Ghost Map

EN PL

Country

France

cases
14
years
1314–2026

Disputed: 5 Legend: 4 Explained: 4 Hoax: 1

  1. 14th century

    1. 1314 Tomb and family curses · Legend The Curse of the Last Templar Grand Master Former Île aux Juifs (now Square du Vert-Galant), Paris Burning at the stake, Jacques de Molay is said to have summoned the king and the pope before God's judgement. Both died that same year.

  2. 15th century

    1. 1477–present Haunted castles · Legend The Green Lady of Château de Brissac Château de Brissac, Brissac-Quincé, Maine-et-Loire The tallest château in the Loire Valley is said to be roamed by the ghost of Charlotte de Brézé, a king's daughter killed by her husband after he caught her with a lover.

  3. 16th century

    1. 1573–1574 Werewolves · Disputed Gilles Garnier – the Werewolf of Dole Dole, Franche-Comté A hermit near Dole confessed that an ointment from a spectre turned him into a wolf in which form he killed children – he was burned in January 1574.

  4. 17th century

    1. 1603 Werewolves · Explained Jean Grenier – the Teenage Werewolf of Gascony Parlement of Bordeaux (Palais de l'Ombrière), Bordeaux A young shepherd claimed he attacked girls wearing a wolfskin – instead of the stake, the Bordeaux court sentenced him to life in a friary.
    2. 1609–1611 Possessions and exorcisms · Explained The Possessed Ursulines of Aix-en-Provence Ursuline convent, Aix-en-Provence, Provence A young nun accused her confessor of seduction and a pact with the devil – the Aix trial ended with the priest burned and set the pattern for Loudun.
    3. 1632–1634 Possessions and exorcisms · Explained The Devils of Loudun Ursuline convent, Loudun, Poitou The prioress and Ursuline nuns accused Father Urbain Grandier of witchcraft – crowds watched the public exorcisms, and the priest was burned at the stake.
    4. 1640 Headless riders and wild hunts · Legend Ankou – the Breton Coachman of Death Ossuary of the parish close at La Roche-Maurice, Brittany A skeleton with a scythe or spear who drives a creaking cart along Breton roads at night collecting souls – on the La Roche-Maurice ossuary he warns: “I kill you all.”
    5. 1642–1647 Possessions and exorcisms · Explained The Louviers Possessions Convent of hospitaller nuns, Louviers, Normandy The nun Madeleine Bavent accused a dead chaplain and a vicar of carrying the sisters off to sabbaths – the affair ended at the stake in Rouen.

  5. 18th century

    1. 1764–1767 Werewolves · Disputed The Beast of Gévaudan Sogne d'Auvers near Mont Mouchet, Haute-Loire For three years an unknown predator killed shepherd girls and children in the hills of Gévaudan – King Louis XV sent his best hunters after it.
    2. 1786–present Cemeteries, crypts and ossuaries · Legend The Paris Catacombs – “the Empire of Death” Catacombs, Place Denfert-Rochereau, Paris The remains of more than six million people lie in old quarries beneath Paris – along with stories of the lost who never returned to the surface.

  6. 1900–1909

    1. 1901 Ghosts of historical figures · Disputed An Adventure at Versailles – Moberly and Jourdain Gardens of the Petit Trianon, Versailles Two Oxford academics claimed that in the gardens of the Petit Trianon they slipped back into Marie Antoinette's time – and may even have seen her.

  7. 1920–1929

    1. 1920 Séances and mediums · Disputed Franek Kluski and the Paraffin Hands Institut Métapsychique International, avenue Niel, Paris A Warsaw medium was said to materialise spirit hands that left moulds after dipping into hot paraffin – a Paris institute still keeps them.
    2. 1923 Séances and mediums · Hoax Jan Guzik before the Sorbonne Committee The Sorbonne, Paris A Warsaw medium whose dark séances featured “animals” brushing against sitters was tested by Sorbonne scientists – the verdict: fraud.

  8. 1950–1959

    1. 1951 Phantom armies and battles · Disputed The Sounds of the Dieppe Raid at Puys Puys near Dieppe, Normandy Two Englishwomen on holiday in Normandy heard the sounds of battle for three hours before dawn – nine years after the bloody landing at Dieppe.