Montparnasse Cemetery

Paris · Frankrike · Cemetery

In the winter of 1848 the graves were found broken open each morning, the bodies mutilated. The press named him the Vampire of Montparnasse.

In the winter of 1848–49 graves in Montparnasse cemetery began to be found broken open each morning: earth dug out, coffins forced, bodies badly mutilated. Paris was seized with fear, and the newspapers gave the unknown culprit a name that stuck — le Vampire de Montparnasse. The police eventually strung a thin wire along the cemetery wall, rigged to loaded guns like a giant rat trap. On the night of 15–16 March 1849 the trap was sprung, and the wounded man was arrested when he sought treatment at the Val-de-Grâce: Sergeant François Bertrand, twenty-five years old. He was sentenced to a single year in prison, because the law had no name for what he had actually done. The legend has long outlived the trial, and the keepers are still asked about the vampire when darkness falls.

FAQ

Hvor ligger Montparnasse Cemetery?

Montparnasse Cemetery ligger i Paris, Frankrike.