Time Or Dimensional Slips

[catseye]

My idea of heaven (except of course we would be without this illustrious forum and would have to go out and, you know, actually meet people)

I like meeting people! I'm very very sociable, as long as I'm allowed downtime to get away from people as well.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

Nor me, however I realised he was a better actor than I thought when I saw him in Deadwood as Al Swearengen.

His brief turn in Game of Thrones was excellent, as well. Although he dismissed the show as "Dragons and tits". Underestimated as an actor in some ways, a bit of a poor man's Oliver Reed, also capable of some good performances, despite appearances.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

That seems to be written in 'magazine story' style, probably, as with magazine 'True Stories', to ensure an even style throughout. Which means that the story wasn't written by the person to whom it happened, but a third party. Doesn't necessarily mean it's not true, just that it's been written up to make it readable and catchy.

"About the author​

Like many people who write about things that go bump in the night, phantoms and paranormal phenomena have fascinated journalist Tina Vantyler since her teens. Several macabre confrontations of her own have confirmed for her that, as Mr Shakespeare said, “There are more things in heaven and earth… than are dreamt of in your philosophy”.
There are seven books in her delightfully frightful ghost stories collection. Six are compilations of true ghost stories and one is Tina's first volume of original short ghost horror tales. She's planning plenty more spine-tingling stories - watch this space!"

https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B08YP23W3Q

I never trust a paranormal researcher/author who writes fiction as well as supposed fact. As you and other have already flagged I would suspect there is a lot more fiction involved than just the one book.

Edit: here is her website and some blurb about the contents of one of her 'real' books:

• The activity that terrified a paranormal investigator in Bad Vibrations…
• The former funeral parlour’s foul visitor in Up In Smoke…
• The battle between feminine energy and masculine malevolence in Someone To Watch Over Me…
• The marrow-freezing expression of affection in Different Strokes…
• The bloody pact that led to pandemonium in Bonded By Blood

https://tinavantylerbooks.com/about/

Frankly, all of these sound like fiction or a friend-of-a-friend tale that has been given the extra spooky treatment. Tina, if you read this have you ever actually gone and met a witness in the flesh?

The thing is, from her profile on Amazon and Waterstones she could be making good money from all this, especially with the 'I have have had the gift of second sight since I was a child' lot. Reminds me of author Lee Brickley and his increasingly exaggerated tales of the paranormal that climaxed with an alleged visit to the Skinwalker ranch after meeting a Native American spirit guide on the Millennium bridge...

Maybe she should get together with Tom Slemen: "The battle between feminine energy and masculine malevolence when they stepped back in time in a bookshop in Bold Street"...

 

[Paul_Exeter]

I'm beginning to second-guess* myself now, and think that the only reason that I'm detecting supposedly 'writerly' aspects of these stories' styles is because I'm so used to reading and, occasionally, writing stories myself.


* Or whatever the correct expression is.

I taught myself screenwriting in the hope of writing the next 'X-files' and what you say is true, once you have learnt about story structure and narrative the fiction jumps out at you.

 

[catseye]

"About the author​

Like many people who write about things that go bump in the night, phantoms and paranormal phenomena have fascinated journalist Tina Vantyler since her teens. Several macabre confrontations of her own have confirmed for her that, as Mr Shakespeare said, “There are more things in heaven and earth… than are dreamt of in your philosophy”.
There are seven books in her delightfully frightful ghost stories collection. Six are compilations of true ghost stories and one is Tina's first volume of original short ghost horror tales. She's planning plenty more spine-tingling stories - watch this space!"

https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B08YP23W3Q

I never trust a paranormal researcher/author who writes fiction as well as supposed fact. As you and other have already flagged I would suspect there is a lot more fiction involved than just the one book.

It may just be that her writing style is not geared towards ghost stories. After all, the stories didn't happen to her, so she IS tarting up a third party's words - she's just doing it in what she considers to be a 'readable' style - which it is, if you never read anything other than Heat Hello and Chat...

 

[Paul_Exeter]

It may just be that her writing style is not geared towards ghost stories. After all, the stories didn't happen to her, so she IS tarting up a third party's words - she's just doing it in what she considers to be a 'readable' style - which it is, if you never read anything other than Heat Hello and Chat...

Yeah, good point. She states her ambition is to get out of London and move to a seaside cottage (has she looked at the property prices in Cornwall and Devon...?) and she isn't doing so on the backs of others but I do have a big problem with the use of "Real" in the title.

 

[catseye]

Yeah, good point. She states her ambition is to get out of London and move to a seaside cottage (has she looked at the property prices in Cornwall and Devon...?) and she isn't doing so on the backs of others but I do have a big problem with the use of "Real" in the title.

Also looks as though she's set up her own press to publish these, there's no other books by 'Zanderam London Press'. So she's self published. Not that this would make a difference, but I do think a 'proper' publishing house would have made her edit out some of the more..umm...chatty bits.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Also looks as though she's set up her own press to publish these, there's no other books by 'Zanderam London Press'. So she's self published. Not that this would make a difference, but I do think a 'proper' publishing house would have made her edit out some of the more..umm...chatty bits.

Good spot.

I think the likes of her and Lee Brickley (who is also self-published) are well-meaning and love to spin a ghostly yarn to entertain people (okay, twist my arm and I'll include that Tom Slemen, too). It probably doesn't occur to them they are treading on the heels of genuine researchers who are trying to make sense of it all. I doubt either of them will ever make enough money to buy a cottage by a British seaside...

 

[catseye]

Good spot.

I think the likes of her and Lee Brickley (who is also self-published) are well-meaning and love to spin a ghostly yarn to entertain people (okay, twist my arm and I'll include that Tom Slemen, too). It probably doesn't occur to them they are treading on the heels of genuine researchers who are trying to make sense of it all. I doubt either of them will ever make enough money to but a cottage by a British seaside...

I've got nearly 30 books published by traditional publishers, and I can't afford a cottage by the seaside!

I think the best bet is to look on books such as these (and the ones you mentioned above) as entertainment rather than serious scholarly tomes. Rather like Most Haunted versus an historical research into the history of a building.

 

[Steven]

I had one book published and, such was my success, I can't afford a cottage pie.

 

[catseye]

I had one book published and, such was my success, I can't afford a cottage pie.

Perhaps we could go halves on a beach hut....actually, looking at the prices of those, I think we might have to just have a 99 each!

 

[Steven]

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Has this link been posted on here before?

"It was in the Lake District again, this time in 1981. I’d set out to drive from the town of Windermere, to Coniston. The obvious route is to take the Windermere Ferry, then drive to Hawkshead. Just after Hawkshead, the road continues northwards to Ambleside and to get to Coniston, you have to turn left at a fairly obvious junction, where you pick up a road that takes you over the fells and drops you down into Coniston. On this occasion, however, the junction wasn’t there.

I wasn’t that familiar with the layout of the Lakes in those days, having only been driving for a few years and had just begun to explore my local geography. I knew there was supposed to be a junction because the road-map told me so, and I guessed I’d merely driven past it by mistake. Maybe it was a small turning and easily missed? I turned around and came back at it from the opposite direction, being extra vigilant this time. There was still no junction, no signposts for Coniston,… nothing, just an unbroken line of hedgerows with meadows beyond. I turned around and tried again: still nothing!"

https://michaelgraeme.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/the-disappearing-road-and-other-time-slip-stories/

There are a load of claimed experiences in the comments

 

[catseye]

Has this link been posted on here before?

"It was in the Lake District again, this time in 1981. I’d set out to drive from the town of Windermere, to Coniston. The obvious route is to take the Windermere Ferry, then drive to Hawkshead. Just after Hawkshead, the road continues northwards to Ambleside and to get to Coniston, you have to turn left at a fairly obvious junction, where you pick up a road that takes you over the fells and drops you down into Coniston. On this occasion, however, the junction wasn’t there.

I wasn’t that familiar with the layout of the Lakes in those days, having only been driving for a few years and had just begun to explore my local geography. I knew there was supposed to be a junction because the road-map told me so, and I guessed I’d merely driven past it by mistake. Maybe it was a small turning and easily missed? I turned around and came back at it from the opposite direction, being extra vigilant this time. There was still no junction, no signposts for Coniston,… nothing, just an unbroken line of hedgerows with meadows beyond. I turned around and tried again: still nothing!"

https://michaelgraeme.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/the-disappearing-road-and-other-time-slip-stories/

There are a load of claimed experiences in the comments

Map reading error? I am notorious for trying to read a map and 'fitting' what I am seeing with what is on the map - when actually I am several miles away. GPS was invented for people like me.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I've got nearly 30 books published by traditional publishers, and I can't afford a cottage by the seaside!

I had one book published and, such was my success, I can't afford a cottage pie.

I've had countless manuals and help systems published, but all I can afford is half a house!

 

[Floyd]

Has this link been posted on here before?

"It was in the Lake District again, this time in 1981. I’d set out to drive from the town of Windermere, to Coniston. The obvious route is to take the Windermere Ferry, then drive to Hawkshead. Just after Hawkshead, the road continues northwards to Ambleside and to get to Coniston, you have to turn left at a fairly obvious junction, where you pick up a road that takes you over the fells and drops you down into Coniston. On this occasion, however, the junction wasn’t there.

I wasn’t that familiar with the layout of the Lakes in those days, having only been driving for a few years and had just begun to explore my local geography. I knew there was supposed to be a junction because the road-map told me so, and I guessed I’d merely driven past it by mistake. Maybe it was a small turning and easily missed? I turned around and came back at it from the opposite direction, being extra vigilant this time. There was still no junction, no signposts for Coniston,… nothing, just an unbroken line of hedgerows with meadows beyond. I turned around and tried again: still nothing!"

https://michaelgraeme.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/the-disappearing-road-and-other-time-slip-stories/

There are a load of claimed experiences in the comments

There is only a very small fingerpost style sign right on the junction (red dot) that could also possibly be obscured by the telegraph pole and no other signage as you come out of Hawkshead that I can see.

At the distance of the map here, the left turn could almost be taken for a small layby perhaps.

Also, this is a TOTSO junction - you have to 'turn off to stay on' (the same road number) so a lot of people aren't expecting a junction (in other words, when looking at a road map, they just see a road number that they have to follow and often forget that there could be a junction).

I know they state that they knew that they had to turn left, but I'm wondering if the totso set up temporarily confused them.

We could do with knowing how far they went before turning around. Did they get to Outgate I wonder?

Also, just past Belmount Hall which is about 700 metres further north, there is a narrower left turn, so did that one vanish too?

 

[catseye]

There is only a very small fingerpost style sign right on the junction (red dot) that could also possibly be obscured by the telegraph pole and no other signage as you come out of Hawkshead that I can see.

At the distance of the map here, the left turn could almost be taken for a small layby perhaps.

Also, this is a TOTSO junction - you have to 'turn off to stay on' (the same road number) so a lot of people aren't expecting a junction (in other words, when looking at a road map, they just see a road number that they have to follow and often forget that there could be a junction).

I know they state that they knew that they had to turn left, but I'm wondering if the totso set up temporarily confused them.

We could do with knowing how far they went before turning around. Did they get to Outgate I wonder?

Also, just past Belmount Hall which is about 700 metres further north, there is a narrower left turn, so did that one vanish too?

View attachment 79212

Also 1981, depending on the time of year, the roadsides could have been quite overgrown, making turn offs and roadsigns that much harder to see.

 

[Floyd]

Using an example near me to explain my point, is that when looking at an old style road map you wouldn't necessarily realise that to stay on the A525 you have to turn right at a junction.

You may just expect a bend in the road.

Before you know it you have continued on and are now on the A530 instead.

(Not a good example in real life, as this junction is well signed on the ground).

 

[Paul_Exeter]

From the comments:


"I used to visit the Rollright stone circle, in Oxfordshire, every October 31st. I went for perhaps twenty years, until it became too popular. The route up from the village of Long Compton involves driving up a long lane, perhaps a mile long. It only takes a minute or two.

On this occasion, sometime in the early 1990’s, I drove up the lane, around 11pm, with my then girlfriend. We drove, and drove and drove. We drove for perhaps 20 minutes before we got to the top. I know the road like the back of my hand. I wasn’t lost, but it felt like being lost. The lane carried on apparently endlessly. A one minute journey took over twenty minutes. yet we were driving at the normal speed.

I never had that experience again, but we both experienced it that night. I have no explanation for it. But as we both experienced it, it certainly wasn’t just a matter of perception.

There are stories of local people not being able to find the stones, and driving around all evening, apparently lost, even though they know the roads and are close by.

Very strange."

So that one is believable and maybe something paranormal or maybe they took a wrong turn,

Then the wannabe sci-fi writers turn up and this ended a long rambling post:

"That man and that woman I will have to describe as “monitors” from peculiar way they acted. I am getting good at this “time travelling”. Although there is only one US1 up there there are several of them really–in different times. I made no wrong turns.

If you liked this happening, I can tell more. Let me know."

Thanks, but no. However, this one is intriguing:


About 10 years ago I got fond of a long winding single path walk on open ground from the sea marsh hides at Leighton Moss Nature Reserve to Jenny Brown’s point in Cumbria and on this occasion soon after commencing a couple in their thirties wandered slowly past me. Instinctively I though something was not quite right about them and I turned to see no sign of them although they should still easily have been in eyesight before reaching the kissing gate. On recommencing again forwards I then noticed a tall youngish man walking briskly ahead of me with his head down. I then continued for a minute or so glancing sideways at landscape features and as I looked up again he had completely vanished. I kept my eyes open for any sign of him but nothing. I then came to a halt when I encountered a barrier with barbed wire on top to stop people walking any further which was very mature with high vegetation well grown around it. As I turned to my right bemused I saw a different young man looking at me rather oddly from across the field behind a wall. I headed back to the car thinking changes had been made but still wondering how the young man disappeared. About a year later out of curiosity I returned and wandered over the same route and incredibly the single pathway was completely open as before with no sign whatsoever of any barrier ever existing and the area were the young man was somewhat eerily looking at me was actually private grounds. I know what I experienced was real although it is the only time such a strange time slip event has happened to me.I do not know whether I visited the past or future but i just thought I would pass on my true story on this interesting subject

https://michaelgraeme.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/the-disappearing-road-and-other-time-slip-stories/

It is noteworthy that the complete fiction is from the US and the intriguing possible time-slips are from the UK, hmm...

 

[catseye]

I remember a few years ago driving up the (very long rural and with tight bends in) road to my house in fog. I was completely disorientated and the journey seemed to go on forever. At several points I didn't recognise my surroundings and thought I'd gone much further than I actually had.

I'd lived in the village for about twenty years by this point and done the drive at least twice a day, and I've never forgotten that feeling of being utterly lost in familiar surroundings.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

It seems to almost be a compulsion for some people that if they see a genuine account of what may have been a time-slip then they have to jump in with their long-winded fictional ramblings in which they themselves always play the central role and for some reason are import ant to the phenomenon. Is it because they feel left out...?

 

[catseye]

It seems to almost be a compulsion for some people that if they see a genuine account of what may have been a time-slip then they have to jump in with their long-winded fictional ramblings in which they themselves always play the central role and for some reason are import ant to the phenomenon. Is it because they feel left out...?

Everyone is the Main Character in their own life. Some people can mitigate it but some are absolutely convinced that the rest of the world needs their opinion and version of events in all cases. Then they wade in with 'A similar thing happened to me...' in excruciating detail and usually nothing like the first experience.
I think it's just human nature. After all, we're all here offering our experiences too...

 

[CharmerKamelion]

Everyone is the Main Character in their own life.

I feel like a minor supporting character in my own life. Is that weird?

 

[Floyd]

I feel like a minor supporting character in my own life. Is that weird?

For me, as Simon & Garfunkel sang- a scene badly written in which I must play.

 

[kesavaross]

It seems to almost be a compulsion for some people that if they see a genuine account of what may have been a time-slip then they have to jump in with their long-winded fictional ramblings in which they themselves always play the central role and for some reason are import ant to the phenomenon. Is it because they feel left out...?

There's a lady who lives in the tower block where I live who I say good morning to, etc, when I see her from time to time and a while back we were at the bus stop together chatting about the usual stuff, the weather, the useless council up keep of where we live, and so on. At some point she said she was off to a seance and her friends thinks she's nuts. Again, at some point I said I had an interest in the paranormal, the unexplainable, and so on.

It was like throwing a switch. She babbled out in one long boring 20 minute sentence without coming up for air all her 'paranormal experiences', seeing ghosts, communicating with the dead, seeing angels, how's she's 'very spiritual' and had been since childhood and the rest of it. I was more than happy when she got off the bus.

Some people just so desperately want it to be true that they create a false truth about themselves and then treat it as factual. To my mind, this lady was full of sh*t.

 

[catseye]

There's a lady who lives in the tower block where I live who I say good morning to, etc, when I see her from time to time and a while back we were at the bus stop together chatting about the usual stuff, the weather, the useless council up keep of where we live, and so on. At some point she said she was off to a seance and her friends thinks she's nuts. Again, at some point I said I had an interest in the paranormal, the unexplainable, and so on.

It was like throwing a switch. She babbled out in one long boring 20 minute sentence without coming up for air all her 'paranormal experiences', seeing ghosts, communicating with the dead, seeing angels, how's she's 'very spiritual' and had been since childhood and the rest of it. I was more than happy when she got off the bus.

Some people just so desperately want it to be true that they create a false truth about themselves and then treat it as factual. To my mind, this lady was full of sh*t.

The 'I've always been a bit psychic' brigade. I always want to ask how you can be a 'bit' psychic. After all, you can't be a 'bit' autistic, or a 'bit' pregnant....

 

[Carse]

I visited Liverpool for the first time last weekend and specifically sought out Bold Street in the hope of experiencing an uncanny time slip but I remained resolutely stuck in 2024.

What I did think was interesting, though, was that the tourist guide in my hotel room outlined Bold Street's reputation for time slips and suggested that loads of people experience them there. Of course if we tell visitors with no prior Fortean interest to expect a weird out-of-time experience in a book that's distributed to nearly every hotel room in the city and surrounding area, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised when the number of such reports goes through the roof.

 

[Earthly oddity]

I am sure I had heard about time slips on Bold Street in the early 90s when I lived near Liverpool and went there (daily at one point). I remember someone telling me about some idea of circles/trainlines creating some sort of effect....Sadly I never experienced one though. Did all the stories originate (as in published books etc) in the early 90s with Slemen or were these stories already told before that?

 

[Paul_Exeter]

I am sure I had heard about time slips on Bold Street in the early 90s when I lived near Liverpool and went there (daily at one point). I remember someone telling me about some idea of circles/trainlines creating some sort of effect....Sadly I never experienced one though. Did all the stories originate (as in published books etc) in the early 90s with Slemen or were these stories already told before that?

Slemen's Haunted Liverpool 2 is the first reference he makes to Bold Street time-slips:

https://booksrun.com/9781503063518-haunted-liverpool-2

Although the publication date is 2014 I am pretty certain from reading it there was a self-published earlier than this. What we don't know is if he had heard about Bold Street's reputation from somewhere else as he has 'borrowed' other people's work elsewhere in that book.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

This seems genuine but the witness may have simply seen a vintage bus with passengers in period costume for an event:

Leeds old bus experience​

I have randomly just come across time slip stories today after never hearing about them before. I have straight away thought of something I experienced a few years ago that I have never been able to explain. This is my first ever post on here, so I will give it my best shot.
About 4 ish years ago, I was waiting for my bus home after work in Leeds. I was on Merrion street, opposite Morrisons area. I looked up and there was a old fashioned bus driving past me, filled with people dressed in early 1900s clothing. Men in suits and hats and women in long dresses and in large hats (sorry not very good with descriptions). I was amazed! But it didn’t look like a tour or a show, just causally driving past, getting on with their day. I noticed that no one else was looking, I felt like I was the only one experiencing it. I clearly remember a women holding a young baby looking right out the window, maybe looking in my direction. The bus I think was like a olive green, (could of been brown too) I tried looking it up at the time, to see if there was a show or something but I found nothing. I did find a bus that resembled it that used to run in Leeds thought.
Honestly that has never left my mind and I have never been able to explain it. It was so surreal, at the time I really thought it was a glitch and they really were not in our time. Reading these time slip stories really have shook me today! It’s so interesting that similar experiences have happened to people if it’s really what I saw. It could be possible but I’m still so unsure. I am questioning it but will never forget it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/timeslip/comments/1dkvtzw

The follow-up comments and replies are worth reading