Time Traveler Caught in Museum Photo?
“Reopening of the South Fork Bridge after flood in Nov. 1940. 1941 (?)”
It’s the short description for the photograph shown at the virtual Bralorne Pioneer Museum, from British Columbia, Canada. The image can be seen specifically on this page (scroll down to the middle), among other items of the online exhibit. Did you notice anything out of place? Or perhaps, out of time?
The man with what appears to be very modern sunglasses seems to be wearing a stamped T-shirt with a nice sweater, all the while holding a portable compact camera!
Internet people reached to the obvious conclusion: it’s a time traveller caught on camera on 1940! Finally, we have proof!
If the story seems straight out of a movie and the photo is in itself a great funny find, the most amusing thing i came up with while looking into this – as an Internet person, on the Internet – was the reply for a skeptical, or perhaps somewhat cynical comment on how spurious it would seem the idea that a time traveler would want to visit the reopening of a bridge in some small town in Canada.
Read this on Doc Brown’s voice: “Of course, because we know nothing happened there right? But if we are considering time travel, how can we know if in some other timeline something historical happened right there?”
Indeed! Once you consider time travel, everything changes. But before writing Hollywood scripts, let’s get back to reality and ask again: is the photo evidence of a time traveller?
The source
As noted, the image is indeed available through the official website for Canada’s museums. It was part of the exhibit “Their Past Lives Here” from Bralorne-Pioneer, available to the public since 2004. It was put online since February this year, perhaps before that. And the peculiar “time traveller” image was only noted as such in the end of March, when it was linked on main websites such as Above Top Secret and FARK.
Given the source, we would assume the photo is authentic, and correctly dated to c.1940. Indeed, an Error Level Analysis suggests the image was not digitally tampered with, or at least that if it was, the author was smart enough to normalize the error across the whole thing. It’s a good job, if it was a job. And again, given the source, we would assume it was not a job.
So, how do we explain the man out of time?
Not quite out of time
As members of the ATS, like “Outkast Searcher”, diligently noted, despite looking very modern the man’s outfit and even glasses and camera could be found in the 1940s. Below, similar sunglasses used by actress Barbara Stanwyck on the movie “Double Indemnity” (1944):
The outfit could also be found 70 years ago. Being used as we are to our contemporary fashion, we look at the man and assume he’s wearing a stamped T-shirt, something that would be indeed out of place (or time). But if you look carefully, you can see that he’s actually wearing (or could as well be wearing) a sweatshirt. And sweatshirts with bordered emblems were not uncommon in the 1940s – in fact you can find those in other photos from the same exhibit.
The sweater he also uses seems to be hand knitted, with buttons on the front. Something that was definitely available at the time, if he had some kind grandma perhaps.
Finally, despite some comments about the camera lens being too big for the time, too compact, it looks like a Kodak Folding Pocket model, available since the beginning of the 20th century.
That is: even taking this photo for granted, as depicting an authentic scene, a real man with his curious glasses and outfit in Canada 70 years ago, there’s nothing that can be seen that is actually out of place or time. He looks different from other people, but it has already been suggested that he’s using welding goggles and a glove.
This is not much of a proof of time travel, and more like evidence of the cyclic nature of fashion. These days, even a beggar can be mistaken for a trendy fashion model. Keep reading for more into this and other time travel stories.
Not quite new
Despite being an awesome photo and story, the Canadian time traveller is not the first on the genre. One of the most famous Internet stories deals with Andrew Carlssin, a man from the year 2256 who appeared in Wall Street on 2003. It was published as a news item on Yahoo!, but few people noticed it was in the Entertainment section and that the source was the Weekly World News. In case you haven’t checked the WWN, you should do it now.
There’s also the story of John Titor, an elaborate story where a time traveller joined several online discussion forums! On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog, but if you tell elaborate stories about being a time traveller, you may just create an enduring digital myth. Alas, time itself took care of disproving all of John Titor’s stories about the future. Or perhaps that’s a nice thing, since the future Titor invented was pretty gloom.
And some years ago, the photo of a man with a Mohawk hairstyle at a festival before the punk movement made the style popular was also reason for buzz. I remember seeing it on BoingBoing, but now I can’t find it! Was it erased by the time travellers? Will I forget about it soon? In any event, I also remember that people quickly pointed out that although the hairstyle was popularized by punks, it was not unseen before that, dating even from before the Mohawk tribe.
Time travel is an amazing idea, but so far it’s all speculation, fiction, hoax and misunderstandings.
Case closed?
As a matter of fact, no! Despite being clear that the image, even if authentic, would not be evidence of an out of time man, it’s still possible it could be a hoax. After all, photoshop jobs mixing modern figures in old photos are not that complex. A series that has been popular the past few weeks placed contemporary super-heroes in historical photos:
Is it possible that an elaborate hoax could have included a manipulated photograph among the items of a museum exhibit, only to have it put online and finally exposed as “time travel proof” later? Well, it would be quite an elaborate hoax, but it is possible.
Let’s look again at the photo. Pay attention to the right arm of the “time traveller”: you may realize that the arm actually belongs to the man right behind him. Why would another man’s arm be in that position? Is there even space for such a large, tall “time traveller” to stand in there?
These could be indications that the man was inserted into the image without much care for perspective.
Or perhaps it’s just an unusual perspective, and the arm from the man behind just looks like it’s over the “time traveller”, even touching the camera? Or could the arm actually belong to the hipster traveller?
I don’t know.
If this is a digital hoax, why would the hoaxer insert a man that seems out of place, but not actually using anything that couldn’t be found in the 1940s? The camera is definitely old. What looks like a stamped T-shirt is a sweatshirt with emblem. Why not have him use something definitely out of time, like the logo for a company that wouldn’t be created until decades later, such as NIKE or even Microsoft? It would even make an amazing viral marketing for any company that managed to get buzz from this. Why not?
I don’t know.
Once again, it must be clear that even if this photograph is authentic, even if it depicts a real scene from 1940, it would not be the proof of time travel. Alas. Also, I tend to assume that given the source, the photo is indeed authentic, not tampered with. But that arm, it does look strange. I’m not sure. I don’t know.
I tried to send an email to the Bralorne Pioneer museum, but the address was not valid. I’m still trying to find (an easy) way to contact it. If you manage to get an official response from them, do share it. If you discover anything else, do share it. This is an adorable little “mystery”.
If I find anything of relevance, including flying Deloreans, I will update this page. [hattip to Aurélio Moraes, obrigado!]
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Posted in Fortean | 480 comments
THAT IS A BATMAN T-SHIRT IN THE GUY!!! BATMAN WAS CREATED IN 1939, AND BEGAN TO BE FAMOUS IN 1940.. íNOT MUCH SURPRISE SOMEONE’S WEARING IT IN 1940.
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The glasses look to me like motorcycling/safety goggles and the figure on his jersey could easily be a deco pattern knitted into the garment. His hair is period too–something difficult to get right if you’re going for an historic look. Nothing really out of place here in 1930.
“Let’s look again at the photo. Pay attention to the right arm of the “time traveller”: you may realize that the arm actually belongs to the man right behind him. Why would another man’s arm be in that position? Is there even space for such a large, tall “time traveller” to stand in there?”
Why even throw this proposition in there? I suppose if you look at it hard enough you can convince yourself it’s not his hand, but the most likely (and believable) answer is that it *is* his hand. You can tell by the cast shadows that that arm would be in a shadow, accounting for the darker color of the sweater – and that hand looks pretty similar to his left (long, slender). I’m not sure why you’d bring this up as if it were almost fact…?
my dad had an old pair of “sunglasses” like these.
they aren’t modern profile at all.
there are triangular side pieces that are attached to the frame part that goes back to the ear. my dad’s glasses also had lens material along the top of the frames. (between the frame and the eyebrows.
if you look at the picture closely you can see the construction.
and yes, he told me they were “safety glasses.”
Not everyone wore a fedora in 1940. I immediately thought climber/mountaineer. He’s wearing glacier glasses, not whatever those girl glasses from that movie are. Those, plus the wool sweater and Kodak pocket camera were pretty standard for the kind of people that trekked to the top of mountains 60ish years ago. Oh yeah… BC = Canadian Rockies.
Kentaro, I happen to be of a mindset that – for a variety of reasons – finds scenarios like time travellers perfectly acceptable.
In fact – if I’m honest – I happen to personally know someone who does it physically, as well as others who can do it mentally, (and as you might imagine, it can be highly lucrative for them).
Ye’, ye’ – I know…and what’s worse: I usually get battered every time I leak info like that, even though no one – rightly! – ever takes a blind bit of notice – ah, but what the hell!
Anyway, I tell you all this to put in perspective my observations of your piccy: it’s a hoax.
Not only’d the guy’s ear have to be sticking out at extreme right angles to his head to generate that shadow, but the shadow’s source of illumination’s from somewhere above him, indicating if it’s the sun his image was taken close to midday.
If you then look past the two hats behind him, there’s a bespectacled guy whose ear shadow is much more compact and localised around the ear itself, indicating: 1) for his image the sun’s much lower on the horizon – i.e., it’s much later on in the day; and 2) whereas future boy’s light source is coming not just from above him but almost directly behind him, speccy boy’s light source is coming from much more to his left.
Finally, what clinches for me future boy’s light source probably isn’t even the sun is notice how the hair of everybody else without a hat almost glows, especially those individuals who, like future boy, have their hair sort of fluffed out – even the short brunette, (looking in future boy’s general direction, past the guy with the trilby and specs on his right), though she’s hardly exposed to the sun directly, still manages to catch enough of it to give her hair a neonesque outline.
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Based on glacier glasses, clothes, camera and location, this dude’s a climber, not a time traveler (except in the sense that we all are time travelers). There was no photoshopping.
Occam’s Razor. You are all wrong. I am the one who is right.
@ alanborky: Prove it.
You people can NOT be serious! It’s a modern photo, obviously on a movie/tv set.
God help us.
morans.
why is he the only one that’s dressed like he is, everyone else is in suits but not him, hmmmmm!???!?!?!?!?!??????
alanborky revealed our secret. Now we have to exile him to the Phantom Zone.
Yeesh. The internet has all sorts of crazy.
Real pic, dude’s not inserted, and Mori, your breakdown of all bits of the photograph and its context is excellent. Love your site; keep up the good work!
Time traveler caught in 1940 photo?…
The above photo was taken in 1940. Some people say the hipster-looking fellow with the sunglasses on the right side of the photo is a time traveler because his hair, shades, clothing, and camera didn’t exist at the time. But Forgetomori does a fine jo…
That hipster doofus is clearly a young Kosmo Kramer! How can you not see that?!
Moran? U must be from the far idiotic future. Welcome.
[...] this link for more details about the image, which is real and not photoshopped. Time traveler caught in 1940 photo? Friday – April 16, 2010 at 7:12 pm CST [...]
With regard to the hipster’s right arm; I think it’s his own arm. The jacket he is wearing could have sleeves made out of a different material than the body. Alternatively, the jacket could be lined with shearling and we’re seeing that lining exposed.
If he is from the future (with respect to 1940) since he is Canada he is more than likely to be a time traveller not a a time traveler.
It’s seems to be a Montreal Maroons hockey team logo/sweater, team folded in 1938, wiki it.
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[...] é possível. Outros acham que uma foto falsificada conseguiu entrar para a exposição. O blog Forgetomori (em inglês) argumenta que não existe nada de anacrônico na imagem acima, e que uma pessoa de [...]
The hipster was born in the 1940s
“”Hipster” has been used in sometimes contradictory ways, making it difficult to precisely define “hipster culture” because it is a “mutating, trans-Atlantic melting pot of styles, tastes and behavior[s].”[1] One commentator argues that “hipsterism fetishizes the authentic” elements of all of the “fringe movements of the postwar era—beat, hippie, punk, even grunge,” and draws on the “cultural stores of every unmelted ethnicity” and “gay style”, and “regurgitates it with a winking inauthenticity” and a sense of irony.”
….My trouble with the picture however is the framing and what appears to be the focus. Why would a 1040s photographer capture that guy, and look at the girl …staring right at him while no one else is.
With that said, I not knowing anything about climbing or mountaineering, I will have to agree with Matt Egger, that he is a mountaineer. The setting makes it very likely and his hair and his 4 o’clock shadow tells me that he had been in the area for a least 1-2 days. That would give the photographer a reason to frame him, and the girl a reason to stare. The dismissiveness of the others could be explained by him being a common figure around the area.
As for other’s arguments, one…look where the guy behind him head is located, how it’s turned, his right arm would be really awkward if he had it where the time travler is standing. I believe the guy behind him is easing his way infront of the travler as the travler looks like his head is turning to greet the guy, his mouth looks like it’s just about to start moving to speak.
alanborky suggest that the sun is a give away, however, I believe the sun is hitting him exactly as it’s hitting everyone else, but do to his movement while the picture was being taken the light casted a larger shadow around his ears, the other guy’s ear shadow is focused around his ear because his ear is pointing in the general direction of the sun, shrinking his shadow. Please note the time travlers left hand, it’s glowing in the sun suggesting like everyone else the sun in behind them and to the left
Morans are real and exist in the idiotic today.
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=moran
George Thomson, the assayer at Bralorne Mines, bears a slightly older resemblance to that young man. It’s image 24 at the Bralorne Museum site. Of course now that gold is thrown into the mix speculation will go madly off in all directions.
a batman t-shirt in 1940? don’t think so. the oldest printed t-shirt is from 1948. and the few adults who followed comic books would not have walked around wearing them on their clothes anyway. it was a different time.
Okay thats a very good point, thank you. But anyways, if this guy is so outfit from the crowd, why isn’t anybody staring at him? If he was so outstanding from the crowd, people would be staring at him like who’s that strange guy there. But no one looks at him. And if he was so strange and outfit, not only one photo were made of him, rather about a hundred, like “oh look at this guy, so outstanding, looking like coming from the future, grab a photo from him”. But there is only one photo, and no looks at him strangely. But this is just a logical sh*t, not a fact.
That is the “time traveler’s” own right and. The sweater is just a vest. The sleeve of the sweatshirt is what you see and perfectly matches the color.
Looks like he’s wearing an old University of Michigan block M sweater or sweatshirt to me.
Its the ultimate hipster for the ages.
Given that this photo is from British Columbia, hence not far from Washington State, I thought it might be a University of Washington sweatshirt. The emblem looks a bit like a W. Not an uncommon sight in the Pacific Northwest.
why can’t people accept that hes from the future and hes just visiting to get some cool shots wit his new camara from the year 1940.
And he’s looking that chick because he wants to get laid.
yeah it’s that obvious…
Nahh I’m kidding ^^ …but seriously could it be?
Remember that Canada is at war in 1940 – I think it might be considered a little odd for a service aged man to be watching the reopening of a bridge. He could be secret service or conversely he may have a German accent.
It’s a nice idea but a photshop picture. Someone spent time making the phot blend in but forgot about shadows. The shadow of his ear across his face doesn’t happen on anyone elses face (no ear shadow).
Very sad for like a lot of others I’d have liked to have seen proof of the real thing.
sure looks like a texas long horn insignia on his shirt,not sure yea he looks different. kinda modern,the glasses,look old,but they do make those kind now, just not sure. the john titor story was crap. in it he survived by sailing up and down the coast of fl. selling oranges, but there are no real comercial orage groves in the area of west central fl. and the cost is so shallow you can only come in a few places,and these people could have orange tress and grapefruit in their own back yard. no real demand. so as far as that its fake.
The funny thing is that so many people are focused on the tall guy in the middle, nobody noticed the man in the lower left is holding an iPhone.
“I think it’s his own arm. The jacket he is wearing could have sleeves made out of a different material than the body.”
It IS his arm. Looks at the shoulders of his sweater, they have dark (we’ll call it black) panels, and it also has a black collar. The sleeves are probably black as