There is a rather curious story about visitors to the Palace at Versailles in France, and this account is one of the earliest anecdotes related to a phenomena called a time slip.

In 1901, two women, Charlotte Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain, who were officials at St. Hugh's College in Oxford, decided to visit the Palace. They toured the palace but found it unimpressive and decided to walk through the gardens toward the Petit Trianon, which was a ch'teau built by King Louis XV.Somewhere along the way, the women made a wrong turn and got lost passing the road to the ch'teau and ended up on the neighboring lane.They saw a woman in a farmhouse hanging a white tablecloth out of a window, and as they continued they ran into some men dressed in old-fashioned clothing with tricorner hats and noticed several other out-of-place people they described as seeming to be from another time.They also noticed the trees and homes became dull and lifeless, the colors faded and "off." They sensed dread and overwhelming feelings of depression.As they continued on their way, they noticed a lack of contrasts and shadows; the light was dull and everything seemed unnervingly unusual.They met a menacing man dressed in black who seemed to look through them as if they were not there, and as they found their way back to the ch'teau they noticed a fancily dressed young woman sitting on the ground in the front garden sketching.They joined visitors and toured the building. When the tour concluded, they left, and when comparing notes later they felt the grounds appeared to be haunted.Several different explanations have been offered for this anecdote, including the ladies were wishful thinkers with great imaginations, they were lost and ran into a party in which the guests were dressed in French period costumes, and the most obvious explanation is they made up the story.The idea here is that a time slip occurs when there is a break in the time stream, almost like a portal or window that allows a person to see, hear and fully experience another time period for a brief period.Characteristics of this phenomenon include muddled or dulled light, colors appearing flat and lifeless and a sense of dread or anxiety. Supposedly the atmosphere takes on a heaviness and the sunlight seems to become dull as well.This phenomenon could last several seconds to several minutes. While these women and their anecdote have been the target of analysis and debunking, none of the alternative explanations have been the satisfactory conclusion to their experience.The story, while quaint, seemed distant until a friend of mine shared an anecdote about a hunting trip gone strange on the White Bear side of Summit Hill west of town heading toward Tamaqua. It was an evening in the winter, and my friend Steve and his friend were hiking near a dirt road that ran through the woods west of town and below the town ridge. Snow was falling that evening, but as Steve described it, they had been there before and knew they were close to the road.On this particular evening they noticed that all of a sudden the woods seemed darker than usual and the nearby road was impossible to detect. The boys wandered around the area where this change occurred, and in a clearing ahead they found a cabin.Both thought it was unusual as they could not recall the building being there before, and the once-familiar area now seemed alien to them. Since they could not get their bearings and they noticed a glow coming from the window, they decided to see who was inside.Steve said they knocked on the door and were greeted by two older men with thick "Dutchy" accents. They invited the teens inside and closed the door, making a remark about the falling snow. Steve said they told the men they seemed to have lost their bearings, but the men were not too concerned. They returned to their conversation as if the teens were not there.What happened next was totally unnerving, Steve said. The men were speaking about things that had no context with the present. They spoke about Tamaqua, but the name was pronounced in syllables they had never heard before the visit.Steve said he felt like they were there for several hours, and finally the snow seemed to slow and they decided for the sake of their uneasiness that it might be time to go.The men consented and sent the teens on their way. He said they wandered a short way through the woods and immediately came upon the road. They followed it and in a short distance found themselves back in town.Steve was baffled and still is to this day. They returned to the woods and searched extensively, but were never able to locate the cabin again, nor did they ever see the men. To this day it remains a personal mystery to Steve as to who their good Samaritans were that snowy night and what happened to their cabin.His description of the darker-than-usual woods, the feeling of confusion and anxiety followed by the encounter with the cabin and its occupants almost sound like anecdotal evidence for a time slip. If you have a similar experience, I would love to hear from you at

dawargo@ptd.net.Till next time …