An Adventure

What It's About

This book recounts an unusual experience shared by two English academics during a visit to the Petit Trianon at the Palace of Versailles. They believed they briefly witnessed scenes, figures, and atmospheres belonging to the era of Marie Antoinette, as though they had stepped into the past. The authors carefully document their memories, impressions, and later attempts to identify what they saw.

Key Concepts

Time slips, paranormal experience, historical memory, psychical research, eyewitness testimony, skepticism, the persistence of place, and the relationship between history and perception.

Why It Matters

This is one of the most famous early twentieth-century paranormal books and remains central to discussions of unexplained phenomena. It is also valuable as a cultural document, showing how educated observers tried to reconcile reason, history, and extraordinary personal experience.

About the Author

Eleanor Frances Jourdain was an English scholar and educator, later Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford. Her co-author Charlotte Anne Elizabeth Moberly was also an academic administrator and writer, serving as the first Principal of St Hugh's College. Their professional reputations added lasting intrigue to the account.