Welcome back everyone, today were heading to France to look at some creepy and often
disturbing cases that have remained unsolved over the years.
Theres a lot of information about them - but as of yet, still no answers.
Lets see what you make of them - my name is Danny Burke and this is the Top 10 Scary French
Mysteries.
Starting off at number 10 we have Lost In The Catacombs[a].
The Catacombs are a vast underground complex in Paris, built as mass graves centuries ago.
In the early 2000s, a video emerged that claimed to show footage from the early 1990s by an
unidentified man whos camera was allegedly discovered many years later by a group of
explorers deep inside the tunnels.
They found the tape covered in dust but the tape was still intact.
We see the man heading through the darkness.
At first he takes footage of rooms and rooms of bones, sometimes he even places an arrow
made of bones pointing in the direction he came from.
After a while though his calm exploration turns to sheer panic when he realises he doesnt
know where he is or how to get back.
He starts to run, but gets even more lost.
All of a sudden, he drops the camera on the ground - we see him run off into the darkness.
The camera keeps rolling until the battery runs out.
Nobody knows who he is and what became of him, its thought he may just have become another
body among the millions of remains …
Moving on to number 9 we have Man in the Iron Mask[b].
Thats the name given to an unidentified prisoner who was captured in 1669.
He was held in the Bastille and other French jails for several decades until he died in
1703.
Nobody knew who he was or why he was imprisoned.
Perhaps more interesting though is his appearance.
They say that nobody ever saw his face because he always wore a black velvet mask over his
face and at some points - a mask of iron.
The writer Voltaire said the chin of the iron mask was composed of steel springs which allowed
him to eat food through it.
Its been suggested that he was the illegitimate son of King Louis the 14ths, secretly imprisoned
for being homosexual by his father.
Others said he was actually the half brother of the king and that the king locked him away
to secure his line.
In the centuries since, its remained a mystery who this man was, why he was imprisoned for
all those years, and why he had to wear the Iron Mask …
Next up at number 8 we have The Hope Diamond[c].
This is perhaps one of the most famous jewels in the world - 45.52 carats that is thought
to have originated in India.
It was bought by French gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier in 1666.
Eventually it was passed down through many people and is now owned by the Smithsonian
Institution.
Theres the facts, but now lets talk about the curse.
They say the Blood Diamond is cursed, that anyone who owns or wears it will have misfortune
and tragedy visit their lives.
The list of people who have owned it is full of people who met gruesome deaths.
The gem merchant who brought it from India to Paris was torn to pieces by wild dogs,
a princess who wore it was later lynched by a French mob.
One Turkish owner was later thrown off a cliff with his wife and young child - even a man
who simply polished it once was imprisoned and tortured later on.
Now of course, these could all be coincidences, you have to think that a gem like this is
going to make its way into the hands of rich and power hungry people - who have been, historically,
seemed to be magnets for revolutions and violence.
That hasnt stopped the curse story from spreading.
Some even say its the reason why it sits behind glass in a museum, safe from harming anyone
else …
Moving on to number 7 we have Poisoned Bread[d].
On August 16th, 1951, the inhabitants of the small town of Pont-Saint-Esprit all fell ill.
People started hallucinating about being consumed by fire or giant plants or huge beasts.
A worker tried to drown himself because he said his belly was being eaten by snakes,
a 60 year old grandmother threw herself against the wall and broke 3 ribs.
A man saw his heart escaping through his feet and begged a doctor to put it back in place.
Many people were taken to insane assylums in straight jackets.
There was no treatment, no cure and only one explanation - someone had poisoned the bread
that had been baked for the townspeople the night.
Up to 10 people were dead, 46 were in asylums for life and many more unable to ever hold
jobs or lead normal lives again.
In the decades since then, the scandal has largely been smoothed over - and whether it
was an accident or a killer has remained an unsolved mystery …
At the number 6 spot now we have The Death of Van Gogh[e].
This famous painter wasnt French - he was Dutch - but he died in France, in the village
of Auvers sur Oise to be precise.
On July 29th 1890, Van Gogh returned to the inn where he lived, after nightfall, holding
his stomach.
The family owned the inn were conserned and asked if he was ago, he told them -No, but
I have …- … his words then trailed off as he made his way to his room.
During the night, he admitted that he had tried and failed to shoot himself in the chest
and commit suicide, nevertheless, he died 2 days later.
Over a century though, a different theory emerged.
Some say he was accidentally shot by a 16 year old boy.
The suicide letter may just have been the draft of a letter to his brother - it sounded
far too optimistic for someone about to kill themself.
Its thought that the whole thing was an accident but that people covered it all up, perhaps
even Van Gogh himself.
Either that, or he was murdered in cold blood …
Moving on to number 5 we have Murder In The Alps[f].
On September 5th 2012, 3 members of the same family were found murdered inside their car
near Lake Annecy in the French alps.
When someone arrived on the scene they found That the mother, father and grandmother were
all found shot dead.
Their car was found reversed into the corner of the layby with the engine still running
and in reverse gear - the doors were still locked.
Another man not collected to the family was found shot dead next to the car with his bike.
When police arrived, they found a 7 year old daughter of the family near the scene with
a gunshot wound to her shoulder and serious head wounds.
After 8 hours of evidence collecting, police began to remove the bodies and then found
another 4 year old daughter hiding underneath her mothers skirt in the footwell of the car
- she had been too terrified to move or make a sound.
Both girls survived the attack and were given new identities.
To this day, police have been unable to figure out who the murderer was and their motive
- they could still be out there, willing to do this random act of violence again.
At number 4 now we have Gregory Villemin[g].
On October 16th 1984, Michel Villemin answered his phone and heard a hoarse voice on the
end say -Ive taken Gregory and drowned him in the river- … Gregory was his 5 year old
nephew, he ran to his brothers house.
When he got there, Gregorys parents were in a panic as they couldn't find him.
The uncle told them about the phone call.
The police were called and after 4 hours, they found Gregorys body in the river.
The next morning, the grieving family got a letter that simply said -I hope you die
of grief- … it was postmarked the day before Gregory had been kidnapped and murdered.
The family told the police they had received calls from the murderer for months before
- he would insult them, laugh obscenities and then hang up - but he never mentioned
who he was or why he was doing it.
In the months after Gregorys death, the letters kept coming - taunting, cruel letters.
Newspapers in France nicknamed the mysterious sender ‘le corbeau’ – French for the
Crow, after a slang term for someone who sends letters without signing them.
One simply read -Thats my revenge, you bastard- … in the years since then, nobody has come
any closer to figuring out who The Crow was or why he murdered little Gregory …
Moving on to number 3 we have The Papin Sisters.
This is a murder mystery but not because we don't know who did it - but why.
French sisters Lea and Christine Papin began working as servants for a family in France
in 1926.
People said they were a bit odd and never talked to anyone except themselves.
Nothing too strange though.
Then, one night in February 1933, Mr Lancelin came home to find his wife and their daughter
dead on the floor in a pool of blood.
Their eyes had been gouged out and faces smashed in.
The Papin sisters were locked in their room and when police finally opened it they found
the sisters lying on the bed together with a bloody hammer nearby.
They immediately confessed to the crimes but gave no reason why they did it.
Lea was given life in prison for being the mastermind of the plan.
Christine suffered a mental breakdown and tried to gouge her own eyes out - she was
eventually released from prison in 1943 but gave no clues as to why the pair murdered
in such cold blood …
Next up at number 2 we have the Moberly Jourdain Incident[h].
In 1901, two English women visited a chateau in the grounds of the famous Palace of Versailles.
They claimed that suddenly, during their visit, they travelled back in time.
A strange feeling came over them - a feeling of oppression and dreariness.
They saw men who looked like palace gardeners who told them to move along.
They noticed a cottage with a woman and a girl in the doorway, the woman was holding
out a jug to the girl.
They described it as a living picture.
They saw a man sitting beside a garden kiosk wearing a cloak and large shady hat - his
face seemed to have smallpox all over it.
They reached the gardens of the palace and saw a lady sketching on the grass, she wore
an old fashioned dress.
After the incident, they didnt talk to each other for a week - but when they did, they
began to think they had travelled back in time to the late 18th century and that the
woman they had seen was actually Marie Antoinette - the last Queen of France.
Their story has been examined and retold countless times and has gripped the paranormal community.
Some say its been debunked but others are convinced that the full story suggests that
this was a genuine slip in time …
And finally at number 1 we have the Dupont de Ligionnes murders[i].
These involved the murder of 5 members of the same family in Nantes.
The Dupont de Ligonnes family is an old French aristocratic family.
The mother and 4 children were murdered in April 2011 and their bodies found at their
home in Nantes.
The father had disappeared.
He became the prime suspect.
The bodies were found rolled in lime and buried beneath the patio of the house.
Since then Xavier, the feather of the family, has disappeared off the map - he was last
seen on CCTV at a hotel on April 14th.
The investigation almost went cold - then, on January 9th 2018, police raided a monastery
in the village where Xavier had last been seen after several worshippers had seen him
there.
Police initially struggled to make headway as the monks at the monastery have taken a
vow of silence.
However, after a two-and-a-half-hour search, they determined that the reports were a case
of mistaken identity, and the person believed to be Dupont de Ligonnès was a monk who bore
a resemblance to him-
Alright thats enough French mysteries for now etc