Coco Chanel’s Suite At The Ritz In Paris Is Maybe, Probably Haunted

by Verena von Pfetten | 3:14 pm, September 21st, 2011

Yesterday, we were lucky enough to be invited to a luncheon hosted by Chanel at New York City’s famed La Grenouille in honor of Justine Picardie’s recent book on the life of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, the appropriately titled, Chanel: Her Life. The book is fascinating and a must read, but even more fascinating were the ghost stories Picardie told us over red wine and chicken paillard. Yes, ghost stories.

As Picardie tells it, she was staying in Coco Chanel’s old room at The Ritz in Paris. (And no, not the suite that goes for almost 10,000 Euros a night, but the real Coco Chanel room, which is actually a much smaller space on a higher floor overlooking Rue Cambon.) After staying up late working on the book, Picardie eventually decided to call it a night. She turned off the lights and got in bed, at which point a bulb from one of the wall sconces actually shot up and out of its holder. Other lights flashed and her bedside table lamp turned on of its own accord.

Picardie gave in, got up, and worked through the night. And in the morning, she reported the “faulty electricity” to the front desk, who sent up an electrician. The electrician couldn’t find anything wrong with the wiring — nor could he explain why the bulb would have flown out of the sconce.

Another hotel staffer offered her own unsolicited opinion. “Well,” she began. “I hear Mademoiselle paid you a visit last night.”

And if that doesn’t make a case for the power of a Chanel bag, we don’t know what does.