Original subtitles

Is Lucie here?

Ho...

On this episode of Expedition X,

my team journeys to France...

I don't like this.

...to investigate its most haunted castle, Chateau de Veauce.

There's activity absolutely everywhere.

Heather and Phil chase unprecedented anomalies...

I don't think we're alone.

Light, light, light. Look, look, look, look.

...as its dark history and terrifying paranormal activity

drives its current owner to pack his bags.

All right, guys, when I say France, what do you think of?

-Croissants. -Wine.

-Okay. -Chocolate croissants.

-Baguettes. -Almond croissants.

-Crepes? -Okay. I was hoping for chateaus.

Is that a type of croissant?

Grand old French estates.

There are over 40,000 chateaus and castles across France,

but only one of them is considered the most haunted.

A place known as Chateau de Veauce.

Wait a second. I know this place.

-In the '80s, some radio show investigated it... -Yes.

...and several people saw this a pulsating entity

that walked down a hallway and through a door.

That's right. It was purportedly the ghost of a servant named Lucie.

And when this entity passed through one of the crew members microphones,

they recorded this inexplicable, high pitched sound.

Brace yourself.

Still going.

-I don't like it. -Mmm-mmm.

-That is weird. -Yeah.

It sounds like some sort of electronic distortion, but it goes on a long time.

Yeah. This evidence and this investigation was a major event.

And now, 40 years later, the owners of Chateau de Veauce

say that things have gotten much worse.

They claim the entity of Lucie is the least of their problems

and that they have encountered dozens of dark entities.

And when you look into the history of this castle, that is perhaps no surprise.

Over the course of 1,200 years,

this chateau has seen thousands of lives come and go.

In 808 AD, after Emperor Charlemagne

conquers the Visigoths in central France,

he has a feudal fortress built for his heir on a cliff,

strategically overlooking four provinces. And Chateau de Veauce is born.

After his son's death in 840,

a three year civil war splits the realm into three kingdoms,

and the castle changes hands multiple times

over the next 700 years of bloody conflict.

In the 1560s, the Baron of Veauce, Guy de Daillon,

hires a beautiful 18-year-old woman

from a penniless noble family named Lucie.

The baron falls madly in love with Lucie,

but the baron's wife, Jacqueline de Lafayette is understandably not happy.

When the Baron leaves for war, his jilted wife exacts her revenge.

Locking Lucie alone in the dungeon, torturing her for months

before slowly starving her to death.

With so much death, it is perhaps no surprise

that paranormal reports soon flood the castle.

Residents and visitors claim to see the ghost of Lucie,

with repeated accounts of orbs of light alongside bright yet transparent entities.

Then the most infamous sighting of all happens in 1984,

when the radio program Boulevard of the Strange

conducts a live recording at the castle.

Six people witnessed a pulsating white apparition

floating through a hallway for nearly a half hour.

They all believe it was Lucie.

In 2002 after being abandoned for a decade,

the chateau was bought by the family of Jeremy Mincer.

Visitors to the castle have regularly complained

of being touched by something unseen, hearing haunting sounds,

and seeing shadows moving through the hallways.

Jeremy is certain that the activity is only increasing.

But curiously, he has begun to believe that the spirits of the castle

react to the energy you bring into the space.

If you are peaceful, they are peaceful.

But if you are not, you best be afraid.

What has been tormenting him and nearly every other visitor

450 years after her gruesome death.

Is Lucie still holding court at Chateau de Veauce?

So, what do you think?

Well, I'm fascinated by this idea that people's own energy

that they bring to the chateau is influencing their interactions.

There's this concept called "energy reflecting "

where whatever attitude you bring to an investigation

can directly influence your own paranormal interactions.

Okay, I'm afraid to ask. Phil, what do you make of all this?

Well, if you think going in with a negative mindset will help, I'm your man.

-That tracks. -Skeptical?

Yeah, but this main Lucie life phenomenon is interesting.

Anytime something happens in the same place with regularity over time,

I'm inclined to think you could be able to explain it scientifically.

Maybe it's something environmental.

So I think I might be able to shed some light on this. Maybe even literally.

Well, I'm glad you're both intrigued

because your mission is to fly to France

and to discover the secrets of Chateau de Veauce

before Jeremy and his family abandon it to the spirits.

Okay, will do.

All right, be safe and bring me back some delicious French food.

-Escargot. -No.

Escar-go, get out of here.

It's about a seven-hour flight from New York to Paris

and another four hours through the beautiful French countryside

to reach Chateau de Veauce.

-Viva La France. -That's right.

It's stunning out here.

We keep passing all these old towns,

and none of them go as far back as Chateau de Veauce,

which was built in, what, 808?

That is so much history this place has been through.

And somehow it's still mostly standing.

-There it is. Chateau de Veauce. -Oh, my goodness.

-Look at how many different towers there are. -I know.

It almost looks like it's Frankensteined together.

You can really see the different eras

-that it was built. -Yeah.

Amazing. Okay.

-Hello. You must be Jeremy. -Yeah.

Welcome to Chateau de Veauce.

-The most haunted castle in France, I hear. -Yes, indeed.

This place must have seen so much life over the centuries.

More than we could possibly imagine. Follow me.

Jeremy Mincer's mother, acquired Chateau de Veauce 20 years ago.

Now he has become the property's caretaker.

Look at all these paintings.

This is the galerie de peinture, which is the painting gallery.

All of these paintings here are people who used to live here.

Oh, wow.

Is there any activity in here?

There's activity absolutely everywhere.

What is some of the activity you've seen around here?

Spirits walking past me, you know, into different rooms.

Experiences of being touched on the shoulder.

During the night, I'll have shadowy forms

come and stand next to me and my bed.

This was actually just last week, okay.

This is how often it's happening.

I was in my room.

I saw a very dark shape, again, come up the side of my bed,

the sheets started to pull.

It's a very uncomfortable experience

where you have the sheet actually moving on here.

Is it just the bedroom that's the epicenter of all this activity?

The epicenter for me is down below where we are standing.

That's the 16th century wing.

More specifically it's the Galerie des Armes.

The weapons gallery. We see soldiers.

We hear medieval flute music.

There is a light phenomena, noises, unexplained, uh, breathing noises,

even... even distant sort of female tones.

If we wanted to interact with Lucie,

where is the most likely place in the chateau that we would be able to do so?

Well, typically, it's the chemin de ronde, which is the covered walkway

and the dungeon where she was put to death.

Can we go into the dungeon?

You can approach the dungeon, but it's very unsafe.

It's partially collapsed.

And there's no telling when another rock, another stone is going to fall. So...

However, there are even more experiences to be had here.

I've had some that are positive and some that are negative.

It all depends on where you are emotionally.

If you do not manage how you feel

and you let yourself get depressed or angry,

you will attract other energies that are feeling the same.

And that's not gonna be a good experience.

My understanding is you guys are...

-are selling the chateau. -Yes.

Is it because the spirits are... are chasing you out of here?

Let's just say I like to have an easy, peaceful life.

And if you want that, this isn't necessarily the best place for it.

There are so many things we can't explain,

and that is the gift of the chateau.

People come for Lucie, but they leave with more than they bargained for.

Jeremy gives us permission to investigate

anywhere in his historic chateau.

And with so much to explore, we quickly unload our gear and establish a command center.

We rig up surveillance cameras in all the reported paranormal hotspots.

The weapons gallery...

Looks like you're aimed at the mirror.

Can you aim it down the hall?

Yes.

It's looking great.

...the dining hall...

Okay. On to the next one.

Copy that.

...the upstairs bedroom...

and the chemin de ronde,

where Lucie's ghost has frequently been reported.

Andrew, can you come on in? We have cameras rolling.

We enlist our producer, Andrew,

to monitor the cameras as we start in the chemin de ronde,

the quarter where Lucie's spirit is sighted

that leads to the dungeon where she died.

Okay.

There it is, Heather. The chemin de ronde.

Oh, I don't like this.

Oof. Bat.

So, dungeon's far down there.

So this could have been Lucie's last space of freedom.

-This was her walk to her death. -Yeah.

I kind of expected the place where Lucie's spirit is

-to feel a little bit nicer, but I'm not feeling nice. -Oh, no.

But do you feel what I feel?

Humidity. It feels damp in here.

It must have been hot that day.

Maybe it could pick up some steam.

Every single day for the past 400 years?

I'm saying under the exact right atmospheric conditions

and lighting conditions, people could see something

that looks like the apparition of Lucie.

And that is what I want to try to recreate tonight.

Okay.

Okay. Fog machine.

For my atmospheric experiment, Heather will be outside

shining a flashlight through the windows

while the fog machine simulates

the combination of humidity and dust particles in the air.

Okay. How about here?

Looks good. I can see you.

Can you shine your light through each of these windows?

Copy that.

Now we're science-ing.

I mean, this looks pretty amazing.

Especially with that light at the far end.

It's really hard to tell the source of it.

It just kind of seems like it's floating

and you kind of lose a sense of

where the end of the hallway is.

There was mist here, but not on the other side.

Getting a bit of an orb there.

Looks pretty good.

I'm gonna take some pictures and show you.

Copy that. I need that evidence.

We can review them all later, but come back in.

I'm gonna do an EVP session.

Is there anyone here with us right now?

What?

I just saw a shadow figure go across.

Across the door.

A shadow figure just went across the door.

Lucie.

Lucie, are you at the end of the hallway right now?

Okay, okay.

If you're there, can you show yourself clearly?

We hear you still walk this hallway.

Can you make another noise?

-Did you see that? -Yeah. Yeah.

It just went up like that.

What the hell was that?

That was like a huge orb like this big.

Okay, who's going? You or me?

Me.

Are there any tracks in the door

on that left side, bottom left?

No, no. There's absolutely none.

I'm gonna grab my REM pod.

Thank you.

If there's anyone here,

you can touch the REM pod.

What was that?

I heard that.

That came from the dungeon.

We gotta get down there.

You can't get through there?

No. No, the door is solid.

Let's go outside

and see if there's another way.

Okay.

Whoa! It is raining.

-All right... -Okay.

...we were there.

We were up there?

Yeah.

Which means...

-Dungeon. -Dungeon's gotta be back there.

Back there. Through here.

-Okay. -Let's go.

All right.

Oh, my God. Lightning.

-Whoa! -Look at that.

That's it!

This has got to be the entrance to the dungeon right here.

Wow.

Holy . That's the ceiling.

Ooh!

Oof.

That was close.

Yeah.

We gotta go in a little deeper.

Okay. Let's go in.

-Let's not push it. -Okay.

-Ready? -Yeah.

-Oh, my God. -Oh, my God.

Whoa! !

-Go, go, go, go, go! -Go, go, go! Go!

Holy !

All right, that was a big chunk

of the ceiling that just fell off.

Oh, my God.

That's a no-go.

We need to find another way in.

So I think I should check the perimeter.

While you're doing that.

I'm gonna go to the 16th century wing.

Okay, keep in touch.

All right. Stay safe.

All right.

The Galerie des Armes.

Oh, my God.

Let's take a look around.

Is there anyone in here with me?

Is there anyone in this wing?

I swear, I just heard the creak of a door open.

I don't think we're alone.

Jeremy said that your energy reflects the interaction

that you will have with the spirit.

Right now, I'm relatively positive

for almost having a dungeon ceiling fall on my head.

So I'm going to try to communicate the old-fashioned way

that I think any spirit that is from the 1600s

might recognize,

dowsing rods.

A break in the storm.

Got to take advantage of it while I can.

Right up here.

Chemin de Ronde,

which means the dungeon would be somewhere down there.

Let's go.

Let's see where this takes us.

Okay.

My name is Heather.

I welcome you to interact with me.

Dowsing rods.

Is there anyone here with me?

Thank you.

Did you live here?

Did you die in the dungeon?

Oui.

That's a yes.

Are you, Lucie?

I feel like it's extremely active here.

But it doesn't feel negative.

It feels neutral.

It doesn't feel like anything's trying to attack me.

It doesn't feel like anything's trying to scare me.

It just feels like something's trying to communicate with me.

So now I need to change my mindset

and see if I can interact with something negative.

To try to get into a negative headspace,

I go into the dining room and listen to a song

that has a powerful emotional connection for me,

reminding me of people I've lost.

I continue my energy reflecting experiment,

seeing if the paranormal activity here

has also changed to the negative.

Is there anyone here with me?

Who are you?

Tell me your name.

Sad is definitely reflecting how I'm feeling right now.

Rain's picking up again.

That sounded like a gate just shut back here.

Was it a gate? Looks like a gate.

Along this fence.

What is back here?

We got some of the castle wall here.

Oh, wow.

That's a cliff.

What the ? Light, light, light!

Look, look, look, look! What the hell is that?

It just went behind those trees.

, it's too far to get down.

God dang it!

Is there another way?

Where did that go?

Are you the baroness that killed Lucie?

"Basement."

A dungeon is a form of a basement.

Is there another way to get into the dungeon?

Aah!

Oh, my God!

The door just slammed shut.

Oh, my God!

It's an empty room.

This door just slammed.

There's no wind.

There's nothing.

That's crazy.

Phil, do you copy?

Yeah, Heather, what's going on?

You've got to get back over here.

Heading there now. Let's go. Let's go.

Heather.

Phil.

Hi.

What happened here?

So, I was positive.

Didn't feel terrible, right?

So I did a call and response session with dowsing rods.

It felt like something was communicating.

Okay.

I went and listened to some music

and immediately felt tragic.

-Okay. -And a door slammed.

Aah!

And I went and checked out the door.

There was no wind. There was no breeze.

There was no reason for the door to slam.

This wing has a lot of activity going on.

-It went through a lot. -Yeah.

But what happened with you?

Did you find an entrance to the dungeon?

I found something better.

I saw a light.

Really?

And I'm telling you,

it was moving through the forest,

went behind a tree, and I lost it.

What the ? Light, light, light!

Look, look, look, look! What the hell is that?

It was down this cliff,

so I couldn't get any closer to it.

Do you think the light was leading you somewhere?

I don't know. It was heading down that cliff.

Oh, my gosh. We're gonna have to check that out.

Yeah, I think we got to follow up on that for sure.

The next day, Heather and I are eager to learn more about

the chateau's history and its activity.

We meet up with one of Jeremy's staff

in the chateau's courtyard.

You must be Bryan. I'm Phil.

Heather.

Bryan Fauquembergue serves a variety of roles at the chateau,

including maintenance and site historian.

It was interesting.

Well, I saw something.

-Oh. -Something was leading us

to the dungeon last night, but it's clearly inaccessible.

Is there anything else under the castle?

"Basement."

So you think there could be an escape tunnel here?

So compared to other chateaus,

where are their escape tunnels typically located?

So, you're telling me there is likely an escape tunnel

linked to the dungeon.

Houses? What do you mean "houses"?

So there's abandoned houses out there?

-Yeah. -Who were they used by?

Old servant houses out there completely abandoned?

Yeah.

Wasn't Lucie a servant?

Yes.

So, potentially could she have lived out there?

That's interesting.

Yeah.

And you saw that light out there.

Huh.

So we've got some things to look for.

Armed with new intel

about the chateau and its surroundings,

Heather and I decide to head out

and explore its forests,

starting from where I saw that mysterious light.

I saw the light floating right in this area,

heading down.

That's a cliff.

Yeah, I have a feeling there's a lot of history

buried underneath all this ivy out here.

We know that Lucie died in that dungeon,

but she very well could have lived in one of these homes

that are in this forest.

So maybe that light is guiding us somewhere.

Okay, it's either guiding us to the truth

or guiding us to our death down a cliff.

Just keep pushing, see what we can find.

All right.

Ooh.

Down a cliff, up another one.

But I think I see something.

What?

-Over there. -That?

Is that a-- Is that a wall?

I think it's an abandoned house.

That's one of the houses.

Holy, that is absolutely incredible.

-Oh, got an opening. -No way.

A way in.

Oh, look at that.

Ooh, watch your head there.

That is a fragile beam.

Yeah.

Ooh.

Look at that window there.

I think that's the front door.

Because this potentially could be Lucie's house,

I just want to try a quick Ovilus session

to see if I can get anything.

-Okay. -Okay.

Lucie, did you live here?

Did you want us to find your home?

Sounded like a branch just broke out there or something.

There's something out there.

Lucie, if you're here,

if there's anything you want to say to us...

We are far...

from the castle.

Birds chirping, stream running nearby.

It's quite the soundtrack.

I'm sure my antennas--

-"Creek." -No.

-It did not say creek-- -Funny. Yes, it did!

Right as we were talking

about how peaceful the stream sounded,

"creek" comes up on the Ovilus.

Maybe Lucie wants us to follow the creek.

-Let's keep moving. -Okay.

If Lucie says follow the creek,

guess we've got to follow the creek.

Oh, my God. Heather!

-What? What is it? -Look!

I think we found a tunnel.

.

Oh, my God.

This could lead right to the dungeon.

We gotta find a way up there.

Okay.

Okay.

You know what?

This is slick.

Really, really tough to climb.

So you know what I'm thinking?

-What? -Grappling hook.

-All right, let's give it a go. -Okay.

This tunnel could be the secret escape route

that Bryan mentioned.

If that's the case,

then this should connect to the dungeon where Lucie died,

the same dungeon we weren't able to access

from ground level because of a collapse.

-You ready for this? -Yeah.

That's it. That's it. I feel like you got it.

Okay, it's holding.

Okay, but be careful.

Okay, almost up.

Okay.

I'm up.

-Awesome! -Oh, my God.

Give me your hand.

I got you. Push!

Push!

Okay.

Here's your pack.

Wow.

-Welcome to... -Look at this tunnel!

...the most insane tunnel ever.

Let's go. See where it takes us.

How far does this tunnel go?

There's a chance this thing leads to the dungeon.

We gotta go for it.

This is absolutely insane.

This goes so far back.

Who knows the last time anyone was back here.

It just keeps going and going like this.

Wait. Is this the end right here?

-Wait. -This, this is a no-go.

No.

So we have one modern pipe that's coming down right here.

But we have these roots...

that have pushed all around.

And so I don't know how much

that's affecting the stability of this thing.

That right side, just--

all that's about to go right here.

Roots obviously cause a lot of instability.

So that means this is potentially

the most unstable part of this entire tunnel.

So I don't want us pushing through anything dangerous

that could collapse behind us.

I don't want it to collapse on us.

None of that.

Something led us here.

Let's see if something still wants to communicate.

-Okay. -Okay.

Is there anyone here with us?

We can use this device to communicate.

We're here to give you a voice.

All you have to do is change the environment.

Is Lucie here?

Holy !

Did you hear that?

That was just straight-up like a...

But that sounded close.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, cold breeze.

There is a draft coming through here.

But where is it coming from?

I mean, potentially at the end of this,

that could be from the dungeon.

Lucie, are you still here with us?

Did you lead us here?

We must be close to the chateau

if we're getting radio signal.

We might be directly underneath it.

Copy. What's going on?

Copy that. We're on our way.

-Okay, let's move. -Okay.

Three years into the French Revolution,

with the king of France overthrown,

Maximilien Robespierre mobilizes an army

of working class soldiers.

By the summer of 1793,

their sanctioned form of mob justice

develops into what's known as the Reign of Terror.

And that terror descends on Chateau de Veauce.

The mob learns the chateau's baron and son

are reportedly conspiring against the new republic.

Father and son are arrested without trial,

locked in prison, and tortured,

both dying in jail within six months.

Ultimately, more than 17,000 people

are executed during the year-long massacre

with another 10,000 dying in prison,

like the de Veauce family.

And even Robespierre,

the key architect of the terror,

ends up being devoured by it, too.

In July of 1794,

he is sent to the guillotine...

by his own army.

Andrew. What's up?

Guys, check this out. Ready?

So I've been watching this monitor all night.

Bugs and bats and everything.

And then all of a sudden...

down here...

Whoa!

It's another light.

You're kidding.

Play it one more time.

Wow.

That is bright.

You saw nothing like that the entire night?

No, nothing.

That camera is up here.

You know, the light basically came from the tower,

the Chemin de Ronde area...

Yeah.

...heading to the left of those stairs

right down there.

That's the basement.

Whoa!

Um, when did this happen?

Like, seconds before I called you.

All right, Andrew, keep your eyes on the cameras.

-Heather, let's go. -All right.

Here we go.

Oh.

It keeps going down.

All right.

It's around here.

Oh. We've got some bats.

Oh, no.

It keeps going down.

Water.

No way!

I guess that leads out towards the tunnel.

Yeah, that's a straight line.

-Aah! What is it? -What, what, what?

-What is it? -What?

Did you not hear that?

No. A voice?

No. It's like a grunt mixed with a breath.

I don't-- I don't like it.

-Back here? -Back here.

There's something moving around.

-Whoa. -That's quite a draft. There.

Oh!

-Jeez. -I can't. I can't.

That bat almost hit you straight in the face.

Oh, my God.

I mean, maybe it was the bat.

It's not the bat.

!

It was starting too close.

No way.

-This one? -That door.

Was that the noise?

-Yes. -Are you sure you saw this move?

I'm 100% sure.

What you heard...

I heard a door creaking...

like it was starting to shut.

What the is that noise?

From back there.

I'm gonna try out the Ovilus.

Are you, Lucie?

-Look at that ceiling. -Are you the baroness?

That entire ceiling has collapsed.

Nothing back there.

What was the noise?

I don't know. I mean,

there were some parts that looked collapsed,

so there could be some air coming in.

"Assault"?

Who did you assault?

I just got "guy."

"Guy."

It didn't mean much to Heather and Phil in the moment,

but further research would lead to a bombshell.

Guy, spelled G-U-Y, is pronounced "Gi" in French.

As in Guy de Daillon,

the baron whose star-crossed affair with Lucie

led to her tragic murder at the hands of his wife.

Was Lucie, France's most famous phantom,

trying to communicate with them at Chateau de Veauce?

Heather thinks so

and believes it wasn't the only time

this servant murdered for love made an appearance

during their astounding investigation.

A shadow figure just went across the door.

The footage of the possible shadow figure in the hallway

where Lucie is most commonly seen

was further analyzed.

It shows, with high probability,

that there was indeed some sort of figure briefly present

even though that's impossible.

Phil still believes it was a trick of the light.

Whether Phil is right about the figure or not,

he was certainly right about what followed it.

-Did you see that? -Yeah.

The floating orb the team saw soon after was also analyzed,

and it is almost certainly illuminated dust.

But other orbs weren't so easily explained away.

Light, light, light!

Look, look, look, look!

The one that Phil spotted in the forest

did not seem to match any kind of flashlight or headlight.

But, strangely...

Guys, check this out. Ready?

...it did match another orb

found on our surveillance cameras

near the basement area.

Whoa!

And our IR cameras captured one more curious anomaly.

While Heather was investigating in the Gallery of Arms,

strange rainbow lines appeared on our camera,

surrounding Heather.

These can easily be explained as technical glitches,

light refraction in the lens.

But their timing even gave Phil pause.

Are you Lucie?

They seemed to happen almost exclusively

when Heather was discussing Lucie.

Over the course of our investigation

and its many anomalies...

Whoa!

...did we truly encounter the ghost of Lucie?

Well, they do say that true love never dies.

Nowhere, it seems, is this more true than Chateau de Veauce.