Time travel claims and urban legends: Difference between revisions
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==[[The Circus (film)|The Circus]]== |
==[[The Circus (film)|The Circus]]== |
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Revision as of 00:35, 9 January 2011
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Over the years there have been many instances of time traveller stories reported by the press or on the internet. Many of these turn out to either be hoaxes or to be based on incorrect assumptions, incomplete information or interpretation of fiction as fact, others have yet to be fully explained.
The Circus
A YouTube video was posted in October 2010 by Irish filmmaker George Clarke in which he suggested that footage of the films premier contained in a DVD release of the Charlie Chaplin film The Circus depicted a time traveler talking on a cell phone the clip received millions of hits and became the subject of widespread internet discussion.[1].
Nicholas Jackson, associate editor for The Atlantic, seeking to debunk that hypothesis, believes that the item in question was either a Siemens or Western Electric brand hearing aid[2]. Philip Skroska, quoted from LiveScience, thinks that the item in question could have been a rectangular-shaped ear trumpet[3]
John Titor
John Titor is the name used on several bulletin boards during 2000 and 2001 by a poster claiming to be a time traveler from the year 2036. In these posts he made numerous predictions (a number of them vague, some quite specific[4]) about events in the near future, starting with events in 2004. However, as of 2010, these events appear not to have taken place; he described a drastically changed future in which the United States had broken into five smaller regions, the environment and infrastructure had been devastated by a nuclear attack, and most other world powers had been destroyed.
To date, the story has been retold on numerous web sites, in a book, and in a play. He has also been discussed occasionally on the radio show Coast to Coast AM.[5] In this respect, the Titor story may be unique in terms of broad appeal from an originally limited medium, an Internet discussion board.
Andrew Carlssin
Andrew Carlssin was a fictional time traveller who appeared in a 2003 news story on Yahoo!. The article claimed that a man named Andrew Carlssin had been arrested for SECviolations for making 126 high-risk stock trades and being successful on every one. It was said that he started with an initial investment of $800 and made a fortune of over $350,000,000. Apparently, he had claimed to be a time traveler from the year 2256 and upon making bail, he had promptly disappeared. The news article was originally published 25 February 2003 in the Weekly World News, a popular satirical news-paper known for making exaggerated or fabricated claims, and later was reprinted on Yahoo! News's Entertainment and Gossip section.
The story was also included in the book Pedestrian safety expert gets hit by bus by Huw Davies and Another Weird Year 2004.[6]
External links
- snopes.com article describing Andrew Carlssin hoax
- [1]the original Andrew Carlssin article
References
- ^ Jackson, Nicholas (Nov 1 2010). "Debunking the Charlie Chaplin Time Travel Video". The Atlantic Monthly. The Atlantic Monthly Group. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Jackson, Nicholas. "Debunking the Chaplin Time Travel Video". Technology. The Atlantic. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
- ^ Hsu, Jeremy. "Time Traveler' May Just Be Hard of Hearing". Strange News. LiveScience. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
- ^ Karl Simanonok (2003-05-19). "JOHN TITOR VALIDITY TEST BASED ON PREDICTION OF CIVIL WAR BY 2004-2005". Johntitor.strategicbrains.com. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
- ^ "John Titor, Recap". Coasttocoastam.com. Retrieved 2010-09-01.
- ^ Davies, Huw, and Ebury Press. Pedestrian Safety Expert Gets Hit by Bus. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2005. ISBN 0740754645