A Real, Live Time Traveller!

[HoopyFrood]

Something that has sparked some discussion on the internet recently, it seems, is the apparent spotting of a time traveller in a 1940s photograph. I just heard about it because Harpo posted a link on Facebook and I have mercilessly stolen it (mwahaha).

So, take a lookee. A guy in sunglasses, knitted top, a sweatshirt/shirt with an M on the front and a camera in his hands looking decidedly out of place. Finally, some proof of a Time Traveller?

The event is the opening of a bridge after flooding which cut the town for a while. People have wondered why a Time Traveller turned up to that particular point. A little mudane, right? Time Travellers should be appearing in the much more historically important events. Of course, something significant could have occurred here, that this plucky individual diverted and thus we'll never know of it...

Obviously there's lots of counter argument about why this person can look out of place and still be a normal 1940ser. But I thought I'd post it, this being a SFF forum and I can't help being intrigued by anything odd and out of the ordinary and the discussion it sparks.

The link: Is This a Time Traveller?

And another site that deconstructs the photo a little more: Time Traveler Caught in Museum Photo? | forgetomori

[And if nothing else, this story has just been spread a little further. Ah, Internetz]

 

[nixie]

Is he or isn't he? I'm not convinced but still an interesting story, that will lead to lively debate

 

[The Ace]

Why not let us see the camera ? Contax and Leica rangefinders were expensive, but available, at this time and both are comparable in size to the 35mm SLRs to which they gave rise.
(A copy of the Leica body was adapted into the Soviet Zenit and Nikon used a modified Contax as the basis for their, 'S,' series rangefinders and the, 'F,' SLR).

He could well be a student wearing a College top, explaining his odd appearance and expensive camera.

 

[Dave]

I don't think he is a Time Traveller either. The glasses look more like welder's glasses, so maybe he was on his way to work at the local steel plant. The camera I don't know much about, but it seems like it is not unusual. The sweatshirt could easily be one with a college design embroided on it - the only thing is that it doesn't look like an 'M' to me, it looks like the Batman symbol which didn't appear until much later.

 

[HoopyFrood]

I do like that upon seeing someone a little incongruous in a photo, the idea that it might be a time traveller is heavily discussed!

Yup, as one of the links says, the sunglasses, camera, and tops were all around in the 1940s.

But if it were a time traveller and he was there for a specific reason, I wonder why...Maybe part of the bridge was damaged during the floods, but was so small that no one noticed it at the time, only it collapsed later on, killing a whole busload of up-and-coming bright young things, on their way to display a multitude of new developments to influential people.

 

[Ursa major]

From Hoopy's first link:

And among them was a tall unshaven mysterious man, walking unnoticed through the crowd.

So he stood out so much from others of that time that he went unnoticed until only recently? He must be strange.

And I think colleges have had letter-identified shirts for a while. (I'll leave speculation about the camera to those who know about such things.)

 

[gully_foyle]

The clothing, glasses, hairstyle and camera all suggest 1950's to me. So I believe he is a time traveller, just not one that covers alot of distance. Maybe he had one shot and wanted to be at something earth shatteringly historical, but either got it wrong, blew a valve in his temporal transportation device, or meddled in whatever event was going to happen (grassy knoll anyone?).

 

[Boneman]

There's a perfectly logical explanation - he's a ghost... probably died at the site of the bridge and still hasn't moved on...

 

[thepaladin]

Crud! I've been trying to get rid of that photo since they snapped it! Do realize how much trouble we get in when the "natives of the time period" see us?

This is not a picture of a time traveler, it's not what your looking for...move along, move along...

 

[michaelhall2007]

There are a few pics and film footage too. It fun but these so called time travelers would have gone BTTF and seen they'd been snaped/filmed then returned and made sure the pictures/films were deleted. Maybe even deleting the photographer too.
Hopefully its not there Grandfather.
Ooh, paradox.

 

[Alex The G and T]

He's just had an eye exam. His pupils are dilated and his optometrist has given him protective goggles.

 

[farntfar]

Look at the face.
It's Peter Fonda.
He misread the instructions and came back to a date 9 months AFTER his own birth.