In 1911 Elisabeth Morison and Frances Lamont published a small book about their visit. Petit TrianonA small castle near Versailles. It was one of those enjoyable stories with its train ride, walk through the building and escape from the gardens. But something went wrong.

The day was filled with “dreamy and unpleasant darkness” and their minds were immersed in “a melancholy atmosphere” that made them sad. As they proceeded to find the exit, they began to encounter people with strange faces and strange clothes; They crossed bridges, passed through gardens, and saw a seated girl, wearing a dress as striking as it was outdated, looking at them with surprise.

They returned the next day, relieved of this strange feeling.and Petit Trianon and they discovered that nothing they saw corresponded to reality. Neither the gardens nor the roads were the same, and of course people dressed according to the fashion of the time and place. What was happening?

A journey through time. In the title of the book, ‘An Adventure’, they explained the event in great detail and claimed that the only conclusion they reached was time travel. And this is not a hasty conclusion: the trip described by Morison and Lamont had taken place 10 years earlier, on August 10, 1901.

It seems that throughout this decade writers have extensively explored the transformations of the castle and its gardens. So they concluded that not only had they traveled more than a century into the past, but the sitting girl with a striking dress and a surprised face was Marie Antoinette.

A bestselling book and a surprise. The book became a true bestseller and went through many editions. But as Chris Wheatley said in Atlas Obscura, that wasn’t even the most incredible part of the story: It was that Morison and Lamont didn’t exist. The real authors were Charlotte Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain, principal and vice-principal of St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford, arguably the most prestigious ‘women’s college’ in the world.

In fact, Moberly was the center’s first director, overcoming many obstacles and problems. Although it is true that he never received any formal education, he was highly respected in academic circles. Jourdain, on the other hand, had advanced scientific training and was called upon to replace Moberly.

So the Paris adventure wasn’t exactly an idea. It was something else.

There is no logical explanation. As far as we know, two Oxford professors were really affected by the event. Petit Trianon and, unable to find an answer, they contacted the Society for Psychical Research, an organization dedicated to investigating “human experiences that challenge scientific models” of the time. They were paranormal investigators, yes; but in a world structured by science and technology, he has accomplished things that seemed like magic a few years ago.

According to SPR, time travel stories were very common, but the ‘Moberly-Jourdain incident’ was particularly rare and complex. Many were enthusiastic, but many were skeptical. In a world like the beginning of the 20th century, there were not a few SPR members who argued that this could be a psychotic epidemic.

What if they’re lying? The hypothesis that they were simply lying does not convince many people then and now. Best of all, the book was discussed at the university and among his friends, even though it was published under a pseudonym. They were exposing themselves (too much) to the collapse of their professional careers.

Ultimately, this did not happen and the two women were able to move on with their lives, but the truth is that there are doubts about what happened.

What could have happened? In his 1965 biography of the poet Robert de Montesquiou, Philippe Jullian put forward a truly illuminating hypothesis: Charlotte Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain had unwittingly wandered into a costume party. According to Jullian, around the same time as the trip Le Petit TrianonMontesquiou held large “term” meetings in the palace gardens. These weren’t just costumes; They were complete stages, classical furniture. There are even changes in the structure of the gardens.

There are more explanations (ranging from hallucinatory experiences to simple error), but Jullian’s seems to be the most solid in the eyes of experts. Either way, the story exerted an enormous influence on the public imagination for half a century.

Image | Emiliano García Page

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