There was a time when Baron Guillem Bernard de Paracolls married the daughter of a woman called Guillelma, descendant, it is said, of the King of Granada.
She was nicknamed the "soothsayer" because of her powers of prediction.
The couple had a child, but the Baron was unfaithful and his young wife died of grief.
Guillelma then disappeared from the region with her grandson.
The Baron remarried and on the evening of his wedding day found Guillelma who cursed the two spouses by predicting the destruction of their lineage.
Yet a son and a son were born from this second bed.
When the castle of Paracolls was besieged by Spanish brigands, it became clear that Guillelma was at the heart of the conspiracy.
She was arrested and confessed to having lived for years as the Baron's servant.
She renewed her curse: "Guillem de Paracols, you will never see your eldest son again, the child of my beloved daughter who was to perpetuate your race. He is valiant, for he has royal blood in his veins".
She was then locked in a barrel and thrown over the rampart.
The barrel fell into an abyss which has since been called "Gorch of the Mossa", "the abyss of the servant girl".
During the Spanish assault, the Baron was mortally wounded, his son also died and the castle was devastated.
The Baroness of Paracolls and her daughter survived, while Guillelma's grandson lived for a long time in the abbey of Saint-Martin du Canigou before ending his life in a cottage near Paracol and the "Gorch de la Mossa".
Since then, it is said that during the summer nights, a white ghost wanders on the ruins of the fortress of the lords of Paracolls.
The apparition moves slowly, raising its arms, as if throwing the anathema on the old castle .
The legend of the castle of Paracoll, a well-known legend in the region, was taken up in the France 3 TV movie "Murder in Collioure".
Paracolls Castle
66500 Molitg-les-Bains
http://www.molitg.com/patrimoine/forteresse-de-paracolls
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
