Saint-Bonnet-le-Château and its secret mummies

A friend and colleague of mine went looking for some creepy and mysterious history this weekend and, boy, did we find some!

We had heard of some well preserved mummies in crypt in the church of Saint-Bonnet-le-Château, whose origins and reason for being there are completely unknown. So we set out in my trusty pink Twingo to go and have a look.

Our first view--breathtaking. 

The first stone of the church was laid in 1400. 

At the time, to go to church, the inhabitants of Saint-Bonnet-le-Château had to walk 3 kilometers. This in itself wasn't much of a problem as people were used to walking great distances; 3 kilometers was a piece of cake. The problems were: in the winter there was 2 meters of snow (6 feet), then there were hungry wolves who would attack people, not to mention brigands or thieves, as on your way to church you dressed in your finest and wore all of your jewels, nest ce pas?

As luck would have it, Saint-Bonnet-le-Château was a thriving town and several wealthy individuals invested in building a church.

Louis II Duc de Bourbon commissioned these gorgeous murals for his wife Anne Dauphine d'Auvergne, Comtesse de Forez. Amazing to think how well they have held up over 600 years! The colors are so vivid, the ambiance so lively. 

The artist is unknown as many documents were lost in wars and during the French Revolution. The facial expressions are rare for the time in their life-like perfection. This is most likely a depiction of King Charles V.

The blazon or coat of arms for Louis II Duc de Bourbon. He was brother-in-law to King Charles V and uncle to King Charles the VI of France, hence the royal fleur de lys. The two dogs were his wife's favorites and a sign of fidelity. Esperance or hope is written upon the belt that surrounds the coat of arms. 

There are an unusual amount of bodies buried in this church. As you walk around the main part, you step on dozens of stones with iron rings, beneath each one is buried a priest. In the side chapels, nobles were buried. As the Revolutionaries burned church documents (Seriously, I want to slap them silly for having done that!), today, no one knows who the nobles are.

This particular side chapel had a really creepy bad, bad energy in it!

I kept feeling that a monster had been buried in this one, a really bad man.

If anyone has any information about who was buried in this chapel, please let me know, I would like to research it further.

Creepy faces on each corner of the chapel.

Alter

Now, on to the mummies!

During renovations in the 19th century, this underground crypt was discovered with 30 bodies in it. No one knows why, who or exactly when this happened.

Why would so many bodies be just dumped on the floor of an underground room in a church?

But, even more interesting, there are several other rooms just like it that most certainly contain more bodies!!! The villagers, perhaps a little embarrassed and not wanting more shame on their village or the whole story to come out, have elected not to open the others up. 

These bodies were unceremoniously dumped in this pit and left to rot. Two natural minerals, alum and arsenic, are in abundance in the ground and they have sucked all the moisture out of the bodies leaving them very well preserved.

The opening in the floor that leads down to the mummies.

Someone arranged them in a very dramatic and macabre way.

Their skin has turned to leather and upon first glance looks like clothing. One even had hair!

Specialists have come and taken a few bodies to be examined. Carbon dating puts one body in the 17th century. One mummy was a pregnant woman, they took her fetus away to examine it. Gross!

Bizarrely, all their teeth are missing. They all seemed to have been stabbed in the chest. Clearly, they were all murdered. Did the villagers think they were vampires? Did they pound stakes through their hearts, pull out their vampire teeth and toss them in a pit in the church to ensure them never coming back to life?

My writer's imagination has gone mad! 

It was a fascinating visit, I am already planning to go back, I feel a story there. If you get a chance to visit, I highly recommend it.

Gros bisous macabre et a demain!

Love, Charley