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Time Or Dimensional Slips

As a child my elder brother would regularly take out ‘true’ supernatural books from the library, the Usborne ones and such like. One of the ‘true stories’ in these books always gave me a shiver. It involved a young boy in the 1960’s sat in his living room at home watching TV. Suddenly, in the doorway of the room appeared a man staring right back at him, wearing unusual clothes and looking, very confused. They boy let out a scream for his parents and the man vanished into thin air! Move forward 20 years, and the boy is now a man and still living in the same house. One day he walks into the living room, looks up and sees a young boy who looks familiar sat in a chair and watching an old TV. The boy shouts for his parents then vanished into thin air! The boy/man was the only witness to a time slip 20 years apart.

Though it was claimed to be a real story there was no information on the people involved and I’m sure it was the creation of someone’s imagination, but it always really intrigued me and was my first experience of time slips!

The time slip meme of someone encountering their younger/older self is quite common.

Here's a good example (complete with photo!)

http://hauntedearthghostvideos.blogspot.com/2011/11/timeslip-photo-or-man-haunted-by-his.html
 
The time slip meme of someone encountering their younger/older self is quite common.

Here's a good example (complete with photo!)

http://hauntedearthghostvideos.blogspot.com/2011/11/timeslip-photo-or-man-haunted-by-his.html


Yup, I'm sure I've read such accounts before (can't remember where to find the links though).

Not sure about this one though... to me (but I could be wrong) the chap in the window has the impression of grey hair, not black as in the wedding photo.

Plus... if it were a time slip... why would the chap be appearing in that house when he was actually off getting married back then (unless of course he lived in that house when he got wed).

Hmm..
 
How interesting. (And my condolences for the loss of your friend).

Do you know how old the alternate version of him looked? I mean... did the other one appear to be him as he was then, or older? As it could have been a doppelganger?
Similar age to how he was at the time so he wasn’t expecting to wait a huge length of time for the payoff.
 
Yup, I'm sure I've read such accounts before (can't remember where to find the links though).

Not sure about this one though... to me (but I could be wrong) the chap in the window has the impression of grey hair, not black as in the wedding photo.

Plus... if it were a time slip... why would the chap be appearing in that house when he was actually off getting married back then (unless of course he lived in that house when he got wed).

Hmm..

It's a very old theme in ghostly literature - and alleged time slip accounts.

The classic children's novel from the middle of the last century "Tom's Midnight Garden" springs to mind.
 
My cricket team has fixtures against Westcott and Dorking. Next Summer I'll take a slight detour on my drive home and have a stroll around Wotton.

Drove home through Wotton after playing cricket at Dorking today.
Lots of beautiful scenery, archaic looking timbered buildings and a couple of very tempting country pubs, but sadly no time slip to report.
 
The Edna Hedges story is related with some different details on page 13 in:

The Journal of Borderline Research
Vol. XLIV, no. 6 (November - December 1988)

This is within a piece entitled "What are Ghosts?" by Vincent Gaddis.

In the paragraph / story preceding his account of the Hedges story, Gaddis refers to the Time-Life series Mysteries of the Unknown. It's not clear Gaddis drew the Hedges story from that same source, but IMHO that would be a good place to start in attempting to trace the Hedges story farther back.

In Gaddis' version of the story:

- Mrs. Hedges took shelter before the thunderstorm struck, and she didn't need to dry her clothing.
- Nothing is mentioned about the man or the cottage interior being unusually silent.

EDIT: Oops! Forgot the URL:

https://www.scribd.com/document/213...Research-Vol-XLIV-No-6-November-December-1988
Whenever I see a reference to some book in a Time-Life series like that, I wonder how many editions there were, and how many similar titles they produced over the years. I've seen many different ones myself, at book sales and libraries and such places. That has to make it difficult to track down the exact book referenced. Then, once you are there, they don't seem to be the best at citing sources.
 
Whenever I see a reference to some book in a Time-Life series like that, I wonder how many editions there were, and how many similar titles they produced over the years. I've seen many different ones myself, at book sales and libraries and such places. That has to make it difficult to track down the exact book referenced. Then, once you are there, they don't seem to be the best at citing sources.

Agreed ... Some of the most widely known Fortean books (especially such popular series) provide wonderful "tastes" of Forteana for popular consumption, but fail to provide enough details (e.g., sources) to be of much help in drilling down into one or another story.
 
The time slip meme of someone encountering their younger/older self is quite common.

Here's a good example (complete with photo!)

http://hauntedearthghostvideos.blogspot.com/2011/11/timeslip-photo-or-man-haunted-by-his.html

Famous German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had described just one such enounter:

One day, a depressed Goethe was riding on a footpath after leaving a girl named Frederika. Suddenly, he faced a mysterious person riding toward him. The person, who Goethe said he saw with a “mind’s eye” instead of his actual eyes, was clearly Goethe himself, although he was wearing different clothes. The figure soon disappeared, and Goethe (who found its appearance strangely soothing) soon forgot all about it.

Eight years later, he found himself riding down the same footpath in the opposite direction (to see Frederika again). That’s when he realized he was wearing the exact same clothes his doppelganger wore years ago.

https://listverse.com/2013/08/30/10-disturbing-tales-of-doppelgangers/
 
The time slip meme of someone encountering their younger/older self is quite common.

Here's a good example (complete with photo!)

http://hauntedearthghostvideos.blogspot.com/2011/11/timeslip-photo-or-man-haunted-by-his.html


I'm not sure that 'meme' would be the right term to use here. A trope, certainly. A recurring motif. Many time slip accounts from the past do seem to stray into the realms of ghost stories and unsourced speculation. And god knows it certainly makes for a good story, but how many of these actually had a grounding in personal experience is almost impossible to tell. I mean it's not like we can quiz the individual who experienced it today.


Famous German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had described just one such enounter: https://listverse.com/2013/08/30/10-disturbing-tales-of-doppelgangers/


Interesting. I wonder if this was ever recorded as an account by Goethe himself, rather than stated anecdotally by a third party? Mind you it's difficult not to take a story such as this, an experience from a known writer of fiction, with a liberal pinch of salt. Hard not speculate that the author of Faust might have a slightly creative flair for the dramatic. :)
 
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Interesting. I wonder if this was ever recorded as an account by Goethe himself, rather than stated anecdotally by a third party? Mind you it's difficult not to take a story such as this, an experience from a known writer of fiction, with a liberal pinch of salt. Hard not speculate that the author of Faust might have a slightly creative flair for the dramatic. :)

As far as I understand, that was his own account. But - yes, he was a writer, so it may be an embellishment.
 
Was in Dorking for cricket again today, which was rained off. As I didn't have to give anyone a lift, I took the opportunity to stop in Wotton on my drive home and explore a bit.
I parked in the car park of the rather nice Wotton Hatch Inn which I believe was mentioned in the original timeslip account. Promising myself a pint there later, I headed behind there and saw a track leading across fields and up the hill. At the top of the hill was another gate and it became quite dark, with trees linking their branches overhead. I was quite some distance from the road by then and all was remarkably quiet. Walked a little further across the top of the hill and wondered if this is where the alleged timeslip occurred. Grabbed a couple more pics on my phone and then headed back to the pub for a quick pint before driving home. Nothing particularly Fortean to report - no temporal disruption, but some beautiful scenery and an almost palpable sensation of tranquility when up on that wooded hilltop.


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Oh very nice account and photos. :)

There is something eerie (to me, anyway) about your third photo, the one with the metal gate. Something about the way the path through the grass stretches off toward the trees. Also, I don't like* the gap in those trees, on the right hand side...

...maybe it's just me, but those things immediately struck me but I don't know why.


*"don't like" is Zebs-speak for "this doesn't look right to me, it unnerves me, I don't like looking at it".
 
Oh very nice account and photos. :)

There is something eerie (to me, anyway) about your third photo, the one with the metal gate. Something about the way the path through the grass stretches off toward the trees. Also, I don't like* the gap in those trees, on the right hand side...

...maybe it's just me, but those things immediately struck me but I don't know why.


*"don't like" is Zebs-speak for "this doesn't look right to me, it unnerves me, I don't like looking at it".
It's just a path.
 
Oh very nice account and photos. :)

There is something eerie (to me, anyway) about your third photo, the one with the metal gate. Something about the way the path through the grass stretches off toward the trees. Also, I don't like* the gap in those trees, on the right hand side...

...maybe it's just me, but those things immediately struck me but I don't know why.


*"don't like" is Zebs-speak for "this doesn't look right to me, it unnerves me, I don't like looking at it".

Hi Zebs and thanks for your kind comment - glad you liked my little report.
I was keeping an eye out for a bench, which was mentioned in the timeslip. Obviously, the original bench would be long-since gone, but could conceivably have been replaced by one in the same location. Near that gap in the trees you mentioned was a step-over stile, which could double as a bench.
I should also mention that Wotton (Hatch) is around 5 miles from Dorking town centre, which seems too far for people on foot to wander without realising it. The original story was very odd indeed.
 
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It's just a path.

Yes, okay, just a path to you :) ... but I can't explain it, I have 'feelings' about places sometimes, I get a feeling of dislike / discomfort for no apparent reason; and all I can say is that photo gave me those same feelings. I really have no idea why.

Case in point... one time we were out for a walk somewhere with our dogs at the time. There was a line of trees and a building at one side of this park and from a certain angle I could see the sky above/behind them (if that makes sense) - and I didn't "like" it. I realised when we walked a bit further to the point where we were lower down so the trees and building obscured the sky, I felt better.

Mr Zebra knows me well enough by now that if we're out and about and I say "I don't like this" he knows exactly what I mean.

I'm weird, what can I say? :)


Hi Zebs and thanks for your kind comment - glad you liked my little report.
I was keeping an eye out for a bench, which was mentioned in the timeslip. Obviously, the original bench would be long-since gone, but could conceivably have been replaced by one in the same location. Near that gap in the trees you mentioned was a step-over stile, which could double as a bench.
I should also mention that Wotton (Hatch) is around 5 miles from Dorking town centre, which seems too far for people on foot to wander without realising it. The original story was very odd indeed.

It was a very interesting story... in fact I've just gone back to it and re-read it and caught up with some subsequent comments that I'd missed. I don't believe the couple were old enough to be in any sort of confused state; and yes, as you say I think a walk of 5 miles would be memorable to at least some extent.

Very odd story indeed; but while there are 'alternate' explanations we can probably never know the real truth. But the 'Oz Factor' aspect is, for me, telling.

Interesting that there could have been a bench/stile at that gap in the trees (although I don't know that a stile would be big enough in area for two people to sit on?)

Do you think there's more you could investigate if you ever went back? (Hopefully that's worded right - I'm not asking you to go back, just curious as to whether you think you've seen all you can, if that makes sense).
 
always good to see photos maps etc, brings the account to life, thanks for going to the effort
 
As a child my elder brother would regularly take out ‘true’ supernatural books from the library, the Usborne ones and such like. One of the ‘true stories’ in these books always gave me a shiver. It involved a young boy in the 1960’s sat in his living room at home watching TV. Suddenly, in the doorway of the room appeared a man staring right back at him, wearing unusual clothes and looking, very confused. They boy let out a scream for his parents and the man vanished into thin air! Move forward 20 years, and the boy is now a man and still living in the same house. One day he walks into the living room, looks up and sees a young boy who looks familiar sat in a chair and watching an old TV. The boy shouts for his parents then vanished into thin air! The boy/man was the only witness to a time slip 20 years apart.

Though it was claimed to be a real story there was no information on the people involved and I’m sure it was the creation of someone’s imagination, but it always really intrigued me and was my first experience of time slips!
Yes, there are a number of similar accounts, so it could well be a genuine case.
 
Zebs, I share your unease about that gap, its definitely a bit wonk*. Not keen on the way the dark trees are reaching over the path either- I 'd probably deviate from the well trodden path here.

Great that someone was able to give us some context for this story though, nice pictures. Hope the pint was up to expectation.

*' Spy speak for a bit squirrelly.
 
I was googling the Cavern Club in Liverpool and came across this in the Liverpool Echo - which reminded me of the other time-slip Cavern story I read here.

At some time in November 1963, possibly just before the day JFK was assassinated, a promoter and a businessman were at the Cavern. Jimmy Tarbuck had done a stand-up comedy routine, and had been supported by a group known as Vic and the Spidermen.
Some time after the show, several people saw a green glowing light appear, and a businessman, who had been sitting in a corner, sipping a Coca Cola, saw a bizarre-looking figure appear in the green glare – an outlandishly-dressed girl with pink hair, a type of mini-skirt, black stockings and workman’s boots. Her midriff was visible because she was wearing a revealing crop-top, and her bare lower back was adorned with some sort of oriental tattoo.
This eccentric young lady had her hands clasped together and her eyes were closed as if she was in prayer. A promoter turned when the businessman cried out to him, and he got the closest view of the girl in the green light. He saw she had a ring in her nose and what was possibly a piercing in her bottom lip. A third person saw what was taken to be a ghost, and then, about 10 seconds after she appeared, the girl and the green luminescence vanished in an instant.
The three men told no one else what they had seen, as they knew no one would believe them, and not long afterwards, the worrying news of President Kennedy’s assassination soon eclipsed the memory of the strange ghostly girl, but decades later, one of these men later told me that he thought he had somehow seen a girl from some thirty or forty years away in the future – but why and how remains an inexplicable mystery.

Again it seems like someone seeing a contemporary female from around about now or earlier which at the time would seem futuristic.
 
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I was googling the Cavern Club in Liverpool and came across this in the Liverpool Echo - which reminded me of the other time-slip Cavern story I read here.

At some time in November 1963, possibly just before the day JFK was assassinated, a promoter and a businessman were at the Cavern. Jimmy Tarbuck had done a stand-up comedy routine, and had been supported by a group known as Vic and the Spidermen.
Some time after the show, several people saw a green glowing light appear, and a businessman, who had been sitting in a corner, sipping a Coca Cola, saw a bizarre-looking figure appear in the green glare – an outlandishly-dressed girl with pink hair, a type of mini-skirt, black stockings and workman’s boots. Her midriff was visible because she was wearing a revealing crop-top, and her bare lower back was adorned with some sort of oriental tattoo.
This eccentric young lady had her hands clasped together and her eyes were closed as if she was in prayer. A promoter turned when the businessman cried out to him, and he got the closest view of the girl in the green light. He saw she had a ring in her nose and what was possibly a piercing in her bottom lip. A third person saw what was taken to be a ghost, and then, about 10 seconds after she appeared, the girl and the green luminescence vanished in an instant.
The three men told no one else what they had seen, as they knew no one would believe them, and not long afterwards, the worrying news of President Kennedy’s assassination soon eclipsed the memory of the strange ghostly girl, but decades later, one of these men later told me that he thought he had somehow seen a girl from some thirty or forty years away in the future – but why and how remains an inexplicable mystery.

Again it seems like someone seeing a contemporary female from around about now or earlier which at the time would seem futuristic.

Have you got a link for that, please?
 
I've been umming and ahhing for ages whether to post this or not (and if it belongs here or 'ghosts'). About 20 years ago I started a local ghosts and legends website. Word got around I was collecting stories and I swear this tale was told to my mum by one of her friends. I can even remember the name of the road they said it occurred in. However, when I asked my mum last night she couldn't remember it at all, so...

Anyway, the story goes like this. A friend of my mum was visiting someone's house for a meeting. At the end of the meeting they asked if they could use the toilet before they left and the householder said fine, it's upstairs. The bloke popped upstairs but wasn't sure which door the loo was in so tried the door he thought was right, but when he got into the room he found it was a child's bedroom decorated with Disney Pocahontas wallpaper and that there was a young girl sat in bed reading a book. He apologised for disturbing her and quickly shut the door.

When he got back downstairs he spoke to the owners and said sorry for disturbing their daughter, only they then said they didn't have any children. The chap was quite taken aback and mentioned the Pocahontas wallpaper but the householders took him upstairs again to the room only to find it was their 'office' room, no sign of any children or the cartoon wallpaper. The people then said that the family who lived there before them had a young daughter who had died very suddenly in the house.

This happened in a small West Berkshire town, on the otherwise unremarkable 1970s built estate I grew up on. Good story but is it true or have I imagined the whole thing? :)
 
I've been umming and ahhing for ages whether to post this or not (and if it belongs here or 'ghosts'). About 20 years ago I started a local ghosts and legends website. Word got around I was collecting stories and I swear this tale was told to my mum by one of her friends. I can even remember the name of the road they said it occurred in. However, when I asked my mum last night she couldn't remember it at all, so...

Anyway, the story goes like this. A friend of my mum was visiting someone's house for a meeting. At the end of the meeting they asked if they could use the toilet before they left and the householder said fine, it's upstairs. The bloke popped upstairs but wasn't sure which door the loo was in so tried the door he thought was right, but when he got into the room he found it was a child's bedroom decorated with Disney Pocahontas wallpaper and that there was a young girl sat in bed reading a book. He apologised for disturbing her and quickly shut the door.

When he got back downstairs he spoke to the owners and said sorry for disturbing their daughter, only they then said they didn't have any children. The chap was quite taken aback and mentioned the Pocahontas wallpaper but the householders took him upstairs again to the room only to find it was their 'office' room, no sign of any children or the cartoon wallpaper. The people then said that the family who lived there before them had a young daughter who had died very suddenly in the house.

This happened in a small West Berkshire town, on the otherwise unremarkable 1970s built estate I grew up on. Good story but is it true or have I imagined the whole thing? :)

Interesting, thanks for posting this. :nods:

My first thought was to try and work out in my mind when this event would have occurred... so it was about 20 years ago you started your website, but could you please clarify when the event itself happened? (I was wondering when Disney Pocahontas was 'a thing'; a quick internet search tells me there was a movie in 1995 with a 1998 sequel :) )

It's a very specific thing to dream up though, isn't it... which gives it credence I think because it is awfully detailed; what I mean is the chap could have just said 'a kids bedroom' but he was very specific about that wallpaper. Hmmm...

The other thing that has popped into my mind (and please don't think I'm dismissing the story, I'm just thinking out loud) is that; aren't most bathrooms in these typical estates, right at the top of the stairs? Such that, there isn't really any confusion as to which room it would be? (But then again, perhaps the chap wasn't familiar with those houses, if he lived in an older property or something).

Anyway as I said; interesting.
 
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