5 creepy locations to visit in Paris on Halloween

It may be known as the City of Light, but these are the places to learn about the darker side of Paris.

Le Manoir de Paris

A visit to Le Manoir is not for the faint-hearted, with guests invited to journey into the darkest history of the City of Light. Among its attractions is the Legends of Paris, where actors dress up as infamous characters such as Quasimodo, the bloody baker and the Phantom of the Opera, to prowl the dark corridors looking for their next victim. For those of a particularly strong disposition, the third floor houses a macabre hotel featuring plenty of gloomy corners, where you are unlikely to be able to rest in peace. There is also the dark night where all lights are switched-off and guests try to make their way through the haunted house in complete darkness, avoiding the monsters lurking within.

Open Friday 6pm-10pm & Saturday/Sunday 3pm-7pm

18 Rue de Paradis, 10e, 75010, Paris.

Metro: Château d’Eau

Père Lachaise cemetery

A cemetery is a good place to visit if you’re looking for ghosts and Paris is home to one of the most haunted cemeteries in the world – and they aren’t just any ghosts. Opened in 1804, Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris has more than 300,000 tombs and graves and is the final resting place of some really famous names including Édith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, Molière and Marcel Proust. Visitors report eerie feelings and ghostly apparitions – ghosts that seem to like the limelight are reportedly Chopin and Jim Morrison.

16 Rue de Repos, 75020

Metro: Père Lachaise

The Catacombs

Housing the bones of more than six million people stacked tightly together under the streets of Paris, the Catacombs is one of the city’s most famously spooky places to visit. Every year, thousands of tourists make their way through the dark underground tunnels, where the skulls and bones of famous residents such as Robespierre, lie wall upon wall with their fellow former Parisians. The bones were moved underground due to cemeteries overflowing in the late 18th century leading to improper burials, open graves and unearthed corpses. The tunnel network reaches to around 3,000km and there are many tales of secret meeting places and even cinemas being built in the vast labyrinth – who knows what else is hidden away in the darkness.

Open Tuesday – Sunday 10am- 8.30pm.

1 Avenue du Colonel Henri Roi-Tanguy, 75014, Paris.

Metro: Denfert-Rochereau

Palace and gardens of Versailles

Chances are you have probably been to the Palace of Versailles but did you know it is haunted by one of France’s most famous queens? Beheaded during the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette now roams her home – there are numerous reported sightings of her ghost wandering the gardens or in her royal bedchamber.

Place d’Armes, 78000 Versailles

The train to Versailles from Paris takes about 30 minutes

Le Musée des Vampires

No creepy guide to Paris would be complete without a mention of the world’s only vampire museum. Le Musée des Vampires is suitably located down a dark alleyway on the outskirts of the city, far away from the typical tourist attractions. The private museum is run by ‘vampirologist’ Jacques Sirgent and although everything is packed into one room, there is plenty to see. It is filled with all manner of gory items as well as books, paintings, film posters, props, artwork and even a vampire protection kit – handy in this environment. All the items were obtained by the owner over many years from the deepest reaches of the internet, flea markets and, slightly alarmingly, graveyards.

Open daily 12:30pm-8pm but you must make an appointment.

14 Rue Jules David, Les Lilas, 93260.

Metro: Porte des Lilas

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