Friday, 13 October 2017

Paris Bone Crypt 3 - The Hawaiian Surfer


The Gates of Hell – Barrière d’Enfer
Don’t do this!

In October 2016, Alison Teal went down to the forbidden parts of the catacombs.
The oxygen was thin.
She followed secret passageways.
Crawled on all fours over skeletons,
to be the first person to surf the Paris Crypts.

The catacombs which are dug into the limestone bedrock beneath Paris, are one of the world’s largest graves. I posted about the history of the the bone mausoleums last year, you can read the article here.

Alison Teal from Hawaii, is a film-maker and she believes in education through adventure. She’s been called an Indiana Jane. A lot of planning went into her crypt trip. She went with expert cavers as guides.

In the middle of the night, she climbed down a drain and over bones to reach the deepest part of the catacombs at 150 metres. The air was suffocating. The skulls smelt bad. The water was freezing. Alison unloaded her surfboard, and dressed in her bikini, she paddled around the crypt tunnels.



It was a dangerous adventure. The water levels rose in the narrow passageways. Alison had terrifying moments and they had to stop filming. Despite being left shaken, surfing the crypts was a life-threatening and life-changing experience for her. 

Here’s a short video of Alison’s surfing adventure.




Have a good week everyone.

Ashlyn

Pictures used in this post are from http://www.news.com.au/ 


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More Paris Bone Crypt Posts 

No. 2 



Let's go down to the crypts...

Beneath the streets of Paris there are hundreds of miles of tunnels and chambers carved into the bedrock. In the southern area of Paris, the Romans dug down to quarry limestone blocks to use as building material. Mining of the “Paris Stone” continued over the centuries and built the city in the distinctive colors of the natural stone...


 No. 1 


Beneath the city of Paris, there are two-kilometer long tunnels which are called the catacombs. The walls are lined with millions of human bones and skulls. For reasons of public health, the human remains were transported from Parisian cemeteries to the catacombs at the end of the 18th century...

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