How ‘romantic’ Paris park became site of horror after woman’s decapitated head found
A Paris park is said to be one of the most romantic places in France – but it’s become a site of horror after a dismembered head of a woman was found this Valentine’s Day.
Park staff discovered a plastic bag containing the head of an unidentified female near an abandoned railway running through the Buttes-Chaumont Park in the 19th Arrondisement of Paris earlier today.
The gruesome find came a day after the blood-stained remains of a woman’s lower torso, below her chest down to her knees, was stumbled on in another wooded area of the green space yesterday.
A source told local media: “Obviously, the body was cut dressed. The corpse was not in a state of putrefaction, which seems to attest to a recent death.”
The remains were spotted beside a remote disused railway line in the south of the park, which is generally used as storage for employees.
The grisly package stands in stark contrast to its gorgeous surroundings.
The Buttes-Chaumont Park has multiple different landscapes, including poky grottoes, stunning waterfalls, lakes, temples and even towering cliffs, and is known as a perfect date spot for French couples to romance in.
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One travel site even suggests it’s the perfect place to pop the question.
However, its date-friendly setting may be a double-edged sword as it’s studded with secluded areas for couple to kinoodle, which could serve as perfect areas to carry out more insidious behaviours.
The park’s main feature is the Temple de la Sibylle, which is inspired the Temple of Vesta in Rome and featured heavily in Romance art.
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Its origins are less beautiful. Between the 13th Century and 1760, it was the home of the Gibbet of Montfaucon, which was where the bodies of Paris’ hanged criminals were displayed after being sentenced to death by the country’s kings.
It earned the grim role in executions due to the poor chemical composition of the soil, which meant the hill was unable to support plant life.
After the start of the French Revolution in 1789, the hill was used to dispose of rubbish and to dismember fallen horses.
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Other parts of the park were used as quarries, with some of the stones and minerals being exported to cities in the US.
It wasn’t until Napoleon III took the reins that it was transformed into a park like the one we know today.
He had arranged for thousands of trees and flowers to be planted and huge tracks of lawn to be sown over the one rotting landscape.
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The rehaul of the park gave Parisians the opportunity to spend their leisure time in beautiful surroundings, that are today being combed by specialist police, hoping to find more evidence to identify the dismembered woman.
The park is based in the 19th Arrondisement of Paris, an area that has been wracked by tragedy and horror in recent months.
In October, the mutilated body of 12-year-old schoolgirl Lola Davies was found, with her throat slit and signs of extensive sexual abuse, inside a suitcase in the foyer of her family’s apartment block.
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Dahbia B, a homeless woman from Algeria, was accused of strangling the youngster, abusing her and scrawling the numbers “1” and “0” on her chest during the horror ordeal.
An investigating source recently told Daily Mail : “The suspect had boasted about selling body parts. Evidence suggests that the girl was taken into the basement of the flat, where she was tortured, and raped, before being strangled and having her throat cut.
“The suspect is believed to suffer with serious psychological problems.
“She was living on the street, but had friends and family in the Paris area.”