Let's Put Them Under the Catacombs

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

In 1788 Royal Guards shot killed a bunch of Parisians whose bodies were deposited directly into the catacombs. Four years later during something called the September prison massacres of 1792 as many as a thousand bodies were dumped into theCatacombs. Aaron writes in her 2017 paper the catcombs served as a useful space where potentially controversial bodies could be quickly stashed away in anonymity and forgotten since they weren't yet an accessible city space. Those treated differently because they were kind of freshYeah yeah they were treated with lime oh and that helps break it down and helps decompose yeah.

Let’s get spooky. Venture below Parisian streets and into the catacombs: hundreds of miles of subterranean tunnels housing millions of human skeletons, some fashioned into sculpture. Alie tracked down Dr. Erin-Marie Legacey – author of “Making Space for the Dead,” professor of French history and one of the world’s foremost experts on this eerie place. We chat about everything from miasmas to sinkholes, boggling cemetery history, smells, skulls, hidden chambers, (very) underground parties, and how we view our bodies post-life. Also: Alie takes a trip to see them herself.

Dr. Legacy’s book, “Making Space for the Dead: Catacombs, Cemeteries, and the Reimagining of Paris, 1780-1830” on Bookshop.org and Amazon

Catacombs tickets

A donation went to: Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas