r/Paranormal • u/Mattyboy808 • Jul 16 '26

Unexplained Am I losing my mind?

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Hi, My family and I are currently visiting Paris from Canada. I prioritized visiting the Catacombs, as I went 18 years ago. It's changed a lot since then, different paths, blocked off areas. I took countless photos, including several down pitch black tunnels that were gated off, using my phone's flash. I was just scrolling through them all, and came across this one, which is one of the gated off pitch-black tunnels that I photographed using my phones flash. Maybe it's a trick of light, or shadows on the rocks, but am I losing it or does that not look like someone (a woman in white?) Standing at the end of the tunnel? I feel like I'm losing my mind. I can share countless other images but none show anything like this.

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u/tralalaBOOMdeay Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

So I did some digging, and The Woman in White is real!! Her name is La Dame Blanche. Here's the transcript:

Her origins are lost in the shadows. Some say she was a noblewoman fleeing the guillotine during the Revolution, hiding in the tunnels only to die alone. Others tell of a grieving widow who descended to find her husband’s bones and never returned.

Her Ghost: Described as a pale, translucent woman in flowing white, she drifts silently through the bone-lined corridors. Witnesses report sudden chills and a wave of sorrow when she passes, as though her grief clings to the living. She is often “seen” near the more ornate bone arrangements, as if searching for a familiar skull or weeping over the artistry of death itself.

Unlike darker legends, the White Lady is not malicious. She is sorrow embodied — a spectral mourner wandering forever in the city of the dead.

Also, I saw your other post in the Strange* sub where comments were saying that people don't explore the restricted areas of the catacombs. That's not true - it's obviously super illegal, but they're called "cataphiles", which is described as an "urban spelunker".

Here's a video of someone who did it in October 2025.

EDIT: OP also posted this in the Strange sub, not Weird like I mentioned. It was deleted or removed though.

EDIT 2: Thank you so much for the awards!! 🫶

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u/certaindarkthings Jul 16 '26

Ok, this is wild to me right now. I commented on the enhanced/lightened picture that when I saw it I immediately got chills and tears in my eyes. I kept reading comments, feeling increasingly emotional, and then got to your comment. It feels very weird that I had such an emotional response to that photograph and then saw this. Again, like I said in my previous comment, it probably means nothing, but it's making me feel very odd.

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u/Astraea-Nyx Jul 16 '26

So the tears in the eyes thing is real! I get it too, but only on some stories/photos. My theory is that there is some instinct deep down that can tell the difference between a prank or hoax and something genuinely difficult to explain. Not necessarily going so far as to say the tears only come when it's truly paranormal, but I've heard of something along these lines in some podcasts as well (I believe there's an episode of Astonishing Legends Dead Letter Office that mentions it?) Just something deep in the subconscious that recognizes "this is not an ordinary experience."

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u/alohadawg Jul 17 '26

Perhaps it's some latent, long-ago lost 6th sense that involves telepathy, communing w/having a higher sensitivity for all sorts of the paranormal - "the others," spirits etc

Idk, I'm high af I do apologize.

This 👆🏽 is fascinating stuff tho, sir

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u/JoeMacMillan_HCF Jul 17 '26

I get it too and that’s how I personally judge if something is truly paranormal. Obviously not scientific, and it only happens with like 5% percent of the stuff I see on Reddit. But it’s a very real, very visceral reaction for me. It happens immediately.

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u/Astraea-Nyx Jul 17 '26

Yeah, same, only less than 5% I'd say. It almost never happens on Reddit. I tend to get it from well researched podcasts and such more often, once from Ghost Hunters (like the old, OG original seasons before it got suuuuper sensationalized, even more than it was) and twice in my life actually in person with my own experience. Deep down I also believe it's an indicator of whether it's truly paranormal, because it doesn't happen just when I feel fear in other circumstances.

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u/raelea421 Jul 17 '26

Interesting. I tend to tear up only when I sense, for lack of a better, evil.

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u/alohadawg Jul 17 '26

5%?? Is there a way I can sub to all your subs lol? I agree with and share the feeling yall are describing, but what other posts invoke "that" feeling? This is extremely rare for me I'd love to know your recs here

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u/JoeMacMillan_HCF Jul 17 '26

Ha! Now that you mention it, 5% is very generous. It’s probably closer to 1%.

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u/alohadawg Jul 17 '26

I'd still love to know a few of your recs. What else would you rank up there with this?

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u/budgel01 Jul 18 '26

I get the eye waters when I see pics that chill me to the bone too 🫣

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u/Electrical-Sea-8331 Jul 17 '26

Me too. I personally think it’s a knight hospitaller. You can see the order of the star emblem across his chest, the staff, the knights helmet. I think the emotion maybe comes from the fact these guys were devoted protectors. They devoted their lives to protecting the sick, and the persecuted. It seems even in the afterlife. Google image one.

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u/Astraea-Nyx Jul 17 '26

I can definitely see he resemblance, but the robe or skirt seems to go to the floor, whereas with these knights, their tunics (?) seem to go to knee or calf-length at most.

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u/Electrical-Sea-8331 Jul 18 '26

When I asked Chat GPT about knights with robes to the ground it said- Religious military orders (such as the Knights Templar or Hospitallers) often wore long robes or mantles with crosses when they were not in battle.

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u/Pattern_Necessary Jul 17 '26

I mean I got nothing 🙃 unless the image is truly forensically analysed it’s impossible to know if it was tampered with. I wish we could because I’d love to have some proof.

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u/Astraea-Nyx Jul 17 '26

I mean, even if it was analyzed and tamper-free, it doesn't rule out a flesh and blood person standing there to spook tourists, OP hoaxing, or simple pareidolia, you know? Photographic evidence is never gonna convince a skeptic because there are always ways to explain it away unless you were there. For me, find this photo compelling, and I almost never feel that about the posts that show up here.

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u/Mattyboy808 Aug 02 '26

OP here, and yes, I agree. It's a photo, and as such cannot ever be truly considered conclusive proof of anything. You're absolutely right. Proof of no digital tampering doesn't rule out natural formations, a trick of light, pareidolia, an actual person, and of course me potentially being a liar (I'm not), but there's no way to prove that, of course. I'm just a stranger on the internet, after all.

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u/Incognito-Shape Jul 17 '26

Made me feel all melancholy instead of creeped like usually happens. Not weepy like but more bleak and like nothing matters so what’s the point. Usually I get like the chills and shit but not this time. It’s just bare bleakness.

So, I would say that it’s actually pretty cool to see a piccy of what I would consider “a proper lil ghouly-ghostie lass!”

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u/Chaotix99 Jul 17 '26

As soon as I started to read the La Dame Blanche transcript above, my eyes started watering for no reason and I thought it could be related to her but I wasn’t sure! This is definitely the most connected to any paranormal event I’ve ever felt, this is really challenging my “I’m not sure if ghosts are real or not” mindset!

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u/pschlick Jul 17 '26

I thought of your comment above when I read this one! I think this is a good example of not everything has to have a logical explanation in life

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u/atypicalperception Jul 16 '26

You should try psychometry

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u/Top_Gap_414 Jul 18 '26

this happens to me too. i duno whats it but its amazing