An Adventure

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

—

Title

An Adventure

Language

en

Book source

Global Grey

Description max 80 words

Two scholars recount their mysterious 1901 visit to Versailles, where they encounter ghostly figures and hear period music in the Petit Trianon. Blending memoir, historical research, and paranormal speculation, this classic explores the psychological and historical realities behind their unexplained experience.

Summary up to 500 words

In August 1901, Elizabeth Morison and Frances Lamont visited the Petit Trianon at Versailles, anticipating a dull excursion but instead encountering an atmosphere of unnatural oppression. Guided by mysterious men dressed in eighteenth-century attire who insisted they avoid certain paths, the women reached a house where they observed a lady sketching and a young man who ushered them through a door claimed to have been sealed for decades. Following these events, the authors meticulously investigated the occurrences over subsequent years. Their research revealed that the building's layout had changed; staircases had collapsed and doors barred, rendering the 1901 events physically impossible according to official records. Furthermore, archives contained no evidence of the specific music heard or the specific workers seen during their visit. The narrative shifts to the historical context of Marie Antoinette's time at Trianon, detailing the architecture, the lives of the gardeners, and the political turmoil leading to the Revolution. The authors note that the Queen's concierge, Bonnefoy du Plan, kept stores in a loft reached by a staircase now broken down, and the porter in 1789, Lagrange, could easily have interviewed strangers. They discovered that a continuous ground-floor passage once passed the chapel door, and marks on walls indicate a covered way where the Queen could enter from the house in wet weather. Historical maps confirm the existence of roads and woods described by the women, though these features have since been altered or removed. Specific details corroborate the women's experiences: laborers in eighteenth-century tunics and capes were hired for specific tasks, and music from the era of Sacchini, Philidor, and Grétry matches the melodies heard. The authors argue that while the physical evidence of the supernatural encounters is absent in the modern landscape, the intense psychological conditions and the precise historical details suggest a profound, perhaps shared, visionary experience rooted in the deep history of the place. The book concludes that these events were not mere hallucinations but a genuine communication with true facts that had been obscured by time and architectural changes.

LLM editorial rating

4.2/5

Download URL

https://www.globalgreyebooks.com/ebooks/eleanor-f-jourdain_c-a-e-moberly_adventure.epub

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Categories

• Biography
• Mystery
• Horror