Marie Antoinette and Other Versailles Haunters
Women Saw Ghosts in 18th Century Dress in Petite Trianon’s Garden
Many witnesses have seen Marie Antoinette’s phantom at Versailles. Principal Anne Moberly and Vice-Principal Eleanor Jourdain of St. Hugh's College had a unique experience.
On August 10, 1901, they visited the Petit Trianon near the palace. What occurred would become a famous controversial incident.
Ghost of Marie Antoinette
King Louis XVI’s wife, Marie Antoinette, was a member of the Hapsburg royal family that ruled the Austro/Hungarian Empire. She found life at the French court was too rigid and controlled. Louis XVI gave her the Petite Trianon, a small house with gardens that Louis XIV built for his mistress, Madame de Pompadour, so Marie could have respite from the court’s restrictions.
Both Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI were beheaded due to the French Revolution. People saw ravens, a Hapsburg death omen, at Marie’s execution. It's said that her ghost haunts the Petite Trianon, Versailles and the Conciergerie, a Medieval palace that was converted to a prison. Visitors to Versailles felt cold spots and saw a vaporous form float next to her bed. Glasses mysteriously fall and it's said that objects move by themselves in its restaurant.
Notably, Marie never said, "Let them eat cake." Most experts agree that King Louis XIV’s wife, Marie-Therese, said it a hundred years before Marie Antionette's time.
Lost on the Way to Versailles’ Petit Trianon
The women got lost while they were looking for the gardens. They passed an abandoned farmhouse and noticed an old plough by the roadside. Jourdain and Moberly felt a heavy oppressive atmosphere.
Two men, dressed in greyish-green coats, wearing three-cornered hats passed them. The women asked them how to get to the Petit Trianon. They walked on the path the men pointed to and saw a sinister looking man standing by a gazebo.
Versailles Ghostly Tableau at Petite Trianon
Someone rushed up behind them and said they were going the wrong way. They were told to cross a small bridge. When they reached a garden, Moberly saw a woman in eighteenth century attire sketching a picture. Both women felt intense sadness.
A footman rushed out of a nearby building, slammed the door shut and told them that the entrance to the Petit Trianon was on the other side of the house. After they walked around the structure and found a wedding party, the dark mood lifted; normalcy was restored.
The Women Discuss the Versailles Incident
Three months later, Moberly mentioned seeing the woman who was sketching. Jourdain said she hadn’t noticed her. They were perplexed as to why only one of them saw her. They both remembered the odd feeling they had in Petite Trianon and wrote separate accounts about the incident. They found both saw other phenomena and decided to investigate the incident.
Englishwomen Publish Book about Versailles Experience
Jourdain returned to Versailles. She couldn’t retrace their earlier route. The grounds seemed changed. She discovered the day that they visited the palace was the anniversary of the day when Louis XVI and Marie saw their Swiss Guards massacred before they were imprisoned.
The women did further research. They saw a plough, but there was none in Versailles’ gardens in 1901. An old plough was on the grounds in 1789. They crossed a small bridge that they couldn’t locate. They learned that a small bridge stood at the site in 1789. The uniforms of the men they saw were those of Marie Antoinette's Swiss Guard.
The sinister looking man they sighted was Comte de Vaudreuil, one of Marie’s enemies. They saw the footman rush out of a building and slamming its door. The door had been barred and bolted for many years, beginning in 1901. They were certain the woman they saw sketching was Marie Antoinette. They decided to write a book about their experience. Using pseudonyms, Misses Morison and Lamont, they published An Adventure in 1911.
Controversy and Conclusions - Versailles Ghostly Tableau
Readers noticed historical errors written in An Adventure. The issues of the possibility of confusion due to psychological and/or physical factors, such as heat exhaustion, were raised. Critics argued that the two women were merely lost or their memories were distorted.
After Jourdain died in 1924 and Moberly, in 1937, their identities were revealed. The fact that they were respected academics renewed interest in the case. New theories about the Petite Trianon incident were developed.
Some believe the women were caught in a time warp.
Others believe they experienced a haunting, energy imprinted on time and space like a videotape without intelligence, usually caused by a traumatic event. The fact that Moberly and Jourdain visited Versailles on the anniversary of the guards’ massacre and imprisonment of Louis XVI and Marie supports this theory. The specters interaction with the women supports this theory because apparitions — ghosts with intelligence — can appear in hauntings.
Articles Related to Versailles Ghosts
Readers who enjoyed this article might like Apparitions – Intelligent Ghosts, The Hapsburg Dynasty’s Harbingers of Death and What are Hauntings?
Source:
The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, (FactsOnFile, 1992).
Marie Antoinette’s Ghost Haunts Versailles
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