Abandoned Mansion Once Owned by Napoleon Hides a Terrible Secret, Derelict Cars

YouTube's "Abandoned World Explorer," found such a place. Abandoned for decades, the mansion you're about to see below is home to a pair of old French cars. Or maybe I should say what's left of them because they're no longer in one piece.

But before we move on to talk about them, this video explores a big mansion that's been abandoned a few decades ago and taken over by mother nature to the extent that you can barely see it through the trees. And get this, the mansion was once owned by Napoleon, who ruled the French Empire from 1804 to 1814 and then for a few months in 1815.

The story goes that he also lived in this mansion, but only for a very short time. Because he was too busy conquering Europe, of course.

But this place also hides a terrible secret. Locals say that a person who was living here in the 1960s went missing and was never found. Some say he was murdered and buried within these walls and believe that the mansion is now haunted.

Well, our host didn't run into a ghost, but he did stumble into the remains of a couple of French classic cars. Both are Citroen 2CVs, economy cars that the French company built from 1948 to 1990. And by "remains" I mean they're far too gone and one of them is missing everything from the chassis and wheels to the engine and the interior.

Were these cars owned by the last person who lived here? Were they hauled in here for storage? That's something we'll never know. But it's such a shame that they ended up like this. Sure, the 2CV is far from rare and valuable, but no car, no matter how common, deserves such a fate.

Oh, and do notice that the second 2CV is a Fourgonette, which was Citroen's take on the panel van. This car is actually almost complete aside from the wheels, engine, and one of the front bumpers. It's not as common as the regular 2CV either, even though none of them are actually hard to find with more than five million units built.

The guys also discovered the tailgate of a first-generation Renault 5. Given that this French hatchback was introduced in 1972, it could be a sign that this place was inhabited long after the mysterious disappearance of the 1960s.

You can check out the derelict Citroens toward the end of the video (go to the 55-minute mark), but you might as well enjoy the entire footage because this place is interesting, to say the least. Yes, it has fallen into disrepair and it's been vandalized too, but it's still a cool time capsule if you're into French architecture.