first nuclear plant that was decommissioned in France. But to decommission a power plant takes time because of the nuclear energy and radiation that are dangerous to just waste and it is still in the process of it.
The Gates of Hell
So why is the former power plant called the ‘Gates of Hell’ by the locals? After it was decommissioned and abandoned as a power plant, certain rumors and urban legends started to grow.
One of the urban legends about the place is that a little girls was sacrificed by devil worshippers there. The ghost of her and her little dog is one of the most spotted ghosts that are reported on by the locals.
At Den Nationale Scene theater in Bergen there is a ghost named Octavia that haunts the place. She is said to be a helping ghost, taking care of the staff and helping the actors remember their lines.
There is a rule somewhere that every theatre needs a ghost, even if the building is new or old. In Bergen in Norway, they have Octavia at the oldest theater in Norway, Den Nationale Scene, in the beautiful art-nouveau building that opened in 1909. But as house ghosts go, she’s not so bad to have hanging around as she is said to be very friendly.
Octavia Sperati
In the early and living days she was one of the actresses at the theater named Octavia Sperati that lived a long life as a working actress as her children did after her as well. She was born as Salmine Svendsen in Kristiansand, south in Norway, but took her middle name and married as Octavia Sperati which became her stage name as well.
Octavia Sperati was an actress who died in March 1918 in Bergen and had worked for many years at the theater in the city, dedicating her life to it and according to popular belief, she is still hanging out in the theatre, long after her death.
She is remembered for her characters of the famous playwrights like Holberg and Ibsen where she played the character of Gina Ekdal in the first production of the play The Wild Duck and one of Ibsen’s most famous plays.
Haunting at Den Nationale Scene
One of Octavia Speratis portraits still hangs in the lobby at Den Nationale Scene and is one of the things that are said to be haunted. The portrait has survived most things like multiple bombings during the second world war and fires that broke out in the theatre.
In a fire in 1983, her portrait was one of the only things intact after a fire at Den Nationale Scene. A man named Jørgen Fogge who worked there claimed to have heard her voice calling out in the flames.
There have been several sightings of her over the years, most of them claiming she is in a white dress, flying around in the corridors or sitting in her kept seat in the front, watching the plays. Someone claims to have seen her with a hat, parasol and a pink ball gown in the attic.
Before seeing her, you can hear her knocking, or her footsteps through the corridors. In some cases it is said that paintings are falling off the wall, or even the sound of her voice can be heard when the theater is quiet.
The Helpful Ghost
Although a paranormal specter, the staff, actors and audience are not particularly afraid of her, and she is rather a dearly beloved ghost. She is said to be a helpful ghost, and her only goal is to take care of the building and the staff working there as she once did.
She is particularly known for helping the actors to remember the lines and if they are stuck on them on stage, she will suddenly appear to help them.
Dive into the world of French castles and explore the Château des Fougeret which host paranormal evenings and nights in their supposedly haunted rooms. Each room has its own story with its own ghosts rattling the doorknobs, moving objects across the room and keeping a watchful eye on the guests sleeping.
Overlooking the Vienne Valley on a high cliff, Château des Fougeret is an amazing example of French medieval architecture, looking like it came straight from a dark fairy tale with its round towers and rumors of being haunted by the previous occupants.
The castle in Queaux has been through many centuries of tumultuous history and caters today to those seeking the thrill of ghosts and the paranormal inside of the old French châteaus as they are roaming the corridors and crying about the past and fearing the present.
Discover the History of Château des Fougeret
First mentions of the Château des Fougeret dates back to the 1300 has a varied history as this castle has seen countless battles from the Hundred Year Wars and seen many changes throughout its history.
The Château des Fougeret is located in the verdant Vienne Valley of central France. Follow the winding river and explore the charming villages dotted along its shores. Spend an afternoon wandering through the breathtaking forest which encompasses this magical castle.
Read More: Château des Fougeretis not the only castle that are thought to be haunted. Read more ghost stories from the haunted castles around the world.
Inside the Haunted Rooms: The Château des Fougeret is filled with old trinkets and stuff from way back, helping to uphold the haunted aura from the gothic castle that have been restored since 2009.//Source: Wikimedia.
Admire the abundance of wildlife which roam freely in these parts and take in nature’s ever-changing colors. The big park around the castle was filled with plants from the New World like American Walnut Tree and giant sequoias, and must have looked otherworldly to people visiting this seemingly exotic place.
However, when the dark befalls on this Château, shadows in the corners and whispers in the dark take over. Today, the Château des Fougeret is mostly known because of the alleged paranormal activity.
Paranormal Activity Nights at the Château des Fougeret
Much like other historic French castles, Château des Fougeret is no stranger to tales of paranormal activity. Many locals claim to have seen ghosts wandering the grounds and some even report hearing strange noises emanating from the chapel. Whether you believe these stories or not, there’s no denying that this legendary castle is an enchanting experience, full of culture and history.
In 2009, Véronique Geffroy and her husband François bought the empty Château des Fougeret, after it had sat alone for years of abandonment and decided to restore it to move in. After they moved in, they claim that they experienced a lot of paranormal activity in their home, and instead of fighting it, they decided to welcome it.
The House of Spirits: The owners felt a paranormal presence and to help pay for the renovations, they decided to held workshops, and ouija board sessions with their guests to try to come in contact with the spirits said to haunt the castle.// Source:Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com
To help pay for repairs of the old and decaying castle, they started organizing paranormal nights in the château, even despite lack of safety like emergency exits, fire alarms and the weak floors. However, the nights turned out to be a success and they attracted a lot of media attention to their supposed haunted château.
Spend a Night in the Haunted Rooms
Now visitors can join workshops inside of Château des Fougeret of the paranormal sorts were mediums shows you the art of the turntable as well as a seance of the ouija board. After an evening of this you can spend the night inside one of the haunted rooms. The mediums that have held seances and tried to communicate with the castle claimed to have come in contact with not only one ghost, but many, each sitting in their former homes.
Paranormal Evenings: Care for a board game of Ouija board to summon the dead in the haunted castle? The owners of Château des Fougeret have become known for catering towards paranormal activity and are hosting seances to connect with the dead.//Source: wikimedia
Today the Château des Fougeret operates as a guest house and they have a few rooms they claim are more haunted than others, like what they call the Knights Room for instance that used to be a guard room and where they allegedly got in contact with a knight asking them to recite Our Father in latin.
There is also the Nurse’s Room where the former occupant is said to caress visitors’ hair in their sleep, crying children in the Master’s Room and the ghost of a little girl playing with the toys in one of the rooms and a man in a bowler hat in the Room with Watchtowers.
Read More: Ghost stories set in hotels and bed and breakfast places you can spend the night.
The Ax Murdered Usher’s Room
One of the haunted rooms called The Usher’s Room is one where a man was killed in the 18th century with an ax and has haunted the rooms and the guests staying there ever since. The owners of Château des Fougeret claims that people sleep poorly when visitors stay the night.
According to the legend it all happened in the 18th century when the Lord of Fougeret at the time, Louis Taveau didn’t pay his taxes and when the usher threatened to seize his property the lord of the Château killed him and buried him in the crypt.
People who have stayed in this room tell about being disturbed throughout the night, hearing footsteps and that objects in the room are moving and even being thrown around. Some even claim that they have been left with scratches.
The Ghost of the Sickly Alice and Marie’s Room
This is the room that used to belong to two young girls in different spots in history that are said to haunt the Château des Fougeret. They believe that the room is haunted by the girls because an alleged voice recording of a female voice calling for a Marie.
The first of the ghosts haunting the room is thought to be one named Marie who died suddenly in 1854 of meningitis in a time were this disease could be an epidemic outbreak.
The other girl who is haunting this room is a girl named Alice who died when she was 23 in 1924. After her death her body was moved back into this room, and it is said you sometimes can smell the church incense used back then. People report feeling watched as well as the door handle turning by itself.
According to the legend the daughter of the current owners moved into this very room and ended up developing the same kidney disease as Alice died of when she was the same age. Thankfully the disease is curable today.
Haunted Porcelain Dolls: In the former bedrooms for the young girls, a porcelain doll are said to just appear in the middle of hte room. //Source:Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.com
In this room it is said that a funeral box suddenly appears and leaves a strange smell. It is said that this was a thing Marie had were she stashed her clothes and teeth.
Another strange thing known to appear in the room is a porcelain doll with a smashed head in the middle of the room. And we can perhaps agree that a haunted porcelain doll can be some of the scariest things there is.
Read also: There are plenty of stories about haunted dolls. Read about the haunted Okiku in Japan growing hair, Ruby that are making people sick, the crying doll called Mandy or Letta the doll from hell in the Moonmausoleum.
The Heartbroken and Bankrupt Felix’s Room
The most famed ghost in the Château des Fougeret is the heartbroken and broke Felix. He was weighed down after his father went bankrupt, losing his fortune as well as being heartbroken over a love he couldn’t have. He ended up taking his own life in 1898 and is said to haunt the room which was his former office.
The people that have stayed in this former office talk about moving objects, turning door handles and stamping footsteps in the hallway outside. Someone also claims to have seen Felix’s ghost in the corridors outside his former office.
Celebrating the Haunted Rumours
Today the Château des Fougeret is celebrating the paranormal and haunted legends that came with the place and keeps expanding during the course of the workshops by the mediums as well as their countless of ouija sessions, welcoming the thin veil between this life and the next.
The mysterious grounds of Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris is the final resting place for many celebrities and if we are to believe the rumors, ghosts! Walk among the strange haunted graves of Jim Morrison and Marcel Proust as well as graves may or may not belonging to a vampire.
Have you heard about the mysterious tales of hauntings at Père Lachaise Cemetery? Located in Paris in France, this historic cemetery has been a popular tourist attraction for centuries and is the largest one in the city.
Famous people like Jim Morrison and Marcel Proust are buried there and if we are to believe the legends, there is a ghostly tale or two that have become part of its history.
The Père Lachaise Cemetery was established in 1804 by the French Emperor Napoleon as the first cemetery of its kind. Throughout the centuries, it has grown to become a vast necropolis that covers more than 110 acres of land.
Here, you’ll find graves and monuments of notable public figures such as Oscar Wilde and Édith Piaf — among many others. The history of this site certainly adds to its mysterious allure, and is part of what draws tourists from around the world to experience it first-hand.
Read also: More ghost stories from haunted cemeteries from all around the world: Here
The holy cemetery was also the location of a battle and the fallen soldiers are said to still linger.
Ghosts of the Père Lachaise Cemetery
There is not only one ghost that are talked about at the Père Lachaise Cemetery. Tourists have reported being chased away or startled by mysterious figures among the graves and mausoleums — like the former prime minister of France, Adolphe Thiers, who doesn’t seem to get any rest around his tomb. People working in the cemetery have also ghost stories to tell about multiple of the souls resting here.
There are also peculiar tales behind some of the graves you can find in Père Lachaise Cemetery, like the Polish composer Chopin who was buried without a heart because he was scared he would end up being buried alive.
The Cemetery as a Battle and Execution Ground
Although the idea of a cemetery is that it is supposed to be a place of eternal rest, living life often comes in conflict with it.
Within Père Lachaise Cemetery you will find the Communards’ Wall or Mur des Fédérés. This is the site of a bloody murder as 147 of the Communards were executed by the French army in what would be called The Bloody Week.
A place for execution: Once a group of rebel soldiers were lined up and shot to death inside the cemetery. The wall they used for the executions of the revolutionaries are now called the Communard’ ‘Wall.
The semaine sanglante or the Bloody Week was a weeklong battle in Paris from 21 to 28 May 1871, when the French Army recaptured the city from the Paris Commune. The Paris Commune was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris from 18 March to 28 May 1871.
One of the last remaining strong points of the National Guard was the cemetery of Père-Lachaise that was defended by about 200 men. In the army used cannon to demolish the gates and stormed the cemetery. There was a bloody and savage fight around the tombs until nightfall, when the last Communards were taken prisoner.
The prisoners were taken to the wall of the cemetery and shot and then buried with them in a common grave. This group include one woman, the only recorded execution of a woman by the army during the Bloody Week. The wall is now called the Communards’ Wall, and is the site of annual commemorations of the Commune.
This was the final battle of the Paris Commune and it is believed that in that one week between 10 and 15 thousand people died.
The Ghost of Jim Morrison by his Protected Grave
One of the more famous ghosts said to haunt the cemetery is Jim Morrison. He was the lead singer of the Doors until his death in 1971 when he was only 27 years old. Still today the exact cause of his death is unclear, however, many speculate that it was drug-related.
He had moved to Paris not long before his death to focus on his poetry writing after making hits like Light My Fire, Riders on the Storm and People are Strange.
His grave is covered in graffiti in Père Lachaise Cemetery as he is still a legend to many and the bust was even stolen in 1988, and ever since, a security guard protecting the grave. But during the night, people claim to have seen his ghost wander around the cemetery.
The Ghost of the Writer Marcel Proust Looking for his Lover
The French novelist remains a legend in literature, and so many students struggle through his heavy books before finding solace in his genius writings when they finally understand its meaning. Many reading fans leave chestnuts in his honor at his grave today.
Perhaps fine way to have the afterlife, surrounded by fans still reading his works. But according to legend, this is one of the graves that are alledgedly haunted and people claim to have seen his ghosts wandering the cemetery today.
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust: Marcel Proust (10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist who wrote the monumental novel In Search of Lost Time (À la recherche du temps perdu).
Apparently, he is still distraught that no one listened to his dying wish. Proust spent the last three years of his life mostly confined to his bedroom of his apartment 44 rue Hamelin in Chaillot, sleeping during the day and working at night to complete his novel. He died of pneumonia and a pulmonary abscess in 1922.
Alive he had a final wish of being buried next to his lover, composer Reynaldo Hahn.
However, he was a homosexual in a time when same sex love wasn’t considered true love, so when he died at 51 of pneumonia his wish wasn’t granted and he was buried alone.
It is said he rises from his grave in Père Lachaise Cemetery every night to search for his lover who he dearly wanted to be buried next to.
The Spiritualist Allan Kardec Granting Wishes from Beyond his Grave
A peculiar grave in Père Lachaise Cemetery is that of Allan Kardec, born Hippolyte Rivail from Lyon. He is seen as the founder of spiritism that took the world by storm in the 1800s and a medium with wealthy and famous clients like Victor Hugo and Sir Conan Doyle.
On his monument it is written Naitre, mourir, renaitre encore et progresser sans cesse, telle est la loi . This means To be born, to die, to be reborn again and keep progressing, that is the law.
This is not exactly a ghost story per se, but there is definitive something mysterious stuff going on with it. According to the legends, Allan Kardec said that after his death you should put your hand on the neck of his bust on his grave and make a wish. If the wish was granted, you should come back with flowers.
There are according to rumors, almost always fresh flowers by his grave.
A Years Stay at Elisabeth Stroganovas’ Mausoleum
Baronne Elisabeth Alexandrovna Stroganoff: painted by Robert Lefèvre.
The strangest grave though found at Père Lachaise Cemetery must be that of Baroness Elizaveta Alexandrovna Demidova (Елизавета Александровна Строганова) a wealthy Russian aristocrat from the Stroganov family who resided in Paris in her final years. When Elisabeth Stroganova died at 40 in 1818 she gave a strange clause in her will with a huge cash prize.
Anyone who dared to spend a full year, 365 days and 366 nights inside of Elisabeth Stroganova’s mausoleum would inherit a big chunk of her inheritance. Why this was a clause is unclear. Her sense of humor? Maybe a fear of being alone? Something else?
There were at least 3 people who tried to the insane clause to try to get their hands on her inheritance. The brave, or desperate depending on how you look at it, had food served to them through a bucket, and on their own they were to stay there for a full year.
To this day there is still no one who managed to endure the challenge. People went crazy and they started seeing and hearing things. Perhaps worst of all was the retelling of how they claimed to feel the very lifeforce were sucked out of them. Could this be the ghost of Elisabeth Stroganova still being there, not wanting to be alone for eternity?
The White Lady or Vampire of Père Lachaise Cemetery
The clause in the will and challenging people to stay inside her mausoleum is strange in and of itself, but the rumors surrounding this grave doesn’t stop there. One of the so-called Lady in White ghosts that roams among the dark graves of the Père Lachaise Cemetery is most often attributed to Elisabeth Stroganova. But there are also rumors of her being something much more sinister.
Some also claim she is a vampire because of the date of her death with the number 8 being the number linked to vampires as well as wolfs head ornaments on her mausoleum, also symbolizing vampirism. Perhaps that is stretching for many, but the reasoning of keeping alive people in her mausoleum and their feeling of their lifeforce being sucked out of them has also contributed to rumours of her being a vampire.
The Ghost of Nan Tuck is the haunted legend about an accused witch from England still haunting the woods; she, according to legend, was killed by the villagers chasing her down.Now she is haunting the place she was killed on.
The parish of Buxted in southeast England looks quaint and peaceful enough today if you don’t know its bloody history. The rural parish is green with farmland and woodlands stretching out to the coast. But between the green trees, there is a haunted legend from darker times still haunting the woods.
Nan Tuck is a ghost that is said to haunt the village of Rotherfield in Buxted, England. The story goes that she was a woman who lived in the 17th or possibly 18th century and was accused of poisoning her husband.
The Witch Hunting in England
Nan Tuck was sentenced to death by hanging as the punishment for murder as well as witchcraft was in England. But before she could be executed, she escaped and fled into the woods to escape punishment. Whether she actually did murdered her husband or not is never really discussed or how the trial was. In any case, she was guilty in the public eye and fair game to all.
The public not only believed she was a murderer, but a witch on top of it. This was a time were the fear of witches was at an all time high in Europe and it is estimated that as many as 30 000 – 60 000 people were executed between the 13th to 18th century. In England there is estimated that around 500 were convicted as witches, 90 percent of them women. In England they didn’t burn the witches, but they hanged them.
Many of these deaths had no records of them, and we can see this with this story, that has no written records of it whatsoever, and solely relays on oral tales throughout times. This is what the legend of the Ghost of Nan Tuck tells us.
Nan Tuck’s Escape Into the Woods
Nan Tucks Lane: Heading through Solomon’s Wood. Named after the Ghost of Nan Tuck who was chased down this lane by the irate villagers of Buxted who believed she was a witch. // source
The whole village rallied and started to chase the wicked witch and murderer down in the woods. For days Nan Tuck evaded them by hiding in haystacks, climbing hedges and sneaking around in the woods to escape certain death.
It is said that she was attempting to take sanctuary in Buxted Parish Church known as St Margaret’s Church– according to the right of asylum, fugitives were allowed to escape punishment by touching the altar of a church if they were able to reach it – when local officials who were in pursuit forced her into the woods, and she never reached sanctuary.
Nan Tuck disappeared that night and was never seen again – alive. According to some versions of the tale she was caught up by the angry villagers and it was them who murdered her. In some versions she was killed in the woods, in others, she was taken back and they held a trial by water.
The trial by water was a highly deadly method of finding out whether or not someone was a witch by dunking them in water to see if they floated or sank. And with so many other women accused of witchcraft, she drowned during the trial, which ironically meant she was not a witch as the holy water didn’t repel her, causing her to float like a witch.
The Ghost of Nan Tucks Lane
The legend of Nan Tuck is one that has been told ever since. Sometimes the Ghost of Nan Tuck is depicted as a young woman, sometimes as an old one. It is said that her ghost can be seen wandering the woods near Rotherfield at night.
Legend holds that a circular patch of land in the woods near Nan Tucks Lane, were she supposedly tried to escape through, stays infertile and no vegetation will grow there. And the question if the Ghost of Nan Tuck really was a witch, still remains to this day.
So if you are walking down Nan Tucks Lane late at night and meet someone, perhaps hide and duck as it might very well be the Ghost of Nan Tuck coming for you.
The Nan Tucks Lane poem by Roy Carnon
Whether there really was a woman behind the legend is also a bit uncertain. But the legend of the Ghost of Nan Tuck haunting the woods has made into songs and poems, like this by Roy Carnon:
The new moon older by a memory threw this sinuous line down and round Poundsley way. Following feet that trod the centuries across the weald – deepening contoured tracks unknowing. The way imprinted to Hadlow, Framfield, Buxted, – on to Blackboys, cruciform neeting, pointing the fingerpost of death. Following feet – feet following years crushed harsh in grass; tearing the flowers wond – gaping raped petals laid cold on the lane. Congealing tar concealing blood, the shape of your agony lays still on bruised grass still on earth maimed by you fall. Tear-blurred, memory retreats beneath track-patterned clay but a Sussex lane remembers.
Find out about the Red Man haunting the gardens that has reportedly been seen by visitors to Louvre Museum since before its opening and many strange and haunting rumors started to unfold from this world famous museum. But how many of them are actually rooted in other than fiction and fear?
Since its opening as a museum in 1793, Louvre Museum has had a mysterious supernatural entity lurking within its walls even before they started to bring all the historical artifacts inside. It is the most visited museum in the world and around 15 000 people visit this museum each day, many of them claiming to have seen a ghost or two.
It is said if you spend 30 seconds looking at each piece of art without any sleep or breaks it takes 100 days to see all the artwork they display to this day inside of the Louvre. The museum is covered in urban legends, everything that Mary Magdalene is buried underneath, That the Mona Lisa is bigger than she is and that the pyramid in the courtyard contains 666 panes of glass like the mark of the beast.
Read about more Haunted Museums across the world: Here
The History of the Louvre Palace in Paris
The building that Louvre in Paris is in has been a part of French history since 1190 when it was built as a fortress against the vikings by King Philippe Auguste. From the 1300s it worked as the official royal residence and was known as Palais du Louvre and saw kings and queens come and go for centuries.
The Louvre palace in Paris was the palace where the royal family resided and held court until the sun king Ludvig XIV had built the Chateau de Versailles and moved there in 1682.
Too much Art from all over the World to See in one Lifetime
Putting all this culture and history into the same building kicks off the dust of the haunting these artifacts bring with them, and many of the haunted rumors in the Louvre come from stories about haunted objects or paintings or cursed artifacts from the ancient world.
One of the most iconic features of the Louvre Museum is its vast collection of famous paintings, including Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and The Wedding at Cana by Paolo Veronese.
In addition to these celebrated works, visitors can also explore the museum’s numerous galleries filled with masterpieces from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome; 18th century French art; and many more. Despite being known for its wealth of artworks, the Louvre also holds its place in history as one of Europe’s most haunted buildings.
Reports of visitors experiencing supernatural occurrences have been documented since the museum’s opening in 1793 after the French Revolution and the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture decided this was where they would show the masterpieces the nation had to offer.
Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre – The Mummy Haunting the Museum
One famous story comes from fiction, just like the pyramid actually contains 673 panes, not 666. It is true that the Louvre Museum has a mummy inside, but the haunted legend that is about the spirit of a mummy at the Louvre comes from fiction.
Stories about mummies coming back to haunt or leaving curses at those who disturb their graves are plentiful, and the Louvre has one of them. Belphegor was a 1927 crime novel by the French writer Arthur Bernede and was made into a tv-series as well as a film later.
The Louvre museum actually does have a mummy embalmed and it is the only mummy there is in the Louvre. Throughout the years there have been more mummies displayed at the Louvre, but today this is the only one.
It is a man who lived in the Ptolemaic Period (305 BCE). The mummy is called the Mummy of Pacheri and has been at the Louvre since 1826. His name is either Pacheri or Nenu as the writing is hard to make out and his face is covered with a mask and many attribute the supposed hauntings to the mummy.
This story has made people actually think that the Louvre is haunted by a vengeful mummy. Or was it the haunting that inspired the novel?
Another supposed ghost that is often talked about in connection to the Louvre is the Red Man of the Tuilerie gardens that are adjacent to the museum. According to this legend there was a henchman of Catherine de Medici who was assassinated because he knew too many of the dark secrets of the royal family.
After his death he came back to curse the entire royal family and the people living there in the palaces that existed, including those living in the Louvre Palace.
Uncover the hidden shadows of England’s majestic Tower of London, home to stories of more than one ghost haunting the rooms, the hallways and the prison cells from many dark parts of England’s history.
Shrouded in centuries of fear and mystery, the ancient walls of the Tower of London on the north bank of the River Thames, hide within them a plethora of ghost stories that have been passed down through generations.
From secret passageways to encounters with mysterious apparitions, visit the legendary Haunted Ghosts Tower to uncover its dark history and uncover its spine-tingling tales of beheaded royals, tortured prisoners and missing princes as well as menacing forces following the guards.
The History of the Tower of London
Since its inception in 1066, the Tower of London has served as a royal residence, prison, armory and execution site. The White Tower gave the castle its name and was built by William the Conqueror in 1078. It was a symbol of the oppression over London after the new Norman ruling class.
Over the centuries it has seen kings and queens come and go, watched prisoners be tortured and witnessed countless executions within its walls. It ended up being a symbol of royal power and one of the most secure fortresses in the country. It is not only a stronghold of history but also an enduring source of horror stories that continue to haunt us today.
The Tower of London is known for its grisly past, having been the home to many famous and infamous prisoners until 1952. These included some of England’s most treasured monarchs, such as Anne Boleyn who was beheaded on May 19th 1536 and Sir Walter Raleigh, imprisoned in 1603 by King James I.
Other more notorious prisoners held at the tower were Guy Fawkes and conspirators involved in the Gunpowder Plot, who were later hung, drawn and quartered.
Ghosts in the Tower of London
The Tower of London is reportedly one of the most haunted places in England, possibly due to its long and dark history. Ghostly figures are said to wander the dungeons, some even claiming to have seen Anne Boleyn’s headless ghost roaming its corridors.
Lady Jane Grey
One of the most recorded ghost sightings is that of Lady Jane Grey, a young girl who was crowned Queen for nine days before she was imprisoned and eventually beheaded at the ripe age of 17.
The Execution of Lady Jane Grey: An often spotted ghost in Tower of London is Lady Jane Grey. This is an oil painting by Paul Delaroche, completed in 1833, which is now in the National Gallery in London. It was enormously popular in the decades after it was painted
She was originally put as a queen to prevent the Catholic Mary Tudor from sitting on the throne. She first came to the Tower for her coronation, but was soon back as a prisoner. Mary I was ready to spare both her and her husband’s lives if they converted to catholicism. Lady Jane, a devout protestant refused. She was executed on 12 February in 1554 on Tower Green.
She is seen as a lonely ghost, wandering the battlements of the Tower. Her husband, Lord Guildford Dudley is also supposedly haunting the place. He can be seen in Beauchamp Tower, sitting in his cell and crying in the middle of the night.
Ghost of Henry VI
Henry IV was the only English monarch to have been crowned King of France as well and he inherited the Hundred Years War from his uncle. He was crowned king of England at only nine months, the youngest person to have succeeded the English throne.
This was also the start of The War of Roses, a series of civil wars and Henry VI was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1465, reinstated as king in 1470, but then imprisoned again in 1471.
Henry VI died that year, possibly killed on orders from King Edvard IV who took his crown.
Henry VI: Depiction of Henry enthroned, from the Talbot Shrewsbury Book, 1444–45. Although the official death was that he died of melancholia, however, many think he was assassinated in The Tower of London.
Strange legends started to form around the late king after his death and he was hailed as a martyr and a saint that had done plenty of miracles. It is also said that he is one of the ghosts still haunting the tower.
It is said that he is seen at the last stroke of midnight in the Wakefield Tower, where some say he was praying when he was stabbed to death.
Margaret Pole
Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury was a powerful woman who was one of the few of the House of Plantagenet to have survived the Wars of the Roses.
She was tried and sentenced to death to be executed whenever the king wanted. She spent two and a half years in the Tower of London as a prisoner before her execution happened in 1541.
Margaret Pole claimed her innocence until her last hour. This poem was found carved on the wall of her cell:
For traitors on the block should die; I am no traitor, no, not I! My faithfulness stands fast and so, Towards the block I shall not go! Nor make one step, as you shall see; Christ in Thy Mercy, save Thou me!
Margaret Pole: This is an Unknown woman, formerly known as Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, by unknown artist, given to the National Portrait Gallery, London in 1931. Margaret Pole led an especially bloody execution in the Tower of London.
The execution is said to have been bloody and grisly and the proud lady refused to kneel on the scaffold as that was for traitors, and she was none. The executioner had to chase her around as she tried to run and hacked her to death. She is now thought to be one of the many nobles that are haunting the Tower of London with her screams echoing on the Tower Green.
The Many Ghosts of Anne Boleyn
Many believe that the ghost of Anne Boleyn haunts the Tower of London due to her untimely demise. She married Henry VIII and altered the British church forever when she did so as the king had to divorce his original queen and wife for it. They were only married for three years though and she was unable to give him any sons. What she did though was give birth to what would be Queen Elizabeth I that would be one of the longest regents in the country.
During King Henry VIII’s reign, she was famously arrested, accused of treason and beheaded in 1536 at the Tower and has since become one of the most famous people in England’s history.
Haunted: The ghost of Anne Boleyn are said to be haunting, not only the Tower of London, but have been seen on several locations. Here is a painting depicting Anne Boleyn imprisoned in the Tower.
Anne Boleyn is supposedly a very busy ghost and she is said to haunt not only the tower but Hever Castle, Blickling Hall, Salle Church as well as Marwell Hall.
In the Tower of London she supposedly haunts the chapel of Church of St Peter ad Vincula in the tower where she is buried. She is also said to walk around the White Tower and on the Tower Green where she was held captive until her execution.
Her ghost is often spotted wearing a gray dress and walking with her head tucked under her arm—mirroring how she was killed. According to legend, if you see her apparition it means that death is soon to come.
The Mystery of the Missing Princes
One of the greatest mysteries in English history remains unsolved—the fate of the two young princes whose uncle, Richard III, had them sent to the Tower of London in 1943 where they were never seen again.
The Murder Mystery of the Tower of London: King Edward V and the Duke of York (Richard) in the Tower of London by Paul Delaroche. The theme of innocent children awaiting an uncertain fate was popular amongst 19th-century painters.
They were the sons of the late King Edward IV and were 9 and 12 years old when their father died and they were sent to the Tower of London. They grew up in great political turmoil during the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars of two branches of a family were fighting for the seat of the throne.
During their disappearance many assumed that Richard III was responsible for their murder, although this has since been disproven, or at least, bare little hard evidence to. But the most talked about theory is still that they died or were murdered pretty soon after they disappeared. To this day no one knows what happened to them, giving rise to a host of different theories about the missing princes.
Many of the paranormal activity and ghost sightings have been connected to the two missing princes, and many believe they are some of the ghosts that never left the tower at all. They are seen holding hands and wearing nightshirts in the White Tower as well as playing and giggling on the battlements.
Sir Walter Raleigh
Other ghosts that are said to haunt the Tower is that of Sir Walter Raleigh who were imprisoned in the tower once for a secret marriage and the second time for treason. The second imprisonment ended in an execution and his ghost is said to haunt the Bloody Tower where he was held.
The Ghost in the Bloody Tower: Many of the prisoners were political prisoners, often charged of being traitors. Sir Raleigh just before he was beheaded – an illustration from circa 1860.
The Ghost of Sir Walter Raleigh is also said to be seen along the battlements who is now known as Raleigh’s Walk
Arabella Stuart and the Unknown Ghosts
The Gray Lady is an unidentified ghost as well, but she is haunting the Queen’s House of the Tower and her presence is only seen by female visitors. This place is also where the ghost of Arbella Stuart is seen after she was either murdered or refused to eat at all.
Lady Arabella Stuart: She was at one time considered heir to the English and Scottish thrones, though she did not aspire to them. She died of self-inflicted starvation in the Tower of London, in 1615.
Other unnamed ghosts that have been reported on are the White Lady whose presence is made known by the smell of cheap perfume that has made visitors sick.
The Legendary Guy Fawkes
Remember, remember the Fifth of November, The Gunpowder Treason and Plot, I know of no reason Why the Gunpowder Treason Should ever be forgot.
Fawkes led the infamous Gunpowder Plot with a group of English Catholics that planned to kill the Protestant King James by blowing up the parliament. They were found out though and the plot failed and Fawke was arrested and sent to the Tower.
After torture, possible “on the rack” a famous torture instrument in the Tower, he gave in and told them all about their plan and named his accomplices as well.
Interrogated and Tortured: Guy Fawkes 1570-1606 interrogated by James I 1566-1625 and his council in the King’s bedchamber, from Illustrations of English and Scottish History Volume I (1884).
For his execution in 1606 he was dragged from the Tower to Westminster to have the last sight be the building he tried to destroy. He was the last to die and had to watch his accomplices be hanged. He begged forgiveness of the King and the state as he walked to the scaffold. He was hanged and his body parts were distributed to the four corners of the kingdom as a warning sign to others that had their mind on treason.
Guy Fawkes are also one that are said to haunt the grounds and some claim to hear his screams from where he supposedly was tortured. .
The Animal Ghosts
Can animals become ghosts? According to the lore in the Tower of London, there are plenty of them. Having exotic animals like lions, pumas, tigers and elephants were something the rich often were gifted and a popular thing to have in your home to show off your wealth and power.
The most famous animal ghost in the Tower was a grizzly bear that supposedly charged at a guard around the Jewel Room who died of a fever two days later. There have also been spotted a Black Bear near the Martin Tower in 1816.
There is not only one ghost story inside of the Natural History Museum in in the cobbled streets of Bergen in Norway. From everything from the ghost of a former zoologist, cursed Egyptian statues and an executed revolutionary, the museum has it all to see at the price of an entrance ticket.
The Natural History Museum in Bergen, west in Norway, was built at the end of the 1800s at Nygårdshøyden close to the city center in the cobbled streets were it only seems to go uphill. On top of it all, close to the Dragon Top, you find the place that has been operating as a museum since it opened and has several famous collections from all over the world. And some of the artifacts are said to be of the haunted kind.
There have been reports about several strange and disturbing things occuring at the Natural History Museum in Bergen, especially at night time when there is no one around for many years, even from before the museum was built. Several people working as staff claimed to have heard footsteps and seen strange shadows and the exhibitions seems to have a will of its own and moves around when the lights are off and the living has gone home.
The Resting Zoologist Haunting the Museum
The ones that have looked into the supposed hauntings have usually attributed it to a former zoology worker working at the Natural History Museum in Bergen named James Alexanderssøn Grieg. After he donated his skeleton to the museum after his death, strange things started happening. The people working there have a theory about him needing a place to rest as he was known for working long nights at the museum and frequently sleeping there as well.
But there can be someone older that has taken the steps inside the museum as well. Because, even though the museum itself only opened in the 1800s, the location it is built upon has a much longer history.
Rakkerdammen or the Swamp of the Executed
Outside in the garden belonging to the Natural History Museum in Bergen, there is a small pond known as the Rakkerdammen with only a couple of water lilies to show for its once grandeur. It was here long before the building was made and perhaps it will stay there long after, although it is much smaller now than it used to be.
Rakkerdammen used to be a swamp that were much larger and it was also the place where they executed people. Rakke means executioner and Dammen means The Pond. Many convicts met their unfortunate end at this place.
A long time ago, children were warned to not go near the swamp as they were told that the ghost of the executed people would drag them into it. According to the legends, there are some of the executed that are still haunting the place. Perhaps the children are not warned to go close to the pond today, and the warnings have been forgotten.
Rakkerdammen in the Botanical Garden: Outside of the Natural History Museum in Bergen you will find a small pound thought to be haunted by the people that died there when it was used as a place for executions: //Source//May Lis Ruus 29.05.2013
The last execution at Rakkerdammen took place in 1803 when Anders Lysne from Lærdal led a farmers’ revolt against the forced military service. For this he was beheaded at this place.
Along with former workers at the museum and revolutionaries, there are also reports about the ghost of a monk haunting the church exhibition area. Who this monk is suppose to be or from were he originated from is uncertain, but the story goes that he shows himself in the darkest of nights.
The Haunted Egyptian Statues that Moves
Perhaps the strangest thing happening at the Natural History Museum in Bergen is the moving statues that are believed to be the most haunted, and the little statues even made the national news because the staff working in the museum was so freaked out by them.
Inside the Natural History Museum in Bergen they have a huge collection of Egyptian artifacts they started collecting as soon as the museum opened. Some of them are 3000 year old statues that are concealed inside a glass case that is the location of the haunting.
Restless Statues in the Museum: The ushabti or shabti was a funerary figurine used in ancient Egyptian funerary practices. Ushabtis were placed in tombs among the grave goods and were intended to act as servants or minions for the deceased, should they be called upon to do manual labor in the afterlife. The figurines frequently carried a hoe on their shoulder and a basket on their backs, implying they were intended to farm for the deceased. They were usually written on by the use of hieroglyphs typically found on the legs. They carried inscriptions asserting their readiness to answer the gods’ summons to work. Source// The NRK article of the Shabti at The Natural History Museum in Bergen
The Natural History Museum in Bergen opened the exhibition in 2001 and the staff noticed soon after opening that something strange was happening with the statues. When the guard at the museum came to work, he kept noticing strange things happening. Allegedly they turn and move around inside the glass, but the staff have no idea how it is happening.
The glass the statues is locked and no one have been close to the statues at all except the staff working there. Still, they kept moving, bit by bit until it became so noticable the staff couldn’t ignore it any longer. One of the statues has moved over five centimeters and turned towards the door. Three of the total seven statues are about to turn.
The staff at the Natural History Museum in Bergen tried to speculate how this can be explained by something else than the supernatural.
Maybe there are vibrations in the floor, but why is it just on this floor and in this glass case they move? asked Saure, one of the staff. Perhaps someone was pulling a prank, but they knew everyone that had access to them. And when you know the history of the little statues, you know they have a rumor of being haunted.
The Runaway Shabtis at the Natural History Museum in Bergen
The statues in question are shabtis , or death helpers and had, according to legend, magic powers. They were put in the coffins together with the mummies with the idea that they would work for the dead one in the coffin when they reached the death realm. Rich people had maybe over 300 shabtis statues buried with them, while poor people had maybe one or two, if any.
But what exactly are they? Many believe that the Egyptians used these statues to entrap souls of servants or family to make them more manageable to travel with them to the afterlife. That is why the shabtis is thought in many ways to carry the souls of servants of the rich.
The shabtis statues were brought up from the basement of the Natural History Museum in Bergen where they had been gathering dust for over 100 years.
But it isn’t just the shabtier statues that are restless inside their glass cases. There is also a female God figure in wood that appears to have turned 180 degrees and facing towards the wall in the case. Specks of dust show she has moved many centimeters already, although other figures in the same glass case have not moved at all. Is this also a case of vibration of the class cage solely?
The Natural History Museum in Bergen is not the only place where the shabtis statues have exhibited strange things when left alone. Hans Frode Storaas, responsible for the Egyptian collection at the Natural History Museum in Bergen, said he was contacted by many having experienced the same.
People from all over the world contacted him about similar experiences with the shabtis. And several merchants in Egypt wouldn’t have them exhibited in their shop because of strange things happening. He told this to the NRK broadcast site in 2012.
So if you have a look at the Egyptian collection of the museum, don’t only look at the huge statues, mummies and coffins in the collection. Have a look at the smaller ones instead and see if there is a trail of dust that shouldn’t be there.
In the beautiful Gardens of Tuileries outside of the Louvre in Paris there is sometimes spotted a Red Man. This is thought to be the ghost of Jean l’Ecorcheur, an assassin to Catherine de Medici who ended up being assassinated himself.
The Tuileries Palace was a royal palace directly in front of the Louvre Palace before it was burnt down in 1871 by the Paris Commune, a French revolutionary government that seized power between March to May that year.
It was built by Queen of France, Catherine de Medici in the 1500s after her husband died to have space for a large garden. Today, the only thing that remains of it is the Tuileries gardens that covers the ground around the Louvre until the Seine and the Place de la Concorde, and if we are to believe the legend, the ghost of the The Red Man.
Read More: Check out all ghost stories from France
It is in this stately garden that reports that go over centuries tell about the ghost of a red clothed man appearing throughout history to the visitors. And if we are to believe the legend, the ghost belongs to one of the assassins to the Queen of France.
The Tuileries Palace: Was a royal palace the royal family lived in next to the Louvre Palace. It was burned down by revolutionaries and legend has it that one of those working for the royal court cursed those living inside of the palace as long as it existed. Here the burning of the palace is depicted.
Queen of France Catherine de Medici
One of the people who are supposedly haunting the Louvre was one of the henchmen belonging to Queen Catherine de Medicis who ruled as queen in France from 1547 to 1559 at a time when the country was at constant edge because of brewing civil and religious wars.
Although her husband, Henry allowed her almost no political power or influence as his queen, she found her own way and is regarded as one of the most powerful and influential women in Europe.
Catherine De Medici: The Queen of France were a highly controversial queen during her reign, but managed to be a strong political figure in a time of unrest. Portrait by Germain Le Mannier.
She was also known for being interested in the occult, especially because she had problems conceiving in the start, something people attributed to witches among other things people found “unnatural” in a woman. She was also linked to being the creator of the Satanic Black Mass, teaching her son in the Dark Arts as well as being Italian.
The Butcher Jean the Skinner
Who can this The Red Man be? What we know is true however, was that Catherine had a political agenda and needed people to put that agenda into life. But to act on the Queen’s behest came with great danger.
The most famed legend of the identity of the The Red Man is about a man named Jean. Jean l’Ecorcheur was a butcher living in the palace and Catherine de Medici’s hired assassin to kill on her demand, both for political as well as various occult reasons according to the legends. Through his work as a butcher as well as assassin, Jean l’Ecorcheur earned his charming nickname, Jean the Skinner or the Flayer.
Acting as the Queen’s henchmen, he also knew about her and the royal family’s secrets, which were plentiful and the Medici family was known to be a scheming family as well and Catherine de Medici had more enemies than most. Because she feared he would spill these dark secrets, she had him murdered before it happened. There are also rumors that she did it because he tried to quit or make her pay up. Nevertheless, he died a bloody death, but it wasn’t the end of him.
He was according to legend killed by a man named Neuville in the Tuileries garden where he lived in a hut. Neuville left the corpse in the garden, but when he returned, he was gone.
The Curse on the Royals of The Tuileries Palace
Catherine de Medici was according to popular belief a spiritual woman with a strong belief in the occult and she went to her astrologist Cosme Ruggieri who had a vision. In the vision the astrologist claimed that Jean would haunt the garden and had cursed all those living there.
Legend has it that The Red Man rose from the dead and cursed all the French Royals who lived in the palace that were the cause of his death. After this they say many of them died under mysterious circumstances they blamed on Jack the Skinner’s ghost and curse and he was reportedly seen before many deaths almost like a dark omen.
After this he became known as the Red Man, or the L’Homme Rouge of the Tuileries and if we are to believe the legends, he is still dressed in red and haunts the Tuileries Garden.
Many claimed to have seen the Red Man before King Henry IV was assassinated on 14th of May in 1610, when Louis XIV died of gangrene in 1715.
The Red Man was also seen before Louis XVI was executed by the guillotine as a traitor in 1739 during the French Revolution.
The Lady in waiting for Marie Antoinette supposedly saw The Red Man a few days before the Tuileries Palace was stormed in 1792 in the Salle des Gardes and there is even a written account of it:
“Marie Antoinette’s women were sitting in the Salle des Gardes, when they became suddenly aware of the presence of a small man clothed from crown to heel in scarlet, who looked at them with such unearthly eyes that they were frozen with terror. They rushed to the apartments of the Madame la Dauphine and related their adventure.”
Fleeing the Palace: The Royal Family saw a lot of unrest over the generation, none greater than the many French Revolutions. Louis Philippe and the French royal family fleeing the Palace of Tuileries during the French revolution of 1848
Even Napoleon Bonaparte claimed to have seen what could have been him several times during his reign as the head of the state in France, before the battle of the Pyramids, the Battle of Wagram at his coronation and lastly at the battle of Waterloo. And although he wasn’t really a part of the royal family, he did reside in the palace as the king of some sort.
However, in many sources they claim that The Red Man was acting more like a warning omen about danger to come than a vengeful spirit after his revenge.
The Last Sightings of the Red Man
Written accounts went on for ages until the Tuileries Palace burned to the ground in 1971. Twelve men were ordered by Jules Bergeret to pour petroleum, tar and turpentine and light the palace on fire, burning it to the ground. And with tearing the once royal palace, did they perhaps succeed in breaking the curse of Jean the Skinner?
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