Maison Frochot, the last haunted house in Paris

Direction the Pigalle district this week. A few steps from the Moulin Rouge, in one of the private Parisian streets kept away from people coming and going, is the Frochot House. Its owner, Jean-Jacques Giraud, agreed to open the doors of this place full of stories to our reporter Murielle Giordan.

But how do you become the owner of such a strange house? At the start Jean-Jacques Giraud was looking for a house for a friend who wanted a private hotel to give concerts for around a hundred people. While he was prospecting, he found this house which he found extraordinary. And for the little anecdote, if his friend had not bought it, it would have been bought by Jack Nicholson.

Maison Frochot, a mysterious atmosphere

Classified as a historic monumentit has the reputation of not having brought happiness to those who occupied it. To enter, you have to push a imposing iron gate after dialing a code that changes regularly. “It is one of the first neo-gothic houses of Paris which was built in 1837. The stained glass window and the fireplace arrived a little later”.

This house has attracted many artists. Jean Renoir and Django Reinhardt for example lived there, the artist Toulouse Lautrec had even set up his nude studio there. But Maison Frochot is a house which has experienced several events which have the legend of this place.

Maison Frochot, unexplained stories

It is rumored that the house would even be haunted. “This legend first comes from Victor Masséa music composer who lived here as an owner and then a tenant. He contracted Charcot's disease and remained paralyzed in his bed for several years.”. 100 years later, in 1986, it was the turn of the writer and theater critic Matthieu Galey to suffer the same fate. He dies in the same place, in the same position and from the same disease.

“And then there was an assassination in this house. In the 1960s the owner was a married woman with no children. When her husband died, she remained alone with the servant with whom she organizes a fictitious sale so that the latter can become the new owner. A year later, the servant is found murdered. There was no break-in or theft. The murderer was probably a familiar but he was never found. The house was closed for a very long time”.

For his part, Jean-Jacques Giraud never had any negative feelings in this house. “More of a welcome, as if the house liked me**”. Jean-Jacques Giraud a a single, slightly disconcerting memory. He tells us about it in our podcast.

Maison Frochot, a very strange house

Maison Frochot has an elevator. “There is 5 levels and since the kitchen is in the basement and the dining room is upstairs, it would be a bit complicated. The elevator also serves as a freight elevator“.

On the 3rd floor, Jean-Jacques Giraud has fitted out a Chinese living room decorated with 20th century silks. It’s a very cozy atmosphere. “There is ceiling lighting, but there is no window. It's an extremely strange house”. Further up is a decorated bedroom with a four-poster bed and Jouy canvases. “I think that was where Matthieu Galey and Victor Massé slept”.

“Regularly teams from television channels or YouTube come with extremely sophisticated and they detect 2 men and 1 woman. I have never seen a ghost”.