Lore 309: Party Favors

Lore - Aaron Mahnke

This episode explores darkly glamorous historical parties—from haunted ghost hunts to surreal aristocratic balls—blending folklore, tragedy, and excess. Each event reveals how grief, power, and performance shape unforget

Key takeaways

• Haunted parties reflect collective trauma

Transcript preview

She may have been Antoinette at birth, but to most people today she's Madame Chary. Born in Paris in 1878, Antoinette had a humble upbringing, working as a seamstress and a nightclub dancer. In 1909, she got married, a normal or well so she thought but she soon discovered that her new husband wasn't quite who he seemed to be. No the man that she knew as Andre was actually Anthony Macaluso a fugitive from the law but Antoinette didn't run the other way. No instead she figured hey if he can fake an identity why can't I and so with imagination and the art of the Khan on her side the couple left Paris and moved to the best location on earth for starting fresh New York City. And so, goodbye Antoinette and hello Madame Choree, one of the 1920s most infamous socialites. Spinning backstories of glitz and glamour, these lovebirds wriggled among the city's elite and it worked. Soon that humble seamstress was designing costumes on Broadway. But as we all know, nothing gold can stay. And when her beloved Anthony died in 1924, Madame Chore was bereft. She ditched New York City. vanishing into 600 acres of New Hampshire woodlands. And there, deep in mourning and far from society, she built a castle. Half Roman ruin, half French chalet. This place was lavish. Fustooned with furs and scarlet draperies, with a massive stone staircase winding up the side. It was like a real life fairy tale. But don't get me wrong here, just because she moved into the woods didn't mean that she quit being a socialite. On the contrary, Madame Chari became famous for her famous for for her opulent drunken parties, thrown right there in her forest palace. All the biggest names in the New York theater scene came to drink their way through prohibition. While Madame Choree reined over at all from a cobra-backed chair she called the Queen's throne. Now, what did the rural New Hampshire townies think of her? Nothing flattering, that's for sure, but she didn't care. Flaunting her boa-clad bejeweled self wherever she could. Eventually though, the money ran dry and the madams rain, She spent her final days in a nursing home, surviving on welfare until passing away in 1965 at the age of 87. But while it lasted, that mysterious party girl and her forest castle had been one of New England's most glamorous secrets. And well, if the stories are to be believed, maybe it still is. Because, you see, it's said that if you hike the public trails in the part of Chesterfield, New Hampshire now known as the Madam Shire Forest, you might see, you might just hear the sounds of a phantom party wafting through the trees while a shadowy costume woman hovers just out of sight. How will you know you're in the right spot? Oh that's easy. Just look for a crumbling grand staircase curving upward toward the sky. That's right the ruins of her castle are still there. It just goes to show some parties linger on long after the final guest has left. And this is lore. It was a time that was known as the Reign of Terror and it certainly lived up to that name. As the most notorious stage of the French Revolution, the reign of terror was a nearly year-long stretch between 1793 and 1794. As the most notorious stage of the French Revolution, the reign of terror was a nearly year-long stretch between 1793 and 1794 that would go down in history history as one of the bloodiest times the world has ever seen and it was all thanks to a rather ironically titled group called the Committee of Public Safety. Yeah suffice to say public safety may not have been the most accurate title for these guys. Essentially this revolutionary committee put itself in charge of France running the government as a dictatorship and their favorite past time killing any and all opposition to the revolution. And sure that included, leaders as well as the ruling aristocracy like Marie Antoinette's famous beheading. But the Committee of Public Safety murdered plenty of ordinary citizens too. Basically if they decided that you weren't supporting the cause loudly and proudly enough, well that was it. Off with your head. In June of 1794 the committee ramped it up a notch, announcing that people were no longer entitled to a public trial. No, the committee could kill with impunity and that's exactly what they did. In the next month, a lot. 1,400 people were guillotined, just in the city of Paris. Now, understandably, even other revolutionaries were starting to become a tinsy bit uncomfortable with all of this unfettered head chopping, and so the head of the committee, Robespierre, was finally toppled, literally, and thus the reign of terror came to an end. By the time the smoke cleared and the dead were counted, 16,564 people had been guatined in France. over less than a year. Another 10,000 had died in prison while thousands more were drowned in the river at Nantes. Add to that another 2,000 human lives subjected to mass execution in Leon via cannons loaded with grape shots and while the reign of terror had certainly taken its toll. People weren't too stoked on all that bloodshed. And in the final stages of the revolution, the cultural pendulum swung the other way. Soon enough, the aristocrats who fled during the reign of terror, started to feel safe. returning to France. And so how, you might ask, do a bunch of rich people who narrowly escaped beheading celebrate their homecoming? Why? By truly horrendous parties, of course. They were called Bell de Victimim, or Victims' Balls. And don't expect an invite in your mailbox anytime soon, because these high society guest lists were elite, allegedly to garner a coveted invitation. You had to either have escaped the guillotine yourself or had a family die beneath the falling silver blade. Imagine this though, a room of twirling dancers all dressed in mourning wear and crepe paper armbands symbolizing death. A young man asks you to dance, but instead of a customary bow, he jerks his head sharply to the side. Looking around you realize all the dancers are performing the same eerie greeting, an imitation of a neck being severed. Meanwhile, pinned to guest gowns are mementos of lost loved ones, and I don't mean roses or broaches. No, they've affix. soaked scraps of the clothing their families had been executed in, purchase back from the executioner. Writing to his wife back in England, British diplomat Henry Swinborn said after attending one such Swaray that it was as fine a ball as ever was given in days of yore. 300 of the company had lost near relations by the guillotine. Some of the men there danced with their hats on and with red heels. Now to be honest, due to the extreme exclusivity of these victims balls we don't know for sure whether all the rumors of what went down behind closed doors are true or not some historians think reports of the balls may have been satirical exaggerations but honestly given what the aristocracy was visibly doing in public during that time I wouldn't be surprised if things were indeed even more ghastly in private and I know what you're wondering what were they doing in public why what any high society always does flaunting the latest fashions There was a hairstyle known as, I kid you not, the guillotine cut that was all the rage among wealthy ladies. It was a short choppy dew meant to mimic the neck exposing haircut that execution victims were given before beheading. And if you think that's in poor taste, wait until you hear about some of their outfits. You see, a blood red color known as Amaranth had become the official color of high society. To quote fashion historian Anne Hagenet, women wore Amaranth victim ribbons around their neck. to commemorate the cut of the guillotine's blade. Goolish amaranth victim ribbons were also worn crossed over bodices or sleeves, down the sides of dresses, or twined into hairdos. And yes, you heard that right folks. Rich women tied blood-red ribbons around their necks to look like they had been guillotined, as a fashion statement. And if that sounds familiar to you, it may be because the fashion went on to influence a number of prominent ghost stories. Washington, Washington, the of the legend of Sleepy Hollow wrote a piece called The Adventure of the German Student, in which a young man visits France during the revolution and has a fleeing with a French girl wearing a thick ribbon necklace, only to later learn that she'd been dead the whole time, the victim of the guillotine. Alexander Dumas novel, The Woman with the Velvet Necklace follows a similar plot about a beheaded mistress with her head attached by a ribbon. But you may probably know a different more modern version of this tale. In fact, you may have read