This strange history has turned into a famous episode. Two books and a movie have turned into topic of countless theories, numerous articles of magazines, at least, Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975). But as in so many other historical mysteries, the happened in Hanging Rock is not everything what shows off to be.
The history tells us that the group of girls and teachers divided in a car rented to go to Hanging Rock to celebrating the rural annual lunch. A typical place of excursion to which there were in the habit of coming the people of beginning of century was an unusual geological formation called Hanging Rock. This formation of volcanic origin and of several million years of antique gets up majestically approximately 150 meters over the plain in which it is located, and culminates with the mixture of stones and monoliths in balance that they gave the Hanging Rock's name. Closely together of the base of the rock there was a good place to eat and to rest, consisting of some unexpected tables of stone and a suitable and discreet service of washes.
The school group was composed by 19 girls, the majority teenagers; and two teachers; Mademoiselle Diane of Poitiers, the younger of the two, was teaching Frenchman and dance, and Greta McCraw, a Scotch old maid of medium age, was the teacher of mathematics. Another adult of the group was Ben Hussey, driver of the car rented by the college. Mistress Appleyard, the director, wasn’t forming a part of the expedition.
The group divided early that Saturday morning and they came little before the midday. The day was hot and sunny, and after eating the majority of the girls they were sleeping pleasantly in the shade of the trees and the rocks. Slightly farther, to another side of a small creek that was flowing of the wall of the rock, one had installed another small group. There was composed by the colonel Fitz Hubert (veteran of the Army of the India, now withdrawn from softer climates), Mistress Fitz Hubert, his nephew, the honourable Michael Fitz Hubert (of visit and from England) and the lackey Albert Crundall.
Around three o'clock in the afternoon, three of the major girls asked the Frenchman's teacher for permission to explore the rock. Three young women; Irma Leopold, Marion Quade and a girl to whom it is remembered simply as Miranda - had all seventeen years and were standing out for being sensible and responsible. After a brief commentary among the adults (during which was observed that Ben Hussey's clocks and of Miss McCraw had stopped to midday),
Later they gave also permission to Edith Horton, one more girl fourteen-year-old young woman, to accompany them. One warned at four o'clock that they should not rise too much for the rock, which the crags, caves and precipices were trying to avoid, and that they had care with the serpents, spiders and other dangerous insects.
The girls moved away from the zone of picnic, crossed the creek and got lost of sight about 3:30 p.m. Michael Fitz Hubert and Albert Crundall, that they were sat close to the creek, saw them to pass
Albert gave up a hiss paying compliments to them, and Mike got up with the intention of continuing them, but he desisted after covering only a few meters, when they disappeared for the trees.
In the place of the luncheon they all were sleeping. Around 4:30, Hussey wanted already to bring together to the whole personnel. He and mademoiselle Poitiers realized that McCraw was absent also miss; nobody had seen her to go, but one believed that she had continued the exploratory girls. The group of Fitz Hubert had just gathered their things and they had left.
Irritated initially and later increasingly dismayed, Hussey and mademoiselle of Poitiers they looked for the absent ones. Hussey organized the girls in order that they were searching for couple. The alarmed trippers searched during almost an hour; around 5:30, Edith Horton worked out average stupefied of the bushes of the side southwest of the rock. She was shouting hysterically and she could not tell whom were interrogating her anything from what she had happened. There was no sign of Miranda, Irma, Sturgeon and Miss McCraw
When the night came, both adults decided to bring together the girls who were staying and to return to the college. To the return, they stopped in Woodend's police station; where Hussey informed about the happened the agent Bumpher.
The following day, on Sunday, there began an active search of the women who were absent. There was thought that the girls and then teacher simply had got lost in the forest, and the police enlisted a series of volunteers, between which Mike Fitzhubert and Albert Crundall were situated, to look for them in the rock. After a day of search, nothing they had been Meanwhile, the doctor of Woodend, the doctor McKenzie, was examining Edith Horton. She seemed to suffer a slight commotion and was presenting numerous hurt in the body due to her career among the bushes, but not serious wounds. She could not remember anything of all that she lived in the rock. Nevertheless, on the following week, Wednesday, she was interrogated by the agent Bumpher, to whom unusually she revealed that when she was returning there had passed near miss McCraw, which was going towards the rock. She saw her to certain distance, and the teacher had not payed attention to Edith's shouts. In addition, Edith confessed shamed that the old maid, habitually so cautious, was dressing in an indecent way: skirt was not taking above, only her panties.
The search continued for several days, while the police were interrogating systematicly all the witnesses. The young man Michael Fitzhubert seemed to be the most suspicious in case an immodest act had been realized, since he had been the last person who had seen the girls and he admitted that he had started following them. Nevertheless, there was no any other indication of which he had been the person in charge of the disappearance of the girls and, possibly due to the pressure exercised by the influential Fitz Hubert, the police left this part of the investigation.
On Thursday following the excursion, the police resorted to an aboriginal scanner and to a bloodhound. After McCraw having smelt clothes of miss, the bloodhound followed a track that was ascending for the rock; then he stopped, with the hair of top and barking almost 10 minutes, in a circular platform to half a way of the top; nevertheless, he didn’t find any tangible track. Convinced that nobody might have survived during so long time in the thickness of the bushes, the police decided to leave the investigation.
The following day, on Friday, Mike Fitz Hubert and Albert Crundall decided to investigate for their account. At the end of the day, without having found anything, Mike decided to pass the night in the rock. Albert returned to the residence of the colonel Fitzhubert to excuse Mike. On the following morning, when he returned to the rock, he continued Mike's track and found it unconscious, with a sunstroke and a seriously twisted ankle. Mike was taken to house and visited by the doctor McKenzie; that night Albert found in Mike's pocket a note corresponded with rainfall and that in spite of his incoherence, he was reflecting that Mike had found something in the rock. On Sunday morning another investigation was carried out and, with great surprise for their part, the seekers found Irma Leopold
Arisen From Nothing?
She was unconscious. She was suffering several blows and small cuts in the head, and the nails of her hands were broken, but on the other hand more than one week did not seem to be very affected after having happened in the forest: her feet, barefooted, were clean and without brands. The most extraordinary thing of everything was that she was lacking the corset, but they had not abused sexually her. When she recovered the knowledge, she could not remember anything of what had happened to her.
And here ends the history. Irma could not say anything of what had happened to her; Miranda, Marion and Miss McCraw would not be seen nevermore. As consequence of the episode, the pupils of the college Appleyard were changed of college, and that one was closed. A few months later, mistress Appleyard went to Hanging Rock and rose alone. Her body was found later nearby the rock.
End...
Theories
The first theory is that the girls may have fallen down in a hole. But until now, researchers haven't found evidence.
The second theory is that the girls were caught by a UFO, so the rock would have been a base of communications or something like that.
Another theory is that the girls could have done a journey through time into the past or the future. This theory is related to the pink cloud that some girls said they have seen. Scientists believe that this cloud was a distortion of the sight because of the speed of travel through time.
Other ideas are less accepted. One is that the girls were introduced in a parallel universe. And the other one is that mysteriously they were absorbed by the rock.
So what really happened that day? Scientists are still investigating. So far we only know that this story remains an unsolved mystery.
Cuadros Durand, Mirian ( Group 3).
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