Two Women Claim To Have Traveled Back In Time — And They Brought Proof
Charlotte Anne Moberly's and Eleanor Jourdain's vacation was like something out of a movie. After a visit to Versailles in the 1900s, these co-workers and fast friends claimed they had traveled back in time. It seemed a tall tale, but the pair were adamant about what they had seen. And after the world saw their proof, the two women would forever be linked with their strange experience.
Time-traveling friends
Their unsettling experience started off fairly simply. Charlotte was the first principal of St. Hugh's College in Oxford, England, and Eleanor was about to join the staff as her vice-principal. So, to get an idea of who she’d be working with, Charlotte traveled to Paris to visit Eleanor. And on a pleasant day in August, the pair went sightseeing.
Searching for Marie Antoinette’s quarters
As academics who were interested in history, Eleanor and Charlotte decided to tour the Palace of Versailles. The Queen’s Hamlet was of special interest: it was built in 1783 for Marie Antoinette, who used it as a hideaway and meeting space for her and her friends.
Unpopular queen
Hadn't Marie Antoinette been hated by nearly everyone? Did she have enough friends to need a hamlet for them? True, she'd been just 14 when she had arrived at Versailles, and, initially, the French loved her. But as time passed, citizens came to detest the royal. The queen seemed to be aware of it, too. “Tribulation first makes one realize what one is,” she wrote in 1791.
Spending problems
The tide turned on Marie Antoinette when working-class French citizens suffered through poor harvests and high taxes. She failed to aid their plight; instead, she lavishly spent money on beautiful jewels, clothes, and renovating the Petit Trianon estate. Her husband, Louis XVI, gave the estate to her in June 1774, hoping that the gift would help her relax — but it would only further harm her reputation.
