The haunted Catacombs of Rome

See more Paranormal. See best of Rome in Italy.

Long before Rome was founded, an ancient civilisation occupied a large area of the North West of Italy as we know it today, which included the site of Rome itself. They were the Etruscans, and they built vast subterranean networks of burial rooms beneath the city to house the bodies of their dead, which were laid in sarcophagi topped with life-size sculptures. These were placed in their own fresco-lined chambers along with valuable ornaments, which were added to ensure their wealth and success in the afterlife.

Though most of the Etruscan tombs were sacked, the structures themselves survived and were used and expanded by Christians from the 2 nd century. Forty are known to exist today, each positioned along one of the Roman roads leading out of the city, and named after a saint supposedly buried there.

The Christians' bodies were wrapped, placed in sarcophagi and sealed with named and dated slabs inside the coffin-sized wall niches, which are set in rows along the sides of several stories of narrow, underground corridors. At the time of their use, the air inside would have been toxic due to the number of decomposing bodies but today it is simply dry and musty, and all the visible bones have been removed - even those from the macabre ossuaries - largely to prevent tourists from taking pieces of them as souvenirs.

Though it may seem somewhat disrespectful, the practise of secondary burial by creating archways of leg bones, or displays of fully clothed skeletons set against walls of skulls was once entirely acceptable, and many believe that the alleged ghostly goings-on in the catacombs are due to the fact that these were taken away from their final resting places, however undignified and decorative they may have been.

Aside from the cases of intense panic and claustrophobia which, as might be expected, often occur in the catacombs today, a great deal of poltergeist activity has been recorded. Occasionally, visitors also claim to have seen spectres hovering in the corridors, but most reports are of disembodied voices whispering restlessly in the tunnels and empty burial niches.

2 / 5 Review by editor larapiegeler