Saturday 14th February 1900 a party of schoolgirls from Appleyard College picknicked at Hanging Rock, near Mt. Macedon in the State of Victoria. The scene is set for a group of young girls to vanish never to be seen again. The book was written by Joan Lindsay and was published back in 1967 which the film was based upon.
Miranda and 2 of her friends and one teacher start the climb, with Edith who insisted coming along was then finding the walk difficult.
(last in the line)
3 of the girls out on this picnic request permission to go for a walk and head off towards the "rock".
The Rock!
As they climb Hanging Rock the heat is fiercely hot so they gradually begin to strip a lot of their clothing.
Edith watches intently as the group in front of her disappear into solid rock.
BELOW IS A SPOILER ON HOW THE GIRLS DISAPPEARED!
It is said that what really happened to the girls was this..............
The rock they disappeared behind was actually a "supernatural time warp" the rock slid open just enough for the girls to slip through and then the girls were in another time dimension. The rock then just as silently closed.
One very eerie event took place during the making of this film......
The watches and clocks of the cast and crew behaved in an erratic manner as Executive Producer, Patricia Lovell reported at the time - "We are having trouble with time here. All our watches seem to be playing up. Mine stopped at 6.00 p.m. on the Rock, and a brand new alarm clock is either early or slow, but never correct, no matter what time we set it. Everyone seems to be having the same trouble and to ask the time has become quite a joke". In both the book and the film the watches of the schoolgirls stopped at noon when they were on the rock and this was the cue for the strange and terrifying events that followed.
If this had been a real live event and not fiction it would have been just as mystifying with many having their own answers, here is mine.....................
The girls if you noticed did not take water with them. In the harsh Australian sun (can reach 40 even go as high as 50 (C)) you soon dehydrate, once this starts you become disorientated, and dizzy spells would start. Dehydration, heatstroke, sunstroke, giddiness would not be a fun thing to have after many hours in the blazing Australian sun, you would become weak over a few hours and lose your bearings, depending how long you have been without water you would eventually lie down and wait for death. Being a group of young healthy girls is hard to explain why all would perish at the same time? Again yes it can be explained; if the track is unknown to you, it's not hard in the state you are in, to follow the leader over the cliff to your death - there are so many possible solutions to this film. This is the reason I have not read this missing chapter, I like some books to leave me guessing and to find the answer myself.
The girls and teacher who had accompanied them were never found. No trace of any clothing, no footsteps, no blood, nothing, it was a mystery never to be solved. Only the author of the book knew what had happened. Upon her request that when she died the missing chapter was to be then released to the adoring fans of this film and book.
(the film makers were not allowed to release a chapter of her book to the public where it was explained what had happened to the girls and teacher)
Edith then starts yelling hysterically, "to come back" then runs all the way back to the picnic group and no one can make any sense of what she has seen or where the other girls are that were with her.
