Ghosts of the Trianon: Questioning Shadows Of The Past
Written: Oct 15 '03 (Updated Oct 15 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: An interesting theory . . . maybe!
Cons: A bit tedious to read for sure
The Bottom Line: Happy Halloween!
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| ed_grover's Full Review: The Ghosts of Trianon: The Complete ""An Adventure... |
It's that time of year again and I've been seeing a lot of vampire and ghost stories reviewed here on Epinions. Here's one of the world's enduring mysteries, a ghostly adventure as experienced by two English spinsters in the early part of the twentieth century. Both Miss C. A. E Moberly and Miss E. F. Jourdain were never destined to marry, but their story has held popular interest for nearly 80 years at the time of the publication of this slim paperback (1988). It was edited by Dr. Michael H. Coleman, who included all the "more significant contributions" that have appeared in English books and periodicals, plus a few foreign observations.
Here we find comments from the last three-quarters of the twentieth century and records of some cases from the records of the Society for Psychical Research. If you like historical ghost stories and examples of the paranormal, this is the book for you although some of the language seems a bit dated, technical and flowery to me.
OPne of the authors, Charlotte Anne Elizabeth Moberly was born in 1846, the tenth of fifteen children. Her father was headmaster of Winchester. Miss Moberly spent the first 40 years of her life at home acting as secretary to her father for 20 years after he became Bishop of Salisbury In 1886 she was appointed first Principal of Saint Hugh's Hall (Later Saint Hugh's College) at Oxford.
The younger author by 16 years, Miss Eleanor Frances Jourdain was born in 1863. She was the oldest of the ten children of Reverend Francis Jourdain, who was Vicar of Ashbourne in Derbyshire. Unlike Miss Moberly, she received an academic education at Oxford after winning a scholarship. She became a teacher and started her own school, Corran, at Watford and took the flat at 270 Boulevard Raspail in Paris in order to offer her pupils a finishing course in France.
The two English ladies became acquainted later in life and Miss Moberly spent some time with Miss Jourdain at her Paris flat after an introduction by a college contemporary from Saint Hugh's. On August 10, 1901 they set out to view the Palace of Versailles for the first time. They traveled by train and toured the rooms and galleries of the Palace. They rested briefly and Miss Moberly suggested that they should visit the Petit Trianon, the house and gardens that Louis XVI had given to his Queen, Marie Antoinette.
On their way, they got lost or mixed up in their directions on the hot August afternoon. In their wanderings met two men who were dressed in gray-green and who carried spades. They asked directions and the men directed them straight on. At this point the experience feelings of "dreariness and depression, and as they passed a kiosk (the Temple de l'Amour) they saw a rather repulsive man who was leaning against a terrace (Louis XVI??) and later, a middle-aged lady in a summer dress seated and sketching on the lawn below. Both disappeared.
Later when Miss Moberly, who still felt a dreary, unnatural depression, asked Miss Jourdain if she thought that the Petite Trianon was haunted. She answered, "Yes," and they did not speak of the matter for another three months until Miss Jourdain visited Miss Moberly at Oxford during November of 1901. When Moberly referred to the lady she had seen, it turned out that Miss Jourdain hadn't seen her at all and said no one could have been there.
Miss Moberly asked a French woman at her school if the Petite Trianon was haunted and was told that on a certain day in August, Marie Antoinette was to be seen sitting outside and that other members of her establishment had been seen from time to time. All this led to a second visit and the ladies writing up individual accounts of their "adventure," in 1902 and 1904 they visited again and found that the topography didn't match what they saw in 1901; distances seemed shorter and the ground was barer with fewer trees.
They made the decision to look into the history of the Trianon and its inhabitants and write everything down they remebered, They "chose to dignify their investigations as researches." What they remembered was subsequently published in 1911 as a 162 page book titled simply An Adventure. Now, some five different publications and twenty impressions after its first appearance on 1911, we know it better as The Ghosts Of The Trianon.
The ladies adopted pseudonyms; Miss Moberly became a Miss Morrison, and Miss Jourdain became a Miss Lamont. Miss Moberly/Morrison's researches are printed in two columns to a page dated 25 and 28 November 1901 and November-December 1901. Miss Jourdain/Lamont's account of their visit is dated January of 1902. They go into detail explaining costumes, the landscape, buildings and some tools they saw. There is even a description of the music that they said they heard. There are what seem to be hand-drawn maps of the area in question with the directions of the way they walked marked in arrows.
What follows are reactions from the Society for Psychical Research with members pointing out errors in memory that are recognized to this day. The principles of investigation, however, were said to represent a considerable advance in previous approaches to psychic esquires. There are photographs of Moberly and Jourdain and photographs of paintings of the esteemed member of the SPR among others. Two other books on Versailles are discussed, one being J. R. Struge-Whiting's The mystery of Versailles: A Complete Solution. The author emphasizes that the ladies said nothing of their experiences to each other for a week and, for example, when they went next to the site, they went in the depths of winter instead of the summer, as in their original visit.
The book ends up by saying that even with all the material that had been widely discussed by The Journal of Parapsychology, The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, The Journal for Psychical Research in London and the Proceedings of the Society of Psychical Research in London, it seems that they thought the ladies suffered the combined effects of the warm weather, their long walk and the possible effects of wine at lunch. In other words they said, "it seems judicious to receive their remarks with cautious skepticism."
It seems to be time to put the Ghosts of the Trianon into the fictional limbo where the ghosts that thrilled our Victorian and Edwardian grandparents seem to exist, but seem not to carry very much conviction today. That is, unless you see one of them.
This was an interesting but tedious read. If it weren't for my wanting to do a Halloween tribute of some sort I could very well have left this book on the shelves at the library. (The Aquarian Press, ISBN: 0-85030-774-0).
Ed Grover - 2003
Recommended:
Yes
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