A pair of teenagers just endured a real-life horror story.
The Guardian reports that a 16- and 17-year-old were rescued after a horrifying and harrowing three-day ordeal in the Paris catacombs. Thanks to a team of rescue dogs, the pair were found and taken to a hospital. While it'll be tough to recover from a spooky situation like this, the two were treated for hypothermia and are recovering.
The catacombs have become a popular tourist destination and The Guardian notes that the wait for a guided tour can sometimes be hours long. There are only two kilometres of the catacombs open to the public, however. Authorities don't know how the two teens managed to get lost in the underground tunnels, which stretch for 150 kilometres beneath the streets of Paris.
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"It was thanks to the dogs that we found them," a spokesman for the Paris fire service told The Guardian.
Laws prohibit entering the catacombs, but clever, street-smart residents and visitors know that there are secret entrances to the labyrinth. The city has been upping security and established an official visitors centre to offer tours and visits (not to mention a rather morbid Airbnb listing).
The catacombs contain the bones of about six million people, who were moved there from above-ground cemeteries at the end of the 18th century due to public health concerns. Since then, the tombs have set the stage for plenty of ghost stories, like 2014's awful horror flick As Above, So Below, and have made an appearance on a few ghost-hunting shows.
While we're sure that the two teens are glad to be out of there, they've probably got quite a story to tell after exploring the pitch-black tunnels, skeletal mazes, and supposedly haunted environs.
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