The Versailles Time Slip: The Moberly–Jourdain Incident (1901)
August 10, 1901. Two Oxford schoolteachers, Charlotte Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain, toured the gardens of Versailles. Near the Petit Trianon, something shifted: the air grew heavy, the light dimmed, and the people around them wore powdered wigs and silk gowns.
What you’ll hear
The day in 1901 when two women claimed to step into Marie Antoinette’s court
Their book An Adventure and its eerie specifics
Independent witnesses reporting 18th-century scenes across decades
Theories: time slips, stone tape echoes, temporal “syncs,” and even conspiracy tech like the Chronovisor
Why Versailles is the perfect stage for time to falter
The First Incident
August 10, 1901. Two Oxford schoolteachers, Charlotte Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain, toured the gardens of Versailles. Near the Petit Trianon, something shifted: the air grew heavy, the light dimmed, and the people around them wore powdered wigs and silk gowns.
They later realized: there were no actors that day. The woman they saw sketching in a pale green dress matched portraits of Marie Antoinette.
Known as the Moberly–Jourdain Incident, this case is one of the most detailed — and hotly debated — time slip stories ever published. In this first episode of our Versailles series, we explore the women, their book An Adventure, corroborating witnesses across decades, and the enduring mystery of Versailles as a “thin place.”
Why it matters
Credible witnesses: Two educated, respected academics published their account with painstaking detail — not for fame.
Historical accuracy: Details they described weren’t widely known in 1901 but later matched historical records.
Recurring phenomenon: Other witnesses — tourists, soldiers, couples — report similar experiences near the Petit Trianon.
Cultural resonance: Versailles embodies opulence, trauma, and collapse. If places can remember, Versailles would.
What you’ll hear
The day in 1901 when two women claimed to step into Marie Antoinette’s court
Their book An Adventure and its eerie specifics
Independent witnesses reporting 18th-century scenes across decades
Theories: time slips, stone tape echoes, temporal “syncs,” and even conspiracy tech like the Chronovisor
Why Versailles is the perfect stage for time to falter
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