PARIS — As if visiting the Paris Catacombs in the daytime wasn’t creepy enough — you can now visit the underground maze of skeletons after nightfall, too. That is if you dare defy the warning at the entrance: “Stop, this is the empire of Death.”
The subterranean tunnels, stretching 1.2 miles, hold the bones of about 6 million Parisians from centuries past and once gave refuge to smugglers. The city of the dead attracts history enthusiasts as well as visitors looking for a chilling place to celebrate Halloween.
The later closing time is mainly aimed at allowing more people to visit and reducing long lines, but it also adds to the thrill: Entering and leaving the catacombs after dark feels different from doing it in daylight.
Valerie Guillaume, director of the Catacombs, stressed the philosophical nature of the unusual tourist site.
“The place was not conceived to be a horror place, but as a reflection on the meaning of life and death,” she said.
