Posted on 10/31/2011 4:42:08 PM PDT by patriot08
THE CREEPIEST, SCARIEST PLACE ON EARTH
(not a joke)
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Paris France
In Pictures...
The grave of American Jim Morrison, the most iconic frontmen in rock music history, draws the most visitors.
His ghost and the ghosts of others are frequently reported at Père Lachaise.
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Père Lachaise virtual tour
Video- A walk through of the most famous cemetery in the world
Today, the Cimetière du Père Lachaise is home to "permanent Parisians"--and a sprinkling of foreigners--from all walks of life, with graves and tombs organized neatly into 97 divisions that are separated by cobblestoned, tree-lined (5,300 trees) walkways.
More than two million people from all over the world come to Pere-Lachaise each year, to walk its nearly 109 acres consisting of tens of thousands of monuments, many of which are dedicated to some of the world's greatest names in the arts, sciences, literature and of course history.
Here's just a sample:
Chopin, Edith Piaf, Isadora Duncan, Jim Morrison, Gertrude Stein, Alice Toklas, Heloise and Abelard, Sarah Bernhardt, Bizet, Moliere, La Fontaine, Murat, Marcel Proust, Colette, Oscar Wilde, Marcel Marceau, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Maria Callas, Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Modigliani, Francois Poulenc, Camille Pissaro, Cherubini, Breguet (yes the watch guy), Lalique (the glass guy), Michel Petrucciani, Auguste Comte, Champollion, Samuel Hahnemann, Gustave Dore, Antoine Parmentier, Balzac, Delacroix, Merleau-Ponty, Georges Melies, Apollinaire, Stephane Grappelli, Richard Wright, Auguste Blanqui
There are also some of the most powerful and poignant memorials to the tens of thousands of French Jews deported to Nazi death camps, virtually all of whom perished.
Today being buried here is considered to be a great privilege as the cemetery runs out of space. Over 300,000 people are buried there. It is said that the smallest plot at Père Lachaise can go for a million euros. (About $1.25 million )
It is also home to an estimated 300- 400 LIVING cats.
Père Lachaise high points:
There wasn't a fence around Morrison then. The hangers on had damaged many of the tombs around Morrison with graffiti. You could take a little dirt if you had wanted to.
That’s it! I was with my mother so the experience was a little lost on me.
Apparently, scratched on the top of Morrison’s grave:
When Are You Coming Back You Son of A B****
(without the asterisks, of course)
Have you been? Do you remember all the creepy stuff?
You're probably thinking of Abelard and Heloise. http://www.abelardandheloise.com/Story.html
It is the story of a 12th century Paris teacher and his student who fell in love.
The girl became pregnant and the couple was ostracized by the community.
They were forced to become priest and nun and she to give up her child, never to see it again.
Six hundred years later, it was Josephine Bonaparte, so moved by their story, the she ordered that the remains of Abelard and Heloise be entombed together at Pére Lachaise cemetery in Paris. To this day, lovers from all over the world visit the tomb where the remains of Heloise and Abelard rest eternally together.
Here is their tomb:
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Yes, I’ve seen many spectacular photographs of the sculpture and art at Pere Lahaise.
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I was amazed and amused at the reported 300 to 400 semi-feral cats who live there.
I guess there is no shortage of food for them, what with all the birds, lizards, etc.
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In Cairo people live in the big cemetery. It’s called City of the Dead. People have broken into the crypts and live there.
I went there in 1992. Very spooky place. Went to go see Morrisons grave.
I know a gal who visited that place. She said Oscar Wildes grave was overflowing with flowers and the lipstick on his gravestone was so thick you could cut it with a knife...
‘Looks like a scene from Gears of War’
LOL I had to look that one up.
You’re right.
Great depiction!
‘In Cairo people live in the big cemetery. It’s called City of the Dead. People have broken into the crypts and live there’
EEWW..I couldn’t do that. No matter how desperate I was.
Isn’t it spooky?
I’d like to visit there but only in the day time with lots of people with me. LOL
I imagine if I had no place to live and no welfare, EBT card, section 8, cell phone, etc. I would rather live there than out in the open. Certainly would rather live there than in a tent at a Wall St. demonstration.
My brother’s in-law’s Mom is from Bulacan and Nov 1 in the Philippines is something to behold. Every Filipino drives back to their respective provinces and it really is a celebration.
I visited the PLC many years ago when we were in France during Lance Armstrong’s 2nd to the last TDF. It’s not as creepy during the daytime because when we visited it really was sunny but the caretakers of the cemetery we spoke with said you are crazy if you here during the dead of night because he ALWAYS hears something moving and it’s not the wind..
Oscar Wilde
Does anyone have any idea why all the lipstick kisses on a gay icon?
Victor Noir (fifth picture from the bottom) was closed to the public at one time due to concerns about the wear and tear inflicted on the tomb by visitors. It appears that the effigy on the tomb has a "distinct enlargement in the groin region," and female visitors rub this protrusion in hopes it will enhance their fertility. LOL it's very apparent from looking at it.
Noir was shot in a duel the day before he was to be married.
Wow.
I’d want lots of people around me even in the daytime. LOL
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