Diksha Sundriyal
In Ron Howard’s ‘Eden,’ a remote island becomes a hotbed of conflict between three parties. The first party is Dr. Friedrich Ritter and his partner Dore Strauch, who come to the island in search of a new way of life. A couple of years later, the Wittmer family joins them, trying to create a new and better life for themselves. However, it is the arrival of Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn (Ana de Armas) that stirs trouble, leading to some violent and unexpected events. What makes it even more interesting is that De Armas’ character is inspired by a real person who also met a mysterious end. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Baroness Eloise and Her Eccentric Ways Caused Trouble in Paradise
Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn, aka the Baroness, arrived in Floreana, an island off the coast of Ecuador, in 1932. By then, Friedrich Ritter and Dore Strauch, along with the Wittmers, had already established their settlements and were well-placed to continue living in the challenging environment of the place. They had come there to seek peace and isolation, but the self-proclaimed Baroness had other plans. She wanted to build a luxury resort on the island, for which she obtained 2,500 acres from the governor of the Galapagos. She was joined by Rudolph Lorenz and Robert Phillipson, both of whom were her lovers and the helpers in her cause.
While she placed herself as royalty on the island, little was known about Eloise’s life, fuelling rumors about who she really was. According to unverified accounts circulating among settlers, one of those rumors was that she had fled Paris after murdering someone. Another rumor placed her as the wife of a French war hero. One story claimed that she was so despised by her mother-in-law that she was paid to leave. None of these rumors was ever confirmed, but it shows the nature of the mystery that already existed around the Baroness. Now, in Floreana, she was focused on building her hotel, named Hacienda Paradiso.
While Eloise may have had thoughts of creating a hotel, she wasn’t really on amicable terms with her neighbours. According to the accounts of Dore Strauch and Margret Wittmer, her first acts towards them were those of intimidation and irritation. When she met the Wittmers, she asked them about their stream for drinking water, and then washed her feet in it. She also reportedly introduced herself to Ritter and Strauch by giving them their mail, which was already opened. She was known to have had a riding crop and a pearl-handled revolver. She was alleged to have been involved in sexual activities with other tourists and also indulged in hedonistic activities that irked her neighbours.
According to a 1934 Time article, she had a strange habit of wounding animals and then nursing them back to health. She was also known to have a copy of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray,’ though it is not confirmed why she was seemingly obsessed with that particular book. She is also known to have hosted the wealthy Astors and the Vanderbilts, who visited the island as part of various expeditions. She also welcomed George Allan Hancock, with whom she co-wrote a short film called ‘The Empress of Floreana,’ in which she also starred, perhaps believing that it could be a stepping stone for her in Hollywood.
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Eloise’s Conflicts With Her Neighbors Added to the Mystery of Her Disappearance
As hospitable as she was to the visitors and tourists, Eloise was allegedly considered a nuisance by her neighbours. Heinz Wittmer and Friedrich Ritter reportedly shared the belief that she was not suitable for the island and that she should not be allowed to build a hotel, as they believed she would disturb the peace of the surroundings. At one point, she was accused by Ritter of shooting a visitor during a hunting expedition, for which he asked her to be removed from the island by the authorities. It is an allegation that was never legally adjudicated. And then one day, she vanished, never to be seen again. According to the Wittmers, she and her lover, Robert, had left the island to spend some time in Tahiti.
The problem is that there was nothing to prove that she and Robert had actually left the island. They had no boat of their own, and there was no yacht or boat of any other kind that passed the shore around that time. Later, Ritter wrote a letter to the authorities in which he blamed the Wittmers of having done something to the Baroness and her lover. Her other lover, Rudolph, left the island shortly after their disappearance, but never reached the mainland. His remains were found on another island after evidence of a shipwreck was found on the coast.
It was noted that the Baroness left behind a lot of her possessions, including her beloved book, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray.’ Dore Strauch also claimed that she saw Eloise’s tablecloth in the Wittmers’ house. Margret, on the other hand, claimed that Dore danced happily when she heard the Baroness was gone. The conflicting accounts intensified the air of mystery surrounding the woman, and to this day, no evidence has been found to reveal what truly happened to her. People have concocted theories over the years, and the film also provides its own version of events. The truth, however, is lost to time and the seas.
