• An urban legend mentions a spatio-temporal door opening onto other universes in Marseille.

  • It would manifest itself around the Reformed Church.

  • A legend popularized in the 1990s by a science fiction author and ufologist from Aix, which the Internet has revived in recent years.

"Have you ever heard of the Reformed Vortex?"


- Stop, Halloween is last us and I've been through the age of telling stories for some time.


- No seriously. You know, there would be a door to other universes on the forecourt of the church.


"Ah," I contented myself with answering, grabbing my glass.

Because this story is told willingly, preferably between two drinks and in a playful tone.

"From time to time I hear customers talking about it on the terrace, but in bits and pieces, because I am busy serving them," says Sophie, eleven years of bar on the square in this district of Marseille.

Conversations do not go much further, however.

To deepen the subject, we must go back to the initiator of this supernatural and paranormal urban legend which brings back some strange testimonies.

"A garden" with "roses 4 m high"

In a “documentary” from his collection The Doors of the Future devoted to vortices, produced in 1993, Jimmy Guieu, a prolific second-class author, ufologist and videographer, native of Aix-en-Provence, interviews three witnesses. A lady, fortune-teller and painter, who walked her dog in the neighborhood, testifies to having suddenly found herself thrown with her animal into "a garden" with "roses 4 m high". Two other people, two men, report an encounter with entities "with green eyes, with a luminous appearance" while the environment seemed to have been suspended around them.

At the esoteric bookstore "the 3rd millennium" located a little further into town, Bruno, who has run the shop for thirty years, remembers it well. He says he is "skeptical" about this vortex. Bruno especially read, when he was younger, these science fiction books, of which he has mixed memories. “I found that quite far-right, well, it's been a long time. But on some passages I was like, yeah, it's borderline. »That day, he is with Jean-Pierre in his shop. He, a native of Éguilles, a village close to Aix, knew “Jimmy” well. "He brought the crowds back to his lectures," he recalls from the height of his 74 years. “But it had been a long time since we had heard of this vortex story,” they both point out. Because,Jimmy Guieu died on January 2, 2000 and the Reformed vortex seems to be falling with him into oblivion.

"People a little hallucinated, what"

It was without counting on the Internet where fans or amateurs of "paranormal research" excavate and publish the videos of Jimmy Guieu.

A few blogs also report more recent testimonials.

It was by “discovering the video with a friend” that Samy decided on the name of his media: The Vortex.

The project was launched in 2014 and "it was supposed to be a fanzine but it has become more of an agenda of concerts for the indie scene", says the young thirty-something who lived for a long time in the Reformed and has now left the city.

"These videos are a bit of a mix between the

Strip-tease

and

Mysteries shows

, people who are a bit hallucinated."

Like Samy, Patrice Curtillat lived in the Reformed for a long time and chose to be inspired by this legend for his creations.

The 46-year-old musician took Bill Vortex as his stage name, in reference to this urban legend, and composes quite cutting-edge electronic music.

“I don't know exactly how I heard about it the first time.

No doubt with friends.

"He retains the" comic "side of this story.

“Jimmy Guieu, it's a bit the show all the same and when you are interested in the character, it becomes more folkloric and much less funny.

"

"Marseille is a bit of a bustling city anyway"

However, this urban legend visibly continues to live in Marseille.

"Not so much in the middle of the night as in the alternative, vaguely underground environment", estimates the musician who wants to believe in "a part of magic" in this world.

"Marseille is a bit of a city of broken downs anyway", comments for his part Samy, on the longevity of such a legend, not to say joking.

"There are a lot of crazy people in Marseille, and particularly in this district", concludes the young man.

The vortex still has a bright future ahead of it.

Lille

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  • Sci-fi

  • UFO

  • Aix en Provence

  • Paranormal

  • Marseilles

  • Did you see ?