Mysteries in the Sud region | Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Tourism

Le Pont de la Mariée

On 30th July 1927, a young couple upset the usual peace and quiet of a charming little village in the Alpes-Maritimes called Guillaumes. Just married, the young lovers were there for their honeymoon and were soon noticed: they went around in a luxury car and left sufficiently generous tips to attract the attention of the whole village. They informed their hotel that they were off to visit the Gorges de Daluis in the evening. They stopped on the bridge over the River Var and there, everything changed: the young woman leant over and fell off the bridge! The frantic spouse went back to Guillaumes to fetch help. The searches carried out that night found nothing. But, the next morning, the bride’s body was found 80 metres further downstream. After questioning the young man, it was quickly decided that it was an accident. But why did the bride lean over at the very point where there was no safety rail? Rumours circulated in the village and raised doubts about the husband being guilty. So, it is in memory of this story that the bridge now bears this name. You can visit the bridge on foot and why not try a jump… a bungee one, of course!

Le Pré de Madame Carle

Here is another place, nestled in the heart of the Écrins, which is also linked to a love story with a bad ending: the story of a man, Monsieur Carle, President of the Parlement in Grenoble and often away, who discovered that his wife was cheating on him and decided to take his revenge. How? By depriving her donkey of water and food for several days. He then put her on the donkey to go off on an outing to visit their fields at the end of the Vallouise Valley, where you can see the Saint-Pierre torrent. Dying of thirst, the donkey ran riot and rushed to the stream to drink, throwing Madame Carle off into the eddies of the torrent to drown! Apart from this, it would appear that the field gets its name from the fact that Madame Carle had simply inherited the piece of land, but legends are sometimes stronger than reality… In any case, if you decide to venture out in the footsteps of Madame Carle by hiking, for example, to the Refuge du Glacier Blanc, don’t forget to take water!

The haunted manor house of Pré Fantasti

To the south of Mont Ventoux, Caromb is home to a manor house that some say is haunted. Behind this reputation is the story of two alchemist brothers sent to this little village in the Vaucluse by their uncle, Pope Urban VIII, who wished to prevent them from being burnt at the stake because alchemy at the time was likened to sorcery. Legend has it that after having created the elixir of life in their laboratory in the manor house, the two brothers argued about how they would share the product of their sales. One threw vitriol in the other’s face and he died in great pain. His ghost tormented his brother until he lost his mind and his shadow still haunts this old building. At the beginning of the 20th century, the mysterious murder of Marius Jouve, the manor house’s poet and owner, lent even more strangeness to the place. “Pré Fantasti” comes from the Provençal “espirit fantasti” which means « fantasy spirit ». If you are intrigued by this legend, the Pré Fantasti discovery trail offers a pretty historical walk!

Les rochers des Deux Frères

Two rocks, two brothers, two tragic legends. The first is that of a knight and a pirate who challenged each other to a duel, and who killed each other just as they discovered that they were actually brothers, one of them having been kidnapped by pirates when he was small. Understanding their mistake, they fell to the ground together and were changed into two sugarloaf-shaped rocks which emerge from the sea at the tip of Cap Sicié. The second is that of two shepherd brothers who came to the rescue of a wounded mermaid on the beach. Under her charm, they both fell in love with her, went mad with jealousy and killed each other. In memory of this passion and to pay homage to them, the mermaid asked Poseidon to unite them in death, and he transformed them into two rocks which can be seen from the Plagedes Sablettes in La Seyne-sur-Mer. You can dive near the spot and explore the underwater wildlife which is famous for being magnificent there.

The so-called “des Templiers” château in Gréoux-les-Bains

The medieval fortress with its mysterious aura built in the 12th century, dominates its surroundings and the little village of Gréoux-les-Bains on top of its rocky spur. Legend has it that it was built by the Order of the Knights Templar, known for its implication in the Crusades, but above all for its hidden treasure, its links to sorcery and its alleged secret survivance. Fertile ground for haunted stories, the caâteau is supposed to be the stage of a variety of paranormal phenomena such as unexplained noises, ectoplasmic manifestations and other mystic events which are said to have been recorded in Gréoux-les-Bains since the 1970s. For those who love mysteries, there are guided tours from the Tourist Office of Gréoux-les-Bains where you can follow in the footsteps of the Knights Templar. The chateau is a listed Historic Monument and regular exhibitions are held in the Salle des Gardes.

La grotte Dechaux in the Calanques

In the Calanques National Park, in the hills of Marseilleveyre, there are around ten mysterious engravings all bearing the name of their author: Xavier Dechaux. After having lost his wife and his 7 children, he left for Sisteron and then returned to Marseille in 1865: for 4 years, he wandered sadly around the Calanques, particularly in the Marseilleveyre massif where he left his mark with his inscriptions engraved in the rock. Among them, there is a love poem for Marseille, as well as a marble slab on which is engraved not only his date of birth but also that of his death! On the same slab, other strange inscriptions, made up of initials, have not yet been deciphered. As announced on the slab, he killed himself in 1868 in a cave which now bears his name, in the same way as the Vallon de l’Homme Mort (Valley of the Dead Man) whose name seems to refer to his tragic and enigmatic story. If you like treasure hunts, you can follow in the footsteps of Xavier Dechaux on the trails in the Marseilleveyre massif. To see the inscriptions, keep your eyes peeled near the Fontaine de Voire, the Grotte de l’Ours or the Col de Sormiou.