Versailles Time SlipComments (A reader's true experience) :
This happened in 1974 when I had just come back from
overseas and was boarding with friends.I was 30 years old.One
of the owners of the house, a young man in his middle twenties, was a
credible piano player and I loved to hear him play.
This particular morning we went into the room where he had a piano and I
sat down with my siamese cat on my lap preparing to hear him play.He did, and I slowly stroked the cat as I enjoyed the music.I looked down at the cat and also glanced at my hand which had some
diamond rings sparkling and winking on my finger.
Then suddenly….I was somewhere else….a sort-of shift of place and
time….instantly!I was instead sitting on a gilt chair, in a large, large hall – I
somehow knew where I was.I was in one of England’s old stately homes; a country
estate.My fingers and arms
and chest and throat were covered with sparkling large and beautiful
diamonds.I was basically in
the same position as I was formerly, looking down at myglittering handstroking
a very large dog, sitting down beside me.This was a huge dog – I don’t know the breed, but like a Great
Dane.It was light gold in
colour and it was my dog.On
my right was a HUGE fireplace or pale stone, very old and unadorned.It was high enough for a tall man to walk inside it and not bow his
head.The fire was not lit.
Around me werea small crowd
of other people sitting on chairs, and we were listening to a man play a
recital on a grand piano.This
was after dinner and many women were also glittering with jewels. These I
knew were the set of friends we moved in.We wore long dresses and I “feel” the time was the 1880’s or
there about, but not earlier.
Very strangely I remember no sound at all…the whole scene played out in
utter silence.
A man was standing by the fireplace and also another dog was sitting down
there in a relaxed position.Who
he was I do not know.
It was a relaxed atmosphere, rich and amiable, solid and secure and I was
enjoying myself.I“knew” I was the wife in this important country house, totally
at home and enjoying my position.I
would guess I was the same age as I was in real life.
Then….I was back in the real world…like someone had shifted the
scene…instantly.There was
no fading,just like a
‘snap’, and I was back.
The present time piano player was not aware of anything and I continued to
sit there and listen until he finished with no further strange
“visions”.The whole
experience could not have taken more than a few seconds.
I had never experienced such a thing, was totally unprepared for it and
quite shocked.I did not tell
anyone about it for years, and then I found thatno one was very interested anyway.All I got were jokes about drinking too much, so I kept it to
myself.
This was nearly thirty years ago and I still
remember it most vividly.In
fact I can conjure up the scene if I close my eyes.I have since tried to make sense of it.To this end, (I am a Librarian) I read many books on strange
experiences.I have come to think it was what they call a “time-slip”.It really does feel like a “shift”.
Since then I have had weaker experiences of the same nature – years
apart.Its like a “shift”
is about to happen and then it does not, just a strange feeling.
I feel quite relieved to write itdown
after all this time.