This Wednesday, October 16 marks the 40th anniversary of the death of little Grégory. Today, this affair continues to unleash passions, to the point of attracting curious tourists to the village of Lépanges-sur-Vologne. To the great regret of the residents.
Cédric Prévost was born in 1987, but nevertheless has the feeling of having known the month of October 1984. The 37-year-old man, in love with his village of Lépanges-sur-Vologne, can no longer stand seeing the clusters of tourists disembarking out of morbid curiosity. Forty years ago, on October 16, 1984, the village, located in the Vosges department, became known throughout France for the most famous news item in the country: the affair of little Grégory.
Since the day Grégory Villemin, 4 years old, was found drowned in Vologne, the town of 850 inhabitants has often been the object of fear, negative thoughts and above all “dark tourism”. Cédric Prévost knows perfectly well what he is talking about when he says this expression. “Since I was born, in 1987, I have seen people come to visit the village to actually try to find the old house of the Villemin family,” the Lépange resident told CNEWS.
Funny situations
And this morbid tourism does not stop in search of the house, surely the most famous in the village. “When I was around ten years old, I went to the cemetery with my parents to visit my grandmother’s grave. Guess what? We were stopped in the middle of contemplation to ask us where little Grégory’s grave was!”, Cédric Prévost is still surprised. However, the Villemin parents exhumed the body of their late little boy 20 years ago. Unfortunately, Cédric Prévost and the inhabitants of Lépanges-sur-Vologne still regularly encounter this type of situation.
“If you go to the village church (the funeral of little Grégory took place in the church of Sainte-Libaire, Editor’s note) and you open the guest book you will almost only see words written in tribute to Grégory,” says the Lépangeois, who regrets that people are not more interested in his village for its own sake, but for the news item.
“In Lépanges, we live really well!”
In addition to the curiosity of tourists, the inhabitants of Lépanges must endure criticism and bad preconceptions about their pretty town. “We live really well here! A village of 850 inhabitants which has 30 businesses and 17 associations, that’s not nothing,” exclaims Cédric Prévost. More recently, on July 16, the local newspaper published an article listing the local foods and drinks to taste in the region, and cited the “Petit Grégory cocktail” for the Lépanges-sur-Vologne hut. “We know full well that it was a satirical reference to the film It Happened Close to You, but it was the last straw.”
Since, once again, when it comes to Lépanges-sur-Vologne, we cite nothing other than this sad affair. Cédric and a few other residents then launched a petition on Changes.org entitled “Stop Lépanges-sur-Vologne bashing”, to demonstrate their fed up. “We are absolutely not minimizing the case, nor the pain of the victims, nor the media treatment that there was. We simply want the village to be highlighted for its assets. Not for a sad homicide,” concludes the villager.
