Paris is filled with history and wondrous mysteries. The city has been a witness to historical events like the Affair of the Poisons and the French Revolution. It’s seen the Hundred Years' War, has lived through the Black Plague and gone through Napoleon’s downfall. Nowadays, Paris is teeming with life, with a variety of thriving universities, museums, and businesses. But beneath the city is a frightening place, one that has captured people's fears and curiosity. That place is known as the Paris Catacombs.

The catacombs have housed corpses for centuries, said to hold approximately 6 million bodies. In medieval times, the Church cemeteries were flooded with bodies, so much so they covered the city. As a result, city officials had to find other places to bury the dead, and they found one underground. Since then, the catacombs have operated between the 13th century and the 17th century. When the French Revolution happened, and many aristocrats were executed alongside innocents, all the dead were buried in these tunnels. Presently, the catacombs are open to tourists from all over, some with macabre curiosities, others with a penchant for trouble.

In fact, according to The Guardian, two boys had gotten lost in the catacombs. Rescue teams searched for them for three days, until they were finally found and treated for hypothermia. A more sinister story happened when a doctor accidentally stumbled into the catacombs, completely drunk. It wasn’t until he finally sobered up did he realize he was lost. He wandered for days until he literally fell down dead. The tragedy is that he was only a couple of feet away from the exit. Legend has it that his spirit still wanders the catacombs, protecting those who became lost along the way. On a more sinister note, it’s said that cultists would enter the catacombs in order to steal bodies for dark rituals, so make of that what you will.

There are many areas in which the catacombs have gone unexplored. These areas were collectively marked as “The Empire of the Dead.” These areas house surprises. For instance, there was a secret society living within the catacombs. Word got out, and in 2004, police looked through the catacombs when, all of a sudden, they stumbled across a site filled with electricity, phone lines, and religious symbols. When the police returned, the evidence was gone, leaving only a note that said, Do not try to find us.

The catacombs are filled with historical anecdotes and ghost stories, stories that chill and excite. It’s a place full of shadows, where macabre poets and artists come to discover the boundaries between the living and the dead. It has even inspired various movies, such as As Above, So Below and Catacombs, and books such as The Catacombs by Jeremy Bates. It has a morbid religious significance that makes it almost ethereal to walk in while amplifying your terror. The catacombs are appropriate for any writer wishing to delve into the realms of the dark, whether they want to or not.