Podcast Summary: "My Victorian Nightmare"

Host: Genevieve Manion
Episode: 68 – The Moberly-Jourdain Incident, Grave Symbols & Ghost Clubs
Date: November 10, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Genevieve Manion weaves together three listener-requested Victorian oddities: the enigmatic symbolism of Victorian gravestones, the “time slip” account of the Moberly-Jourdain incident at Versailles, and the strange, elite ghost-hunting societies of Victorian England. With her trademark storytelling—equal parts academic, playful, and atmospheric—Genevieve explores the intersection of grief, belief, community, and the enduring allure of the darker threads in Victorian history.
Tone: Spooky, affectionate toward the macabre, sprinkled with humor and personal asides.

1. Hauntings & Spiritualist Society

(00:07:50–00:17:45)

Key Points

• Genevieve opens with personal anecdotes and quick corrections (like the real reason the infamous room number in ‘The Shining’ changed—Timberline Lodge didn’t want guests scared out of Room 217).

  “That's why they wanted a room that didn't actually exist to be the spookiest one in the film.” (00:04:54, Genevieve)

• With Their Own Eyes Segment:

  • Shares a 19th-century account of hauntings within the Wesley family—phantom knocks, ghostly groaning, and, most chillingly, the sound of a silken nightgown rustling in circles around a living woman:

    “It can run faster than me. So she rose, put her book under her arm, and walked slowly away.” (00:09:15, quoting the 1869 Spiritualist newspaper)

  • Genevieve muses,

    “The creepiest thing about … is the experience of hearing a silk nightgown rustling and trailing around you. That makes my knees goose pimply…” (00:10:05, Genevieve)

• The community aspect of Victorian spiritualism is highlighted—spiritualist practice offered comfort and connection in a time of constant grief and high mortality rates:

  “Spiritualism strengthens them in their times of weakness and makes life more cheerful, more happy, and more noble, for, among other things, it takes away all doubt and distress of mind about the nature of the future life.” (00:12:09, quoting Mr. T. Shorter, 1869)
  “Death is not the grim monster…he is a beneficent angel who opens to us the flower encircled door of the summer land.” (00:14:20, quoting Mr. T. Shorter)

Timestamps

• Corrections/Haunted Housekeeping: 00:03:00–00:07:20
• With Their Own Eyes & Spiritualist Society: 00:07:50–00:17:45

2. Victorian Gravestone Symbolism

(00:17:50–00:37:06)

Key Points

• Victorian cemeteries as open books:
  Symbols on graves communicated personality, values, and religious beliefs—especially important since literacy rates were low.

  “The graves are speaking to you, telling you about what the deceased valued in life…” (00:18:19, Genevieve)

• Notable gravestone symbols explained:

  • Draped urns: The death of the body; the drapery is the veil between worlds.

    “Drapery itself was actually a symbol of death.” (00:22:07)

  • Obelisks: Favored by non-Catholics; reflected Victorian Egyptomania and spiritualists’ love for ancient power symbols.
  • Flower wreaths: Victory over death. Each flower type and its state (bud, open, closed) had layered meanings.
  • Hands:
    • Two clasped hands often signified a married couple reuniting in death.
    • Details (lace vs. cuff) indicated gender and relationship.
  • Anchors: Early Christian symbol of hope, a broken chain indicating tragic, premature death.
  • Quaker stones: Feature no symbols or month-names—emphasizing death as the great equalizer.
  • Ferns:
    • Became so popular laws had to protect them from overharvesting (“pteridomania”).
    • Symbolized intelligence, sincerity, and longing for nature in industrial urban centers.

    “Collecting ferns was seen as a cultured hobby… a mark of intelligence, but also sincerity and a connection to the natural world.” (00:33:25, Genevieve)

• Quirky, touching epitaph example:

  “Under this marble are deposed poor Preston’s sad remains… For many a weighty corpse he gave to you with liberal hand, Then sure his little body may some small respect command.” (00:20:30, quoting the headstone of Richard Preston)

• Floriography:

  • The “language of flowers” extended to Victorian funerary custom, wedding invitations, and everyday life.

Timestamps

• Segment start: 00:17:50
• Fern Fever: 00:32:00

3. Time Slips at Versailles: The Moberly-Jourdain Incident

(00:37:06–00:53:40)

Key Points

• Narrative atmosphere: Genevieve playfully “takes listeners along” to experience the strange events at Versailles, 1901, with Eleanor Jourdain and Charlotte Moberly.

  “The trees... desaturating. The smell of roses... faded. The breeze has stopped.” (00:37:46, Genevieve)

• Incident Summary:

  • The two Oxford-educated women find themselves in a bizarre, dreamlike state in the Versailles gardens, seeing people in 18th-century dress, a pockmarked man (possibly Robert de Montesquiou), unusual paths, and a ghostly Marie Antoinette.
  • After returning to present, they separately write their experiences, then share details and undertake research—ultimately publishing their account under pseudonyms as An Adventure.
  • They theorize time slip, a haunting, or slipping into the memories of Marie Antoinette.
  • The account draws sensational attention. The Society for Psychical Research investigates and, despite debunking supernatural claims, finds a historical map aligning with their reported paths.
  • Modern explanations suggest shared hallucination, embellishment, or most likely: stumbling upon one of Montesquiou’s elaborate period costume parties.

• Memorable quotes:

  “They didn’t even discuss what happened for a full week. The experience felt almost like a dream…” (00:43:54, Genevieve)

  “So perhaps it was a time slip, a trip into the Further, a shared hallucination—or maybe it was just some fabulous gay poets traipsing around Versailles in fancy dresses for fun. We will never know for sure.” (00:52:17, Genevieve)

Timestamps

• Narrative set-up: 00:37:06
• Incident account & theories: 00:41:10–00:53:40

4. Victorian Ghost Clubs

(00:53:45–01:07:00)

Key Points

• The Ghost Club (Est. 1862):

  • Initially composed of skeptical intellectuals (founding member: Charles Dickens), aiming to root out paranormal fraud.
  • Interests included mesmerism (hypnosis) and “magnetism” (universal energetic force).

  “Charles Dickens is believed to be the founding member... and he was very much not a believer in ghosts.” (00:56:41, Genevieve)

  • Example: Dickens supposedly cures friends of “seeing specters” by hypnosis—he attributed it to a nervous condition, not haunting.

• Transition to spiritualist gentleman's club:

  • Ghost Club of the 1880s welcomes believers and mediums, with elaborate rituals (roll calls for "the living and the dead"), and members like W.B. Yeats, Algernon Blackwood, and Siegfried Sassoon.
  • Yeats believed in spirit communication through “automatic writing;” he even wove Ghost Club ideas into his mystical treatises.
  • Club traditions, including the annual Halloween “roll call” of the living and dead, persist.

  “Sounds like a fun little boys club. I love this for them.” (00:59:09, Genevieve)

• Modern Club:

  • Reestablished by Harry Price in 1937—now includes women, is a non-profit, open-minded social club with an aging website but a vibrant curiosity.

Timestamps

• Ghost Club beginnings: 00:53:45
• Spiritualist era & influence on literature: 00:57:44
• Club today: 01:06:10

5. Memorable Closing & Cultural Reflections

(01:07:01–01:10:15)

Key Points

• Genevieve reads Walt Whitman’s “Mannahatta” as an ode to New York, blending her fascination with the Victorian and her affection for her own city:

  “I see that the word of my city is that word from of old, because I see that word nested in nests of water bays… An island 16 miles long, solid founded, numberless crowded streets, high growths of iron, slender strong light, splendidly uprising toward clear skies…” (01:07:45, quoting Walt Whitman)

• Signs off with reminders to rate, comment, and join the “fan coven” for more spooky, in-depth content.

Notable Quotes by Timestamp

• Victorian graveyard literacy:

  “So the next time you find yourself strolling through a Victorian cemetery, you will be able to speak the silent language of the dead.” (00:18:19, Genevieve)

• On the comfort of spiritualist traditions:

  “I think it's so important to do this in our own time, but with others... We can help each other heal by coming together and remembering.” (00:16:28, Genevieve)

• Humor amid eeriness (about ferns):

  “They became so popular in the era that laws had to be passed in some localities because the obsessive collecting and picking of ferns was causing important species to ecosystems to go extinct…” (00:32:06, Genevieve)

• On the Moberly-Jourdain incident’s poetic ambiguity:

  “We will never know for sure.” (00:52:43, Genevieve)

Episode Structure & Segment Guide

| Segment | Timestamp | Content Highlights | |-------------------------------------------------|-------------------|------------------------------------| | Corrections & Housekeeping | 00:03:00–00:07:20 | Fun updates, corrections | | With Their Own Eyes / Spiritualist Society | 00:07:50–00:17:45 | Victorian hauntings, spiritualism | | Victorian Gravestone Symbolism | 00:17:50–00:37:06 | Symbol analysis, cemetery lore | | The Moberly-Jourdain Incident | 00:37:06–00:53:40 | Time slip at Versailles, theories | | Victorian Ghost Clubs | 00:53:45–01:07:00 | Ghost Club history, members, legacy| | Whitman’s “Mannahatta” & Farewell | 01:07:01–01:10:15 | Poetic reading, NYC tribute |

Summary Takeaway

Episode 68 expertly braids together spooky Victorian topics with humor and academic insight—making it a rewarding listen for lovers of history, symbolism, and the paranormal. Genevieve’s flowing narrative draws connections between cultural practices, belief in the unseen, and those very human bonds that persist long after death.

Whether you’re seeking to decode graveyard iconography, succulent tales of spectral intrigue, or learn why some of our most revered writers spent their evenings ghostbusting, this episode delivers both chills and fascinating historical detail.