Kitty's Wide, Wide World of Woo: Paris, Part One

I have found in my years of hanging around skeptics that there are some traits we all seem to have in common.  Besides incredible critical thinking skills, and  dare I say superior looks, all skeptics seem to have a curiosity about the world around them and a thirst for knowledge.  Much like the character “Sara” in “A Little Princess” we tend to “devour” books rather than just read them.  I think as part of this curiosity and need to “learn” most skeptics enjoy traveling.  We don’t always enjoy new foods, new languages, new people and new sights to see, but for the most part we consider the good and the bad as part of the travel learning process.

I enjoy traveling as much as any skeptic.  Much like the writer David Sedaris has written, there is a certain thrill in being thrown into an environment where  you are not comfortable.  Not knowing a language and culture can raise the heart rate and means that even something as simple as finding milk is an adventure.  When my family lived in Brussels for several years I brought home coffee creamer, heavy creme, and even some sort of odd runny cheese in my effort to supply milk to my children for their breakfast cereal.  Anything with the word “lait” on it I bought.  Finally an English speaking neighbor pointed out to me that the milk was not refrigerated in most city grocery stores as it was irradiated.  It never occurred to me to look on a regular shelf for milk.  The children seemed to like the irradiated milk well enough and they only glow a little at night these days.

While I live in the US now I still grab any chance to travel.  Sometimes it’s to see a good skeptic friend.  Sometimes it’s a chance to go to Europe with my husband on business.  I am lucky enough that once a year the frequent flyer miles are enough that I can pop along with him on a trip.  My life is hectic enough that spending the days alone wandering around various parts of Europe with my camera is one of the highlights of my year.  Since we are traveling on “OPM” (other peoples money) I spend a lot of time walking and eating cheaply from bakeries.  One thing I really enjoy is looking for various local or cultural “woo”.

A recent trip found me in one of my favorite spots, Pere Lechaise cemetery in Paris.  I noticed that Oscar Wilde’s grave looked rather, peculiar.  I was told by a Parisian friend that kissing his grave will make you “lucky in love”.  I was then informed of various other “woo” superstitions of the cemetery.  For me this was “woo” at it’s finest, and so I thought I’d share with you a small tour “woo” tour of Pere Lechaise cemetery.

Paris cemeteries have historically been places for lovers to meet.  An oasis of quiet in the middle of a busy city, the cemetery is not just a place to bury the dead, but a place to relax, walk and has almost a park like atmosphere.  This might explain why so many of the Pere Lechaise superstitions have to do with “love”.

Oscar Wilde’s grave is probably most well known of the Perle Lechaise superstitions.  His art deco grave is covered with lip stick kisses and sadly his penis seems to be missing, perhaps taken as an especially potent talisman.  Kissing the grave means you will find love.  Since Oscar Wilde had great difficulties in being lucky love himself, and indeed ended up in prison serving time for being a homosexual, one wonders where this superstition started.  Still his stories and his life inspire thousands to kiss this grave every year.

My favorite love “woo” is the grave of the journalist Victor Noir.  He was shot dead at age 22, and his grave shows him as he fell (though I think it’s a rather romanticized version).  This 22 year old has a very shiny crotch area because touching it is supposed to cure infertility.  His lips are also very well worn as women that are having troubles finding sexual satisfaction have been known to “visit Victor” for a good time and a supposed cure to their inability to achieve orgasm.  Why a 22 year old murdered on the streets of Paris is the focus of such attention is yet another unexplained “woo” mystery.  Certainly it is a very handsome grave, but other than that there is nothing in the history of Victor Noir to make one think his grave would be a cure for a sexual problem.  Still, as the shiny parts show, he’s a very popular man even in death.

Among the many graves at Pere Lachaise are these eternal tributes to “woo”.  One grave is a tribute from a “woo” group that I think has died out, though at one time, phrenology (telling about a person by reading the bumps on their head) was very popular and well thought of.

Sadly one of the most popular grave sites in the cemetery is that of German scientist Samuel Hahnemann.  His grave is usually covered in flower tributes and visited by very ill people, who sadly are often heard to say “thank you” for a supposed cure.  I have seen people in wheelchairs and nothing more than skin and bones crying at his grave, and thanking him for “curing” them when their doctors had given up.  Perhaps it was simply as an angry reaction to this that some skeptic decided to redecorate the grave as an act of protest performance art.

Next time, I’ll share some of my French “woo” from various churches and the Cluny Museum.

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