Paris failure: why all the pendulum clocks stopped in Paris at the same time

Many Parisians were already asleep when a still unexplained phenomenon occurred, which went down in history under the name “Paris Clock Failure”. On the night of the 29th to the 30th of December 1902, the pendulum clock stopped in the French capital and an unusual silence fell in the houses. Despite the late hour, there were many witnesses to this event, which is why it became widely known.

During operation, the pendulum clock emits rhythmic sounds, so their stop, which occurred at 1 hour 5 minutes, was immediately noticed. After the pendulum clock in the houses of the capital's residents stopped working, many people felt bad. Eyewitnesses noted dizziness, nausea, and general weakness. This abnormal phenomenon caused panic and heated discussions among the townspeople. An article about the Paris failure was written in the metropolitan press, and even in the Russian Empire, in the journal Vestnik Znanii a year later an article devoted to this mysterious phenomenon.

Of course, scientists were interested in the sudden stop of the clock. It turned out that only the clock with the pendulum mechanism stopped, while no deviations were noticed in the operation of the spring mechanisms. Scientists did not record any seismic or meteorological anomalies, and, according to instruments, this December night in Paris passed without incident.

Foucault Pendulum in the Paris Pantheon

Most likely, the mystery of the Paris failure will not be solved, unless, of course, a similar stop of the pendulum mechanisms in the future is recorded.