Morbid question

[amie-de-rimbaud.livejournal.com]

I've been wondering:  what happened to all those bodies sans têtes? I assume--I'm sure I've read--about mass graves, but does anyone know where they are exactly? Down in the catacombs of Paris (which I've still not visited, sadly) would be my guess, but I didn't know for sure. I have a feeling this is common knowledge, so I apologize for asking a possibly silly question.

Also, was anything special done with the bodies of remarkable victims--Louis, or the Girondins--to ensure that followers didn't try to memorialize them in any way, or--creepiness alert--steal body parts to save as relics? Did they drive a stake through Maxime's heart to make sure he wouldn't rise from the dead? (I'm kidding) But I'd love to hear any fantastic stories of this nature.

Comments

[wolfshadow713.livejournal.com]

A lot of the mass graves have since been built over--I believe the one that Robespierre was probably buried in had a dance hall built on top of it and then a public swimming pool. Surprisingly, though, I haven't read too much about remains being accidentally exhumed during modern construction projects. Does anyone know anything on this?

As for the catacombs, if memory serves me, some of the bodies are there. I know that they were used to bury victims of a cholera outbreak earlier that century and that, during the Terror, they were relatively popular places to hide if you found yourself labeled an enemy of the republic.

[loremaula.livejournal.com]

As I know, the head and body were buried together. (Head between the legs). They used to bury several corpses, everyone into a simple wooden box in a single big grave and the all was sealed with lime.
Robespierre's grave was never found.

[misatheredpanda.livejournal.com]

Hm, in the catacombs there's a big chamber with pictures of all your important revolutionary figures which basically says, 'now, they're definitely in the catacombs, but we kindasorta lost them.. whoops.' Because each section of the catacombs is labelled with the date and the cemetery the bones come from, but evidently no one knows where the bones from the cimitière des Errancis (where most of them were buried) ended up... I thought it was nice at least that they have all the portraits up though. If a little heartbreaking.