The Moberly-Jourdain Incident: Time Slip at Versailles

On August 10, 1901, two English academics visiting the Palace of Versailles claimed to have experienced something impossible: they walked into the past. Charlotte Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain reported encountering people in 18th-century costume, strange buildings, and an oppressive atmosphere - and they came to believe they had somehow visited August 10, 1792, the day the French Revolution turned violently against the monarchy.

The Witnesses

Charlotte Anne Moberly (1846-1937)

The senior witness:

• Principal of St. Hugh’s College, Oxford
• Daughter of the Bishop of Salisbury
• Well-educated and respectable
• Had no prior interest in the paranormal
• First visit to Versailles

Eleanor Jourdain (1863-1924)

Her companion:

• Vice-Principal of St. Hugh’s College
• Scholar of French history and literature
• Also from respectable background
• Had visited Versailles before
• Became Principal after Moberly

The Visit

August 10, 1901

The women were sightseeing:

• They visited the Palace of Versailles
• Decided to walk to the Petit Trianon (Marie Antoinette’s retreat)
• They got lost in the grounds
• That’s when things became strange

Getting Lost

As they walked:

• The atmosphere changed
• They felt oppressed and depressed
• Everything seemed unreal
• They encountered unusual people

The Experience

The People They Met

The women reported seeing:

• Two men in long grayish-green coats with small three-cornered hats
• These men gave them directions
• A man with a pock-marked face wearing a cloak
• His appearance was “repulsive”
• A young man who ran past, seemingly agitated
• Various other figures in period costume

The Woman Sketching

Most significantly:

• Near the Petit Trianon, they saw a woman sitting and sketching
• She wore an old-fashioned dress
• She was fair and no longer young
• She looked at them
• The women later believed this was Marie Antoinette

The Atmosphere

Both reported:

• A dreamlike, oppressive quality
• Flat, two-dimensional appearance to everything
• Deep stillness and silence
• A sense that something was wrong
• Everything looked “different” from reality

Aftermath

Delayed Realization

The women:

• Did not discuss the experience immediately
• Each wrote down her memories independently
• Three months later, they compared notes
• Found striking similarities and differences
• Began investigating

Research

Over the following years:

• They researched 18th-century Versailles
• Found old maps showing buildings they’d seen
• Buildings that no longer existed in 1901
• Discovered the significance of August 10th
• It was the date of the storming of the Tuileries (1792)

The Book

”An Adventure” (1911)

The women published their account:

• Initially under pseudonyms (Elizabeth Morison and Frances Lamont)
• The book detailed their experience and research
• It became controversial
• Multiple editions followed
• It remains in print today

Their Conclusion

They believed:

• They had somehow walked into the past
• The date was August 10, 1792
• The day Marie Antoinette learned the Tuileries was being attacked
• They had seen the queen on one of her worst days
• Some force had caused this time slip

Subsequent Visits

Eleanor Jourdain Returns (1902)

Jourdain visited again:

• She found the landscape different
• Buildings from her first visit were missing
• She heard music and saw a farmhouse that wasn’t there
• More “time slip” experiences

Further Investigations

Both women:

• Returned multiple times
• Found increasing anomalies
• Documented extensively
• Became convinced of their experience

Analysis

Supporting Arguments

Believers note:

• Both women were educated and credible
• They wrote independently, then compared notes
• Their research found confirmatory details
• Buildings they saw had existed but were demolished
• The atmospheric details are consistent
• Why would they lie or imagine identically?

Skeptical Explanations

Elaborated Memory

• The women discussed before writing (they may not have written independently)
• Memory is unreliable and creative
• Details were added over time
• The book came 10 years after the event

Theatrical Performance

• A costume drama may have been occurring at Versailles
• The women stumbled upon actors
• This was later misremembered as supernatural
• Some evidence suggests filming or theater that day

Folie à Deux

• Shared delusion between close companions
• One influenced the other
• Their relationship encouraged mutual belief
• They reinforced each other’s memories

Misidentification

• They saw real people in unusual dress
• Gardeners in old-fashioned costume
• Tourists in period costume
• Their mood colored interpretation

The Buildings Question

A key issue:

• They described buildings that existed in 1789 but not 1901
• How could they know about demolished structures?
• Skeptics note: old maps and images were available
• The women could have seen these before

Other Versailles Time Slips

Later Reports

Other visitors have claimed:

• Similar experiences at Versailles
• Seeing 18th-century figures
• Hearing 18th-century music
• The oppressive atmosphere

Pattern or Suggestion?

These reports may indicate:

• A genuine phenomenon at Versailles
• Or the power of suggestion after reading “An Adventure”
• The book’s influence cannot be underestimated

Time Slip Phenomenon

What Is a Time Slip?

Theoretical characteristics:

• Perceiver appears to shift to another time
• Usually involuntary
• Often involves place with historical significance
• The past seems real and present
• Returns are usually sudden

Other Famous Cases

Similar reports from:

• Bold Street, Liverpool (multiple reports)
• Various historical sites in Britain
• The Phantom Battle of Edgehill (repeated)
• Various locations worldwide

Scientific Perspective

Science does not accept time slips because:

• No mechanism is known
• Reports are entirely anecdotal
• Memory is unreliable
• Simpler explanations exist

Legacy

In Paranormal Research

The Moberly-Jourdain incident:

• Is the most famous time slip case
• Has inspired extensive investigation
• Remains debated after 120+ years
• Influenced later cases and interpretations

In Popular Culture

The incident appears in:

• Books on time anomalies
• Discussions of time travel
• Studies of memory and perception
• Ghost literature

Conclusion

On August 10, 1901, two respectable English academics walked through the gardens of Versailles and experienced something they spent the rest of their lives trying to understand. They encountered people who shouldn’t have been there, saw buildings that didn’t exist, and felt an atmosphere of dread that matched no ordinary afternoon.

Did Charlotte Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain slip through time? Did they glimpse Marie Antoinette on one of the worst days of her life? Or did they construct a shared fantasy from atmospheric gardens, historical knowledge, and the power of suggestion?

The answer depends on what you’re willing to believe. The evidence is entirely testimonial - two women’s word against the laws of physics. Skeptics find ample grounds for doubt. Believers find two credible witnesses with nothing to gain.

What cannot be doubted is the sincerity of the women’s belief. They dedicated years to investigating their experience. They staked their reputations on their account. And they went to their graves convinced that on a summer afternoon in 1901, they had briefly walked in a world that had ended over a century before.

The gardens of Versailles are still there. Visitors still walk where the queens and revolutionaries walked. And occasionally, someone claims to feel that strange oppression, to see something that shouldn’t be there, to briefly wonder if time is as solid as we believe.

The Moberly-Jourdain incident asks a question we cannot answer: Is the past really gone? Or does it somehow linger in certain places, waiting for the right moment to show itself again?