In August of 1901, two visitors to the gardens at Versailles caught a glimpse of life before the French Revolution.
It's August 10, 1901. Two women, Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain, are walking through the palace gardens at Versailles. The ladies (both associated with St. Hugh's College for Women at Oxford University) were looking for the Petit Trianon, Marie Antoinette's private chateau. As they walked, both women experienced a heavy, dreamlike quality in the air but neither one mentioned this change in atmosphere to the other.
They noticed that the grounds seemed surprisingly lacking in visitors for the time of year. They saw two men, who they took to be gardeners, wearing long coats and tricorn hats. The men motioned for them to keep walking straight ahead.
Next, they came to a small bandstand beneath a group of trees. A man with a sinister appearance wearing a cloak and a large hat was sitting beside it. Uneasy, the two women moved on. They were able to get directions from another man dressed in old-fashioned clothing.
As they approached the Petit Trianon, Miss Moberly observed a woman sitting on the grass, sketching. The woman stared at her, which Miss Moberly found to be quite rude. The oppressive feeling lifted after they entered the Petit Trianon.
Several days later, the two ladies compared notes. They had both come to the conclusion that the Petit Trianon was haunted. It is interesting to note that Miss Jourdain never saw the woman who had been sketching on the lawn.
Further research conducted by the two women revealed that on August 10, 1792, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were being held in Paris awaiting trial. Miss Moberly wondered if perhaps the Queen, in her anxious state, had turned her thoughts to a much happier time in the gardens at Versailles before the Revolution. They also found out that the grounds at Versailles in 1789 had been very similar to what the two women had observed in August of 1901. Miss Moberly even found a portrait of the Queen that she recognized as the woman on the lawn! Marie Antoinette had been on the lawn at the Petit Trianon when she learned that an angry mob was marching toward Paris in October of 1789.
When this story was published in 1911, it (understandably) caused a sensation. Some thought the women had been hallucinating, while others were of the opinion that they had stepped back in time temporarily. Still others wondered if they were somehow caught up in a doomed queen's memories.
Electrical storms were reported over Europe on August 10, 1901 and the air was heavy. Is it possible that this is somehow a natural phenomenon and that certain weather conditions can open the door to another time?
For more information about the palace at Versailles, please check out this link: Add Versailles to Paris List.
