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Airbnb offers dread and breakfast with Halloween stay in Paris Catacombs

While sourcing some cheap and cheerful accommodation in the city of lights around Valentine&rsquo...
Newstalk
Newstalk

13.13 13 Oct 2015


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Airbnb offers dread and breakf...

Airbnb offers dread and breakfast with Halloween stay in Paris Catacombs

Newstalk
Newstalk

13.13 13 Oct 2015


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The holiday rental company is offering people the chance to stay in the infamous Catacombs on October 31st, and guarantees that along with the stacked up bones and countless skeletons, there’ll also be a real bed, dinner, a private concert, and even breakfast.

"Before bedtime, a storyteller will have you spellbound with fascinating tales from the catacombs, guaranteed to produce nightmares. Finally, enjoy dawn with the dead, as you become the only living person ever to wake up in the Paris catacombs," reads the listing.

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Sources in the local town hall claim that the California-based company, whose European headquarters are based in Dublin, paid up to €350,000 in order to privatise the world-renowned tunnels for one night.

The tunnels, rich in gothic history, were originally filled with human remains from Parisian cemeteries at the end of the 19th century, when local authorities saw a link between decomposing bodies in the overflowing Parisian cemeteries and a number of public-health problems.

"It was said that the wine was turning bad and the milk was curdling," Sylvie Robin, the site's curator, told AFP in an interview last year.

Along the two-kilometres of tunnels running under the city, the bones are amassed in stylised piles, packed together in their millions, along with pictures and quotes about mortality. Situated 20 metres below the city’s sewer network and metro lines, the Catacombs have become a popular tourist destination, attracting 500,000 visitors every year, along with film crews and fashion shoots.

Gothic and genre-fiction authors Victor Hugo, Gaston Leroux, and Anne Rice have all drawn inspiration from the bone-filled ossuary, and have included the Catacombs network of ghoulish tunnels in their work.

The House Rules section on Airbnb, which allows property dwellers and owners to rent a room or an entire entire home, warns guests to "respect the Catacombs as you would your own grave".

Along the two-kilometres of tunnels running under the city, the bones are amassed in stylised piles, packed together in their millions, along with pictures and quotes about mortality. Situated 20 metres below the city’s sewer network and metro lines, the Catacombs have become a popular tourist destination, attracting 500,000 visitors every year, along with film crews and fashion shoots.

Gothic and genre-fiction authors Victor Hugo, Gaston Leroux, and Anne Rice have all drawn inspiration from the bone-filled ossuary, and have included the Catacombs network of ghoulish tunnels in their work.

The House Rules section on Airbnb, which allows property dwellers and owners to rent a room or an entire entire home, warns guests to "respect the Catacombs as you would your own grave".

You can see more images of the Catacombs in the gallery below:


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