I’m bringing you my Paris dispatch.
Have you been to this magical city? I would love to hear your stories because everyone who goes to Paris, France, has stories to tell.
Two events I have no hesitation to call paranormal happened. (I am truly a skeptic about such things but when my skepticism is obliterated, I embrace the magic hiding just below the surface.)
Let me explain.
On this trip, I was with my husband, Kevin, and another couple who had never been to France. Traci had several places she wanted to go. One of them was Pere Lachaise Cemetery, one of the most visited cemeteries in the world. Over two hundred years old and filled with elaborate tombs, it holds thousands of graves, including very famous ones like Oscar Wilde, Frederic Chopin, and Marcel Proust. But Traci wanted to go to see the grave of just one person, Jim Morrison.
Jim Morrison, the singer of the legendary ’60s band The Doors, died while visiting Paris in 1971. His gravesite is one of the most popular destinations there. And so is the tree standing next to it, which is adorned with chewing gum. That’s right, gum that has been chewed.
It’s a rather disgusting sight.
But, as the story goes, Jim frequently had gum in his mouth to mask the smell of alcohol. So, for years, admirers have squished chewed gum onto the old tree. Caretakers of the cemetery placed a bamboo casing around it at some point to protect it from more gum. Now, the bamboo is slowly being covered in spent chewing gum.
This is where my story takes a strange turn.
Traci and I stood a couple of feet away from the tree, chatting. She was saying how much she loved Jim’s music and how happy she was to be standing near his grave. At that moment, a piece of gum flew from someplace down low with a powerful trajectory and bounced off the toe of her shoe.
There was no way the gum fell from the bamboo casing. The trajectory would have been down rather than sideways. And the force with which it flew was as if someone had thrown it. But it came from almost ground level, and no one was standing near us. There was no reasonable, logical explanation for its origin.
So, was it from some paranormal source? The ghost of Jim Morrison saying thanks for being such a fan? I leave that for you to decide. As for me, I do believe something threw that gum with intention at my friend’s foot to get her attention.
Now, on to the exquisite palace of Versailles for the second uncanny happening.
Specifically, it happened at the Petite Trianon palace, a modest place (as far as palaces go) on the royal estate. Queen Marie Antoinette called it her home and preferred to live there than the much grander palace. My friend Traci has had a passionate fascination with Marie since she learned about her in college. Upon our arrival to Versailles, she proclaimed it the most exciting event since her wedding day thirty years earlier.
The four of us toured the main palace, our audio guides plugged into our ears. Then, walked the quarter-mile to the Petite Trianon. We picked up new audio guides there and listened as the narrator told us about the rooms on the first floor. From there, we walked upstairs to the second story, and in an ante-room to the dining room hung the portrait titled Marie Antoinette with a Rose. Traci has admired this portrait for years. We all pressed our audio guides to hear about the portrait and the room. All of us except Traci, because her audio guide suddenly stopped playing.
Again, as my friend stood in front of one of her passions, something unexplained happened. Was this from some paranormal source? Was the spirit of Marie Antoinette giving her a nod for the admiration she had held for so long? I leave it for you to decide. As for me, I do believe her audio guide malfunction was not a mere quirk.
I would love to hear your thoughts about these two incidents on my most recent visit to France. Other things happened as well that I will recount in another note. But for now, I hope you’re enjoying life and reading as much as you want.
The best, always,
Victoria