5 Bizarre Time Travel 'Conspiracies' ThatĄŻll Make You Question The Idea Of A Single Universe

Time travel is as interesting a theory as it is confusing. While for those on earth, time is said to be linear, there are theories that suggest it may not be so. One of the reasons we relate to time the way we do could have to do with our three-dimensional world, as opposed to a universe that exists in four, even five dimensions. But that, again, is only speculation.

A lot has been written on the subject but questions still remain. Can one really bend space and time and travel through time? At what speed does one time travel? Are we going forward or backward? Do tunnels or wormholes exist?

The following image is an artist's rendition of a wormhole.

Dailymail

According to Einstein's theory of special relativity (SR), space and time coexist and constitute "the same thing: space-time. There's a speed limit of 300,000 kilometers per second for anything that travels through space-time, and light always travels the speed limit through empty space," reads a piece on time travel on spaceplace.nasa.gov.

"Special Relativity also says that a surprising thing happens when you move through space-time, especially when your speed relative to other objects is close to the speed of light. Time goes slower for you than for the people you left behind. You won't notice this effect until you return to those stationary people."

Pic2.me

There's another angle yet. According to physicist Stephen Hawking, time travel to the future may be conceivable but any time travel to the past is bound to throw up paradoxes. Interestingly, if you were to somehow find yourself indulging in a bit of time travel, you'd better move at the speed of light if you want to avoid getting sucked into a wormhole. You can thank the 'cosmic speed limit' for this. But before we fall off the trajectory, let's reel it in.

Of all that's been written and said on the subject, there also exist certain cases, some involving 'time travellers' that suggest it's as real as it gets. Like Hawking once asked, if time travel is real, why haven't we met them yet? May be we have and totally missed it. Either way, whether it's real or just a conspiracy, is something you need to decide for yourself.

1. The curious case of John Titor

Between 2000 and 2001, an internet user by the name of John Titor posted the following on a forum.

"Greetings. I am a time traveller from the year 2036. I am on my way home after getting an IBM 5100 computer system from the year 1975.

My ĄŽtimeĄŻ machine is a stationary mass, temporal displacement unit manufactured by General Electric. The unit is powered by two top-spin dual-positive singularities that produce a standard off-set Tipler sinusoid.

I will be happy to post pictures of the unit."

The alleged time machine.

telegraph.co.uk

He claimed he was on the way to 1975 with a 'stopover' in the year 2000. Allegedly from a military outfit, he was on a mission to retrieve items from the past that would help society. He went on to answer the many questions his 'followers' had for him until he dropped off the grid entirely. In his wake, he left the internet with websites like these.

2. The self-proclaimed time traveller

Before It

It was on 28th January, 2003, that a man named Andrew Carlssin was arrested for alleged insider trading. After investing just $800 in businesses, Carlssin managed to make $350 million in just two weeks. According to the police, his gig was up. It was while they had detained him for questioning that Carlssin admitted to having travelled to the year 2003 from the year 2256. Not one person bought this theory, and he soon found himself in jail. But his stay didn't extend beyond a month thanks to a mystery man who paid $1 million in bail money. Carlssin disappeared soon after and has been impossible to trace even after authorities searched for possible aliases.

3. The lady on the phone

This one's been on the internet for quite some time now. A scene from Charlie Chaplain's movie The Circus shows a woman in the background walking while talking on what looks like a mobile phone. Time check: the year the movie came out was 1928. Some think she's shielding her face from the sun but a closer shot makes it look like the lady is having a conversation with someone. It is this scene from the film that got internet users clacking away their keyboards wondering whether the lady in question was indeed a time traveller. What do you think?

4. The 'hipster' time traveller

snopes

This one is allegedly a fake but deserves a spot on the list purely because it stirred waters at one time and got people wondering about the big 'what if?' Barlorne-Pioneer Museum's exhibit titled "Their Past Lives Here" opened to the public in 2004 and featured a collection of images including this one from 1941. The images were then digitised and finally published online in 2010. It was then that the image kicked up a storm for featuring a man in attire too 'modern' for a man from the '40s. If this one's been debunked, there's no better explanation than this.

5. The Philadelphia Experiment

Wikipedia

The Philadelphia Experiment was allegedly a military experiment where the US Navy destroyer USS Eldridge was subjected to experiments that were unconventional in nature. Time travel was one such experiment where the ship is said to have travelled back in time. The US Navy, of course, denied this ever happened and this why some think it to be a hoax although the story retains its buoyancy with conspiracy theory groups.