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Did you know there's a place in France
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where thousands of people have died and
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no one even knows about it? You're
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watching Wild but True with Malcolm
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Walker. If you guess the catacombs of
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Paris, you'd be right. But if you think
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you know all about the catacombs, then
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think again. Because while it's true
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that over 6 million people have died
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here, there's a lot more to this story
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than meets the eye. Welcome back to the
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channel. Today we reexploring the
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scariest parts of the catacombs of Paris
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that even locals do and know about. If
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that sounds like a scary adventure, then
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make sure to like this video and
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subscribe for more. Now, let's get into
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it. In case you don't already know,
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catacombs of Paris are an underground
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tunneling maze system where over 6
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million people have died. It started out
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as a quarry for limestone back in the
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18th century. But soon after, they
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started finding bones underground, which
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meant only one thing, gold. And bones
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were used as a building material back
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then. So they expanded the catacombs by
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digging further and further underground.
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Eventually they hit water and the
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project was abandoned. But that didn't
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stop the dead from piling up. In 1785,
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the Parisians started using the
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catacombs as an illegal cemetery. And
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that's when things got real ugly. Over
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the next few decades, the government
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tried to crack down on the catacombs
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several times. But the tunnels were so
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extensive and the entrances so well
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hidden that it was nearly impossible to
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find them all. This meant that people
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could keep dying in the catacombs
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without anyone knowing about it. And to
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this day, some parts of the catacombs
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are so remote that even locals don't
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know about them. These areas are filled
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with bones and the smell of death, and
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it's hard to imagine how anyone could
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have died here. But it's important to
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remember that these tunnels weren't
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always used for nefarious purposes. In
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fact, for a lot of the 19th century,
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they were used as a sort of escape
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tunnel. Whenever there was a riot or an
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uprising, the people of Paris would flee
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to the catacombs and hide in the tunnels
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until things settled down. This is how
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many of the bones got down there in the
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first place. It wasn't until World War
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II that the catacombs were finally used
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for their intended purpose, a mass
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grave. The Germans rounded up all the
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Jewish people in Paris and brought them
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to the catacombs to be executed. They
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also brought in trucks full of dead
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bodies from the concentration camps and
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dumped them in the catacombs. It's
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estimated that over 25,000 people were
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killed in the catacombs during World War
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II. Since then, the catacombs have been
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used as a museum and a memorial. But
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there's still so much to learn about
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what happened here. That's because a lot
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of the catacombs are still undiscovered.
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As recently as 2019, archaeologists
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found a new section of the catacombs
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that no one knew about. Was filled with
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bones and artifacts from the 18th
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century. It's amazing to think that
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after all this time, we still don't know
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everything about the catacombs. There's
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something else that makes the catacombs
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even scarier than you might think, and
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it has nothing to do with the bones. You
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see, while it's true that over 6 million
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people have died in the catacombs, only
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a small fraction of those deaths have
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been accounted for. Most of the people
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who died here are unidentified. You
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don't know who they are or how they
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died. It's this mystery that makes the
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catacombs so terrifying. We're
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surrounded by the bones of people whose
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names we'll never know. And that's
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really something to think about the next
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time you're in Paris. Just remember, if
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you hear a strange noise or feel a cold
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breeze, it might just be the ghosts of
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the catacombs letting you know that
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they're still here. So, what do you
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think? Did you explore the catacombs of
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Paris? Let us know in the comments
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below. And while you're at it, make sure
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to subscribe for more videos like this
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one. Thanks for watching.