4 ms·
The strange case of Enoch Soames, time travel, Teller, and a unique photo
- michaelmrose 10y agoBecomes less entertaining when you realize the people there actually believe it or even disbelieve it based on different theories about how time travel "actually" works.
- joemi 10y agoNot sure I understand why that changes the entertainment value. I personally think it was an elaborate obscure hoax, but I would have loved to have been there.
- Gys 10y agoTime travel is possible ? Maybe. But more importantly, if the story is true it means the Devil and the Hell actually exist... And therefore...
- andreapaiola 10y agoOr maybe was... Aliens...
- joemi 10y agoI disagree. Even if Soames were indeed transported into the future for a bit, it hardly proves anything about the Devil. Merely that someone _claiming_ to be the Devil did this.
- snikeris 10y agoI believe it was staged by Teller, and he gives you enough context in his article to figure it out: > "I wonder," he said, "how many Enoch Soameses will show up." At the time, I thought he was merely musing. Later I understood. He was giving me a homework assignment. And then he closes the article: > D. G. "Rosey" Rosenbaum didn't come to the Reading Room; he no longer corrects homework assignments. He was buried seven years ago, dressed in a smart charcoal suit, with a blood-red vest and his pince-nez, a rose in his lapel. The mourners said there was a sly smile on his face. Teller's homework assignment was to stage Enoch's appearance and thus close the literary loop that Max Beerbohm left open. Teller's teacher was wondering how many other people would show up to do the same thing. By closing his article by mentioning his teacher's death, Teller is letting us know that this performance was an homage to someone he greatly respected.
- keithpeter 10y agoAs Beerbohm's short story might be quite well-known in some circles, one imagines that a local literary fan may have been up for making an appearance in appropriate costume, possibly without the illusionist's knowledge. Nice story though.
- joemi 10y agoI interpreted the assignment to be to show up there and see what happens. But what you've said could indeed be true. While I think the implication is there, it's hard to say whether that implication is an actual admission or just Teller having fun with a subtle implication.
- anotheryou 10y agocan't find the photo, should it be somewhere?
- snikeris 10y agohttps://www.flickr.com/photos/allhails/8124880282 https://www.flickr.com/photos/allhails/8124880282
- anotheryou 10y agothanks, took the link for a headline
- ablation 10y ago"The incident remains a true time travel mystery" - er, really? It's a nice story, but that's about it. It would have been better to post the Teller article than the link above, too. Above Top Secret is a pretty awful website.
- kevinmchugh 10y agoI don't know anything about that site. I just liked the additional context it provided, including the picture.
- vireama 10y agoHey, buzzard, are you cloth-eared? Come on, look at hotchas here http://u.to/eOg3Dw http://u.to/eOg3Dw
- api 10y agoFans of (artful hoaxes of) time travel might also enjoy John Titor: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Titor https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Titor Later it was revealed that a rather well known "transmedia" artist had a role in that one: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Matheny https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Matheny
- cafard 10y agoI just want to say that Seven Men is still in print, and for that matter some of it downloadable from the Gutenberg Project.