Many people have been taking over the past few days about the time traveler…or rather the alleged time traveler. If you haven’t heard the story, someone noticed something unusual in a 1928 Charlie Chaplin movie, The Circus. Take a look at the clip:
And here’s the finder of the clip giving his take:
I love this story! I gotta admit, it really does look like the woman is holding a modern cell phone to her ear.
And while I’ve heard many more reasonable explanations than time travel, an obvious flaw in the time traveler theory that I thought of immediately was the fact that even if we were to accept the time traveler theory and assume the they’re talking to another time traveler, how are they getting reception. I just got an iPhone last month and so I had to switch to AT&T. And even in 2010, I’m having occasional reception problems from one of the biggest phone companies in the world. So how exactly does someone get any reception in 1928 without any cell phone towers? Obviously some people just aren’t thinking fourth dimensionally! Think McFly! Think!
Western Electric 34A carbon hearing aid from 1925
Of course as to what is really going on here, here’s one possible explanation. Someone pointed me to the Western Electric 34A carbon hearing aid, which was manufactured by the Western Electric Company in 1925. The timing is right and it certainly looks like it could be what we’re seeing. And of course it would be held up to the ear. Another good explanation is that whatever is in the hand, if anything, is just some random object and what’s really going on is this individual is trying to shield their eyes from the sun or bright lights from the production.
In any event, this does make for a fun little mystery.
Related articles
- Charlie Chaplin Time Traveler? (Video) (sugarslam.com)
- Charlie Chaplin Cell Phone Time-Traveler In 1928 Movie “The Circus” [Video] (realestateradiousa.com)
- “Time Traveler in 1928 Charlie Chaplin Movie Footage?” and related posts (okmagazine.com)
- Is there a time traveler in this video from 1928? [Video] (io9.com)
- Charlie Chaplin Time Traveler? Here Are Some Possible Explanations (eonline.com)
- ‘Time Traveler’ in 1928 Charlie Chaplin Film? (abcnews.go.com)
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[...] And here's the finder of the clip giving his take: