Man exploring French Catacombs attacked and dragged of by someone/something.

Considering the large amount of videos that get posted on ATS that involve any number of things that are relatively easily debunkable I decided that I would find and post something that I had seen on TV about three or four years ago. The problem is the video, and any information concerning it is all but absent from the internet. It was late one night and I was watching some type of paranormal investigation show (while I didn't have cable, so it was on either UPN, ABC, CBS, or Fox), what show it was I don't recall. The gist of the story was that a team of scientists exploring the French catacombs came upon a camcorder lying on the ground. There is a tape still inside. On the video a man is exploring deep in the French Catacombs by himself, with a hand camcorder, and a flashlight. All of a sudden the camera is knocked to the ground, and from it's vantage point you see the man being dragged off into the darkness by something. Can't see the attacker but whatever it was, it was relatively strong. It managed to knock him to the ground and drag him off in a period of prob. 15 seconds or so.

I spent the last two hours trying to find any type of info on this, or the man that went missing, and couldn't find anything. I tried pretty much every combination involving all of these words at different times and of course French catacombs in all of them; Researcher, attacked, missing, camera, paranormal, man, etc, etc, etc, I tried it all and got squat. I checked google, dogile, yahoo, youtube, veoh, megavideo, etc. both for video and a related article. Still nothing. Then I decided to check msn and found something, just what I was looking for in fact, but the article has been removed. All that was left was this snipit in the article synopsis, so I know I'm not entirely crazy.

"A French group once ventured beneath the concrete in search of a missing person whose camera had been found in the catacombs with a ... of the French catacombs in ..."

It's rather strange that one of the videos that I consider to be really good possible evidence for any number of the theories we discuss on ATS basically no longer exists. Considering it was on TV and everyone on the show including experts were startled by it, why wouldn't there be people online discussing this as well? Why is it that no article exists, old forum post, nothing? It makes no sense. If anyone has an opinion, or has a link to an article concerning this or a link to the video itself PLEASE post. I can't be the only one that remembers this.

I've been in the French Catacombs, and it would be difficult to go off on your own. There is a guard in the middle of the place, and all the side corridors are barred off. it's pretty much just straight on through.

So I'm not sure that could really have happened.

The Catacombs are pretty fearsome and compelling. And freaky.

He may have had permission to be down there, I really don't remember the specifics.... and as far as how the catacombs are set up, I'll have to take your word for it since you've actually been there. It was a pretty scary video, and I'm surprised that even it was debunked somehow that no one discussed it online. . I just don't get it. It would have helped a lot if the link on MSN wasn't dead.

It sounds like an interesting story at any rate.

Les Catacombs still give me the shivers just thinking about them. People went to the trouble to make patterns in the skulls when they were stacking the bones. It's just such a bizarre and haunting place, I wouldn't doubt that there would be stories about things like that happening, whether there is truth in them or not.

It just sort of sounds hoax-ish to me. I can't quite say why, but my Spidey Sense is saying something is weird about the story.

Could this be the video you were referring to?

reply to post by MajorMalfunction


It could very well have been a hoax, which is why I wanted to to take another look at the video before I posted a link here. I couldn't find any mention of this happening pretty much anywhere, which led to me obsessing about it, and hence led to the creation of this thread. Whether real or not it it successfully scared the crap out of me.

reply to post by JacKatMtn


Yup that's the video, don't know if it's the same program I saw or not, and I recall you being able to see him being dragged off, but apparently my mind made that part up. Damn, it's creepy to me still, especially the arrows and what not. Thank you so much, maybe we can have some discussion about it now that the video is here.

Good find, JKM.

I dunno, Osiris. The "found" film feels fake to me, especially with the guy talking over it and setting up expectation. If something was after the guy, you'd think that it would have showed up on the tape, too. It just feels Blair Witchy to me somehow.

But I wouldn't rule out the possibility that there are other ways into the catacombs than just through the official tour area. If it's possible to get in there illicitly, there could well be people living down there, below the radar of the law. I wouldn't buy anything paranormal, if this is a true story, but I'm willing to conceded that if someone disappeared down there, it could have been foul play at the hands of another person for some unknown reason.

reply to post by MajorMalfunction


They did say there were illegal ways down, so maybe there are people down there, who knows. The whole thing is odd, and even just a normal person randomly approaching you down there would be horribly frightening since you aren't expecting it. I'm not sure if it's a hoax or not.

It was that show about the OSI Office of Scientific Investigations that Dan Akroyd used to host. I remember the episode. The catecombs led to a genetic research facility. The creature was half human and half alligator.

reply to post by groingrinder


I'm assuming your joking...if so thanks for the laughs. It is so hard to tell whether people are being sarcastic or down right serious on this site anymore.

Perhaps we can get some more opinions in here before it just dies off entirely. Thanks to everyone who has posted thus far. All three of you. lol

ok, let me be the fourth

i could buy this. and it doesn't have to do with anything paranormal. he might have just scared himself. imagine; you're exploring the spooky catacombs, your vision is narrowed since there is no light source under there AND you're 'blind' on one eye since you're holding a camera. so imagine, you rattle some bones by accident and something starts crushing behind you. i think some people need less to get scared.

or, like MajorMalfunction said, maybe he run into someone else.

good find

This is genuine fottage, I remember seeing this on t.v a while ago, a documentary about a group of people wanted to explore the catacombs, I think one of them went down to explore and the film, well, speaks for itself about what happened next.

This is genuine footage, I remember seeing this on t.v a while ago, a documentary about a group of people wanted to explore the catacombs, I think one of them went down to explore and the film, well, speaks for itself about what happened next.

[edit on 19-10-2007 by Opulisum]

Sorry for double post, PC crashed.

Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
I've been in the French Catacombs, and it would be difficult to go off on your own. There is a guard in the middle of the place, and all the side corridors are barred off. it's pretty much just straight on through.

So I'm not sure that could really have happened.

The Catacombs are pretty fearsome and compelling. And freaky.

400 square miles of catacombs are pretty "straight through?"
My subdivision isn't even "pretty much just straight through."

I always thought the catacombs were strange. You couldn't pay me enough to go down there.

And after watching the video again, you can clearly see the man was not knocked to the ground and dragged away, he dropped his camera and continued running, from whatever he was scared of.

reply to post by Osiris1953


I remember seeing that too, years ago, but I remember in the vid there was a "leg" or something of the sort that can be seen right after the man drops the camera.