“The Black Death” Recovered

In Marseilles France during renovation after a fire at the 13^th District court house a shocking discovery was made. Workmen working on the renovations were reported to be perplexed by what seemed to be an area of the court house on the 1^st floor that seemed to have an unexplained walled up space. Bringing the the area to the attention of the Chief Justice curiosity took over and the workman were authorized to remove the wall to expose the sealed space. Inside in a bleak, dusty bricked up room was a massive guillotine ten feet tall, solid pitch black and in perfect preservation. Upon looking at the machine of execution used by France during the 18^th, and 19^th century the Chief Justice was reported to have turned white in the face and muttered only two words, “La mort noire” which translates as “The Black Death.”

From 1727 to 1856 the 13^th District court house was the main court house for the city of Marseilles. During this time the method of execution for the city was decapitation by the guillotine. The number of executions at the 13^th District were so numerous, as many as 5000, that the guillotine used was nick named “The Black Death” by the residents of the city for it's sinister pitch black color which was not normal for most guillotines.

As I sat down for an interview with the Chief Justice he started to tell me the history. Superstition ran thick through the city, he said, and around 1856 “The Black Death” was said to be cursed and evil, accumulating in a near riot with the police and ransack of the court house. History and records state that the Chief Justice during this time announced that it would be destroyed by burning the next day and the guillotine disappeared from history there after.

Now with the discovery it shows that it was not destroyed but walled up and sealed with in the court house since 1856. Stains on the wood of the collar and oxidation stains on the blade are visible signs of blood during its long use. “The Black Death”, it is said, rivals all the guillotines combined, in all of France, during the history of their use for the number of souls it took. The present Chief Justice has reported that everyone is on edge about its discovery with a large number of the cities modern day population voicing their opinions that it should be destroyed as was promised. The fate of the guillotine is still being determined since its reputation is far darker than any other guillotine in the French antiquities collection.

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