This building (53 rue de la Grange aux Belles) in the 10th arrondissement may not seem frightening at first glance, but it’s built on the site of the famous Gibet de Montfaucon in Paris (Gallows of Montfaucon).
According to the official Paris historical plaque,
“Here stood the gallows of Montfaucon, erected during the reign of Saint Louis near the road from Paris to Meaux. The first execution was that of Piere de la Brosse in 1276. This doctor and favorite of Philippe le Hardi was accused of poisoning the King’s eldest son. The first gallows was made of wood, followed by a masonry structure, built through the efforts of Pierre Rémy (the Finance Treasurer of Charles IV le Bel) who was hanged himself three years later. After the construction of Hôpital Saint-Louis (nearby), the gallows fell into disuse and was finally pulled down in 1760. During work in the area in 1954, the remain of two pillars and bones were unearthed.”
From The Hunchback of Notre Dame, by Victor Hugo
“Let the reader picture to himself, crowning a limestone hillock, an oblong mass of masonry fifteen feet in height, thirty wide, forty long, with a gate, an external railing and a platform; on this platform sixteen enormous pillars of rough hewn stone, thirty feet in height, arranged in a colonnade round three of the four sides of the mass which support them, bound together at their summits by heavy beams, whence hung chains at intervals; on all these chains, skeletons; in the vicinity, on the plain, a stone cross and two gibbets of secondary importance, which seemed to have sprung up as shoots around the central gallows; above all this, in the sky, a perpetual flock of crows; that was Montfauçon.
The mass of masonry which served as foundation to the odious edifice was hollow. A huge cellar had been constructed there, closed by an old iron grating, which was out of order, into which were cast not only the human remains, which were taken from the chains of Montfauçon, but also the bodies of all the unfortunates executed on the other permanent gibbets of Paris. To that deep charnel-house, where so many human remains and so many crimes have rotted in company, many great ones of this world, many innocent people, have contributed their bones.”
I didn’t notice any ghosts, but I don’t plan on returning at night.
Cynthia Tuttelman (aka "Tut") is a writer, family doctor and quilter who lives in Northern California and part-time each year in Paris, France. Follow along and explore the wonders of Paris.