Two mysterious stories of possible time travel are presented. The first story is about Thomas Johnson, a 10-year-old boy who disappeared in 1912 while playing near a lake on his family's farm in New York. His disappearance was attributed to a supernatural whirlpool in the lake. 58 years later, Thomas reappeared as a 15-year-old boy, with no memory of the intervening years. An investigation by the authorities confirmed his identity.
The second story is about two British women, Eleonor and Charlotte, who worked at the University of Oxford. In 1901, they visited the Palace of Versailles, where they got lost and experienced a strange and unexplainable phenomenon. They reported seeing people and buildings that seemed to be from the 18th century, including a woman they believed to be Marie Antoinette. They published a book about their experience, but many readers doubted its validity, suggesting it was either a themed party or a misinterpretation of a normal event.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. Thomas Johnson, a 10-year-old boy, disappeared near a lake on his family's farm in New York in 1912.
2. Thomas's father had warned him about the dangers of the lake, where some animals had previously disappeared.
3. A whirlpool formed in the lake, and Thomas was sucked in and disappeared.
4. The other children who were with Thomas ran away and told his father what happened.
5. Despite a search, Thomas's body was not found, and he was presumed dead.
6. 58 years later, in 1970, Thomas's father was walking near the lake when another whirlpool formed, and Thomas reappeared, now 15 years old.
7. Thomas did not recognize his father at first and was confused about what had happened.
8. The authorities were called, and Thomas was confirmed to be the same person who had disappeared 58 years earlier.
9. Thomas's father was 91 years old when Thomas reappeared.
10. Thomas did not want to talk about what had happened during his disappearance.
11. Two British women, Eleonor Jonathan and Charlotte, visited the Palace of Versailles in 1901 and got lost in the Petit Trianon Gardens.
12. They saw a woman in a window shaking a white cloth and an old, abandoned farmhouse that seemed out of place.
13. They met two local employees who seemed artificial, like wax sculptures.
14. They saw a man with a cloak and a large hat who seemed hateful.
15. They saw a woman who looked like Marie Antoinette, the former Queen of France, who was executed in 1793.
16. The women believed they had traveled back in time to the 18th century.
17. They published a book about their experience, "Adventure," in 1911, but readers were skeptical.