Time Slips: Physical Locations & Boundaries

[Human_84]

Amidst all the discussion and extrapolation ..., had anyone realized that during these supposed "time slips" one doesn't ever escape until one crosses a sort of invisible but very physical line separating the time slip experience with the "real" world? The two couples at the inn had an entire night's rest and presumably could have stayed in their time slip experience for weeks/years more!? If these experiences are real, then I'm convinced that there's a physical line which must be crossed in order to end the experience.

A few questions arise about this particular case, but applicable to all cases, which cannot be answered with certainty:

1) Where exactly was this imaginary line and could the other traffic along the road witness their vehicle fading in, or out, of existence as they entered and exited the time slip along this line (or shall we call it the wall of the bubble)?

2) What if they'd remained at the hotel and eventually called in scholars and scientists with whom they could have spilled technological secrets or future happenings?

3) What if they'd lit a match as they journeyed down the road after leaving the hotel? Would it suddenly become "unlit" at the moment they crossed back into the "real" world or would it find it's way back into the matchbox as if the idea had never risen?

Anyone want to take a shot at these?

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Never mind lighting matches, why not simply ask the hotel staff what the date was?
If (and I am hugely sceptical about the 'Avin You On case) it was a date prior to WW2, then their civic duty should be to write a letter to the French president, warning of a German attack on 10th May 1940, which would bypass the Maginot Line.
That might have caused a few Mandela Effect ripples!

 

[CuriousIdent]

Amidst all the discussion and extrapolation ..., had anyone realized that during these supposed "time slips" one doesn't ever escape until one crosses a sort of invisible but very physical line separating the time slip experience with the "real" world? The two couples at the inn had an entire night's rest and presumably could have stayed in their time slip experience for weeks/years more!? If these experiences are real, then I'm convinced that there's a physical line which must be crossed in order to end the experience.

A few questions arise about this particular case, but applicable to all cases, which cannot be answered with certainty:

1) Where exactly was this imaginary line and could the other traffic along the road witness their vehicle fading in, or out, of existence as they entered and exited the time slip along this line (or shall we call it the wall of the bubble)?

I think the important thing to note here is that at the time of the experience neither couple in the Avignon Story considered that they had in some way slipped through time. They just thought this was 'rustic France' for want of a better term. They noted that some of the fitting and the costumes of some of the people they encountered there appeared a little old-fashioned, but even when the bill was presented (and much less than they expected) nobody thought 'We've gone back in time'.

This was also the case when they trued to find the hotel a second time on their return leg. They just assumed they had taken a wrong turn or two. That it was their own sense of direction which had let them down.

It was only after they returned home, looked for the photos they all recalled posing for and taking, only to find no such photos printed or in the negatives that theories started to formulate.

One would perhaps assume that any such theoretical bubble might have been localised to the hotel itself, but we really have know way of knowing. In many time slip experiences I agree, there does seem to be a point at which the subject experiences 'stepping out of' what they are experiencing. Like the ex-copper on Bold Street in Liverpool who stepped through door of an old looking shop from the outside, to find a newer shop on the inside. He was aware of a change.

The two couples here were not. If we're to believe them at face value.

2) What if they'd remained at the hotel and eventually called in scholars and scientists with whom they could have spilled technological secrets or future happenings?

Again, they'd have had to suspect they had timeslipped. It would be fascinating to see what would have happened if they had tried to phone out to somebody, for example. Would the phone number have been recognised? Would they be considered to be in the past, and therefore find somebody else answering the call? Or would there simply be no way of connecting calls back to England, at the exchange? It would have been possible in the 1970s. Probably not so possible at the time the slip may have gone back to.

3) What if they'd lit a match as they journeyed down the road after leaving the hotel? Would it suddenly become "unlit" at the moment they crossed back into the "real" world or would it find it's way back into the matchbox as if the idea had never risen?

Impossible to say. There are very few timeslip stories where an object from the slip itself has been brought back to the present. There is a story of a man in Great Yarmouth (known only as 'Mr Squirrel') who claimed to have had a timeslip at a stationers. On that occasion he claimed to have purchased envelopes during his experience, which some versions of the accounts refer to as having deteriorated quickly after returning home.

But it's rare.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Goddard's story provides one of the only physical discriminators for the now-time versus then-time boundary crossing I can recall anyone ever mentioning. His vision of the anomalous airfield scenario corresponded with entering and leaving a patch of sunlight (as if from a break in the clouds, as he described it ... ) during an otherwise very stormy / rainy morning.

I'd suggest the first step in exploring the boundary issue is to return to original sources and check which ones (if any ... ) yield mention of similar shifts or thresholds, however allusive, that might insinuate a shift in scene or circumstances suggestive of crossing a boundary.

I'd also recommend digging into any of the cases suggesting a single shift to see if there's any indication of a presumptive second shift or crossing.

 

[Carl Grove]

Amidst all the discussion and extrapolation of Goddard's flight, had anyone realized that during these supposed "time slips" one doesn't ever escape until one crosses a sort of invisible but very physical line separating the time slip experience with the "real" world? The two couples at the inn had an entire night's rest and presumably could have stayed in their time slip experience for weeks/years more!? If these experiences are real, then I'm convinced that there's a physical line which must be crossed in order to end the experience.

A few questions arise about this particular case, but applicable to all cases, which cannot be answered with certainty:

1) Where exactly was this imaginary line and could the other traffic along the road witness their vehicle fading in, or out, of existence as they entered and exited the time slip along this line (or shall we call it the wall of the bubble)?

2) What if they'd remained at the hotel and eventually called in scholars and scientists with whom they could have spilled technological secrets or future happenings?

3) What if they'd lit a match as they journeyed down the road after leaving the hotel? Would it suddenly become "unlit" at the moment they crossed back into the "real" world or would it find it's way back into the matchbox as if the idea had never risen?

Anyone want to take a shot at these?

I'll just have a go at question 1.
Yes, there does seem to be a distinct physical line where the boundary exists in time slips. In built-up locations it seems to correspond with distinct physical features -- e.g. shops, roads, pavements, alleys etc. This is the rule in many of the Liverpool cases. Nobody ever reports seeing a shop interior with half new and half old sections. However, sometimes people who are outside the slip can see the time slip location but don't enter it or interact with it. This is true in the cases at Rougham where people see old buildings but haven't so far tried to enter them. What do other people see? In the Leeds case one of the witnesses failed to spot a lady in present time and walked right through her, so presumably she had entered the slip instants before and therefore just didn't see her. It seems clear that a shop assistant saw the witness enter the shop and pass through the other customer, before disappearing, because she reacted with visible fear after the slip ended and the witnesses re-entered the shop (however, it hasn't been possible to trace her so far). In a case in Regent Street a driver entered what seemed like a medieval version of London, and hurriedly reversed only to find himself about to collide with a driver behind. In another case a lady who entered a Victorian/Edwardian street exited from it and startled a man on the corner who said the street had been empty before her appearance. Sometimes (as in the Kersey case) the witnesses notice changes in the environment (weather, time of year, etc) as they pass a specific point, and then things revert to what they were previously when crossing the boundary.

 

[CuriousIdent]

I'll just have a go at question 1.
Yes, there does seem to be a distinct physical line where the boundary exists in time slips. In built-up locations it seems to correspond with distinct physical features -- e.g. shops, roads, pavements, alleys etc. This is the rule in many of the Liverpool cases. Nobody ever reports seeing a shop interior with half new and half old sections. However, sometimes people who are outside the slip can see the time slip location but don't enter it or interact with it. This is true in the cases at Rougham where people see old buildings but haven't so far tried to enter them. What do other people see? In the Leeds case one of the witnesses failed to spot a lady in present time and walked right through her, so presumably she had entered the slip instants before and therefore just didn't see her. It seems clear that a shop assistant saw the witness enter the shop and pass through the other customer, before disappearing, because she reacted with visible fear after the slip ended and the witnesses re-entered the shop (however, it hasn't been possible to trace her so far). In a case in Regent Street a driver entered what seemed like a medieval version of London, and hurriedly reversed only to find himself about to collide with a driver behind. In another case a lady who entered a Victorian/Edwardian street exited from it and startled a man on the corner who said the street had been empty before her appearance. Sometimes (as in the Kersey case) the witnesses notice changes in the environment (weather, time of year, etc) as they pass a specific point, and then things revert to what they were previously when crossing the boundary.

I think we'd have to label this as a 'mostly, but not exclusively' feature of a timeslip, though.

On the other thread, we did have that story from Kings Lynn. The arrival of the furious coachman... In that account those who experienced it were stationary, standing by a fence near the railway station.

They note a change in background sound levels, the noise of arriving hooves as this coach appears, completes it's maneuver and the disappears from view. The sound of hooves disappears into the distance and things return to 'normal'.

Most time slip experiences, I agree, do feature a subject moving or entering a place or position where things begin to change around them. They may not notice it a first, but there could well be some kind of theoretical line crossed into (and out of) the timeslip.

But not all.

The example of the story above is more like (for want of a better analogy) a weather event. Like a cloud of rain passing over. Those involved did not move. The time slip event passed over the area, rather than their passing into it.

 

[EnolaGaia]

I think we'd have to label this as a 'mostly, but not exclusively' feature of a timeslip, though. ...

Most time slip experiences, I agree, do feature a subject moving or entering a place or position where things begin to change around them. They may not notice it a first, but there could well be some kind of theoretical line crossed into (and out of) the timeslip. ...

The example of the story above is more like (for want of a better analogy) a weather event. Like a cloud of rain passing over. Those involved did not move. The time slip event passed over the area, rather than their passing into it.

Agreed ... The key factor is the relative place, passage / action, or space where a transition seems evident - not a particular physical location at which transition begins or ends.

Clues gleaned from prior accounts will be specific to that story and its location, but the clues' significance should be assessed in terms of the transition effectuated rather than the place per se.

 

[Carl Grove]

I think we'd have to label this as a 'mostly, but not exclusively' feature of a timeslip, though.

On the other thread, we did have that story from Kings Lynn. The arrival of the furious coachman... In that account those who experienced it were stationary, standing by a fence near the railway station.

They note a change in background sound levels, the noise of arriving hooves as this coach appears, completes it's maneuver and the disappears from view. The sound of hooves disappears into the distance and things return to 'normal'.

Most time slip experiences, I agree, do feature a subject moving or entering a place or position where things begin to change around them. They may not notice it a first, but there could well be some kind of theoretical line crossed into (and out of) the timeslip.

But not all.

The example of the story above is more like (for want of a better analogy) a weather event. Like a cloud of rain passing over. Those involved did not move. The time slip event passed over the area, rather than their passing into it.

Fair enough, mostly, not always. A weather event is a good analogy for this type of outdoors case; however, a large majority of slips reported in towns and other populated areas do seem to conform to the boundary concept.

 

[CuriousIdent]

Fair enough, mostly, not always. A weather event is a good analogy for this type of outdoors case; however, a large majority of slips reported in towns and other populated areas do seem to conform to the boundary concept.

Oh, I would agree. It would likely cover the majority of reported timeslip experiences over many years and decades. It's certainly typical of most stories provided. Just not all of them.

Now as to whether or not the subject in some of these cases wandered into a more localised, weather system like, timeslip event as it moved across an area - and that it was just coincidence of being in the right place at the right time? We will never be able to conclusively know, of course.

I think it's natural to think of a timeslip as being specific to a geographical location, though. For example, as we know from the Time and Dimensional Slips thread, if you look across recorded cases you will often find more than one example of a timeslip story within a relatively small area of another.

For example, there are multiple stories of possible timeslips in and around Bold Street in Liverpool. There are multiple stories of vanishing pubs on Isle of Wight. These are not identical tales. They don't describe the same sequence of events, places or individuals involved.

But...

They did happen within a certain radius of other stories. It's not implausible that there could be some kind of connection.

The holy grail of timeslips, of course, would be to identify a geographical location with a high enough number of occurrences to chart them. And in doing so that it might at some point be possible for people to predict when future slips might occur.

 

[Carl Grove]

Oh, I would agree. It would likely cover the majority of reported timeslip experiences over many years and decades. It's certainly typical of most stories provided. Just not all of them.

Now as to whether or not the subject in some of these cases wandered into a more localised, weather system like, timeslip event as it moved across an area - and that it was just coincidence of being in the right place at the right time? We will never be able to conclusively know, of course.

I think it's natural to think of a timeslip as being specific to a geographical location, though. For example, as we know from the Time and Dimensional Slips thread, if you look across recorded cases you will often find more than one example of a timeslip story within a relatively small area of another.

For example, there are multiple stories of possible timeslips in and around Bold Street in Liverpool. There are multiple stories of vanishing pubs on Isle of Wight. These are not identical tales. They don't describe the same sequence of events, places or individuals involved.

But...

They did happen within a certain radius of other stories. It's not implausible that there could be some kind of connection.

The holy grail of timeslips, of course, would be to identify a geographical location with a high enough number of occurrences to chart them. And in doing so that it might at some point be possible for people to predict when future slips might occur.

Liverpool is the leading area where multiple time slips have been reported over the last few decades, and if only someone there would make a concerted effort to study the phenomenon in depth, not just collect individual reports and look at them in isolation, we might get somewhere. There are said to have been over 100 cases there, although I have only located about 40 or so. I am in no doubt that there are definite correlates of time slip events but I get so much flak from certain people for raising the controversial issue of earth energies that I tend to avoid the subject now. I can only say that "that's what I found at Rougham" and it wouldn't surprise me if the same was true in other locations.

 

[JamesWhitehead]

Liverpool is the leading area where multiple time slips have been reported over the last few decades

How do the figures look when we exclude the local Slemen field? :btime:

 

[CuriousIdent]

How do the figures look when we exclude the local Slemen field? :btime:

Ha! Yes, it does have to be said that Mr Slemen has somewhat cornered the market for Liverpool stories of all things supernatural. And multiple books in which to cover them...

That said, while I do think the likelihood of exaggeration (and/or making things up) can't be utterly written off there may still be something of worth in it. Certainly no harm in investigating.

In the early 2000s (when Mrs Ident was still living on Merseyside and I was visiting regularly) Bold Street was a road I walked down many times. While I certainly never saw anything akin to a timeslip it's one of the few roads in the City centre to have stuck in my mind (and to have survived the City of Culture redevelopment).

A bombed out church at one end. The edge of the Liverpool 1 development at the other. Cafes. Forbidden Planet Liverpool. Waterstones. Sop fronts with awnings from multiple eras mounted on top of their predecessors.

It's a very, very old street.

 

[Carl Grove]

How do the figures look when we exclude the local Slemen field? :btime:

Still notably more than in any other small area. Worth noting that although a number of people have claimed that he makes it all up nobody, to my knowledge, has ever proven this or indeed presented any evidence at all. He does embroider by inventing dialogue which neither he nor the witnesses could be certain of, but I am sure that if anyone spotted anything obviously wrong, in terms of the specific places that he names and the names of the witnesses (a few have remained anonymous), they would have come forward and exposed him. He is a thorough researcher and I am in no doubt that his interest in phenomena like these is genuine. I suspect that sometimes he is the victim of the Liverpudlian sense of humour though.

 

[Carl Grove]

Ha! Yes, it does have to be said that Mr Slemen has somewhat cornered the market for Liverpool stories of all things supernatural. And multiple books in which to cover them...

That said, while I do think the likelihood of exaggeration (and/or making things up) can't be utterly written off there may still be something of worth in it. Certainly no harm in investigating.

In the early 2000s (when Mrs Ident was still living on Merseyside and I was visiting regularly) Bold Street was a road I walked down many times. While I certainly never saw anything akin to a timeslip it's one of the few roads in the City centre to have stuck in my mind (and to have survived the City of Culture redevelopment).

A bombed out church at one end. The edge of the Liverpool 1 development at the other. Cafes. Forbidden Planet Liverpool. Waterstones. Sop fronts with awnings from multiple eras mounted on top of their predecessors.

It's a very, very old street.

I actually just came across quite a detailed account by Slemen which claims that he has received something like 400 reports from time slip witnesses, which is obviously a bigger number than I ever imagined. Even if we halve this number there are clearly a lot of people in Liverpool who feel that they have experienced time slips, so it is obviously quite easy for Tom Slemen to pick the most exciting and extreme cases to write up in his many books. I would certainly rate his time slip stories far higher in terms of reliability than some of his more ghostly stories, where he clearly feels able to embellish and exaggerate the sinister and disturbing elements.

 

[Carl Grove]

Apparently FT had a very brief and generally uncomplimentary discussion about Slemen several years back:

http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/tom-slemens-books.10000/

The consensus was that Slemen didn't so much make up stories as borrow them from other places and place them in a Liverpool setting, and that he wasn't too careful over the details of known cases. Again, hard to judge as the evidence against is also hearsay and lacking specified sources. Certainly some of his cases I treat with caution. I think we have to rely on our gut reactions on a case by case basis!

 

[CuriousIdent]

I actually just came across quite a detailed account by Slemen which claims that he has received something like 400 reports from time slip witnesses, which is obviously a bigger number than I ever imagined. Even if we halve this number there are clearly a lot of people in Liverpool who feel that they have experienced time slips, so it is obviously quite easy for Tom Slemen to pick the most exciting and extreme cases to write up in his many books. I would certainly rate his time slip stories far higher in terms of reliability than some of his more ghostly stories, where he clearly feels able to embellish and exaggerate the sinister and disturbing elements.

I don't doubt for a second that Mr Slemen doesn't in some way embellish his stories. He's a writer. His audience is readers of his books or listeners to his radio appearances. It's natural to add an element of showmanship to that.

But I do think that there is an grounding of a genuine account behind them. Maybe take his telling of them with a pinch of salt, but I think it would be unfair to write them off in one fell swoop.

Apparently FT had a very brief and generally uncomplimentary discussion about Slemen several years back:

http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/tom-slemens-books.10000/

Well that was a blast from the past... Yes, I understand that some on here clashed with Tom Slemen directly. I do recall the accusations of sock-puppetry. I don't think that was anybody's finest hour...

The notion of 'borrowing' and re-purposing stories in a Liverpool context has indeed been raised before. There may be a little truth in it, it may just be coincidence. But I don't it would be fair to write off everything which Tom Slemen has collected and published over the years. Likewise with the claims of overselling Urban Legends as truth.

Like I say, take it all with a pinch of salt. Use your own judgement.

Tom Slemen recounts stories told to him, or stories he has found. It's not a scientific report or an official document. There may not be hard proof given to back it up. Some of it may be hearsay, spread around from person to person, Chinese-whispers-style, before he ever heard of it.

He's a writer, not a researcher.

But that's not to say that what he's written doesn't have some kind of grounding in a real experience. The Bold Street examples are hardly what one would call extraordinary events. They appear perfectly plausible and believable. Though obviously it would be great if we could corroborate the story with the individuals involved.

 

[Carl Grove]

I don't doubt for a second that Mr Slemen doesn't in some way embellish his stories. He's a writer. His audience is readers of his books or listeners to his radio appearances. It's natural to add an element of showmanship to that.

But I do think that there is an grounding of a genuine account behind them. Maybe take his telling of them with a pinch of salt, but I think it would be unfair to write them off in one fell swoop.




Well that was a blast from the past... Yes, I understand that some on here clashed with Tom Slemen directly. I do recall the accusations of sock-puppetry. I don't think that was anybody's finest hour...

The notion of 'borrowing' and re-purposing stories in a Liverpool context has indeed been raised before. There may be a little truth in it, it may just be coincidence. But I don't it would be fair to write off everything which Tom Slemen has collected and published over the years. Likewise with the claims of overselling Urban Legends as truth.

Like I say, take it all with a pinch of salt. Use your own judgement.

Tom Slemen recounts stories told to him, or stories he has found. It's not a scientific report or an official document. There may not be hard proof given to back it up. Some of it may be hearsay, spread around from person to person, Chinese-whispers-style, before he ever heard of it.

He's a writer, not a researcher.

But that's not to say that what he's written doesn't have some kind of grounding in a real experience. The Bold Street examples are hardly what one would call extraordinary events. They appear perfectly plausible and believable. Though obviously it would be great if we could corroborate the story with the individuals involved.

Agreed -- good summing -up. It seems to me that the great majority of Liverpool time slips in Slemen's books and articles are described in a measured and sensible way, no unjustified elaboration, no sense of exaggeration, a fair account of information given to him by the witness. In contrast, some of his more gruesome ghost stories are full of detailed dialogue and read more like fictional accounts from the start.

 

[Carl Grove]

I just did a quick check on some of the Slemen stories. In some of the cases he does give the full names of the witnesses, and in some of these also their approximate ages. So I have checked the Free BMD site for several fairly precise names: (Most in time slip or other time-related incidents).

Haunted Liverpool Casebook: Case in 2009, 64 yr old Harry Waring.
FreeBMD: Harold Waring b. Oct-Dec 1943, Liverpool N., mother Dutton.

May 1982: Andy Connolly ("in his 20s").
BMD: Andrew Connolly, b. Oct-Dec 1963, Liverpool S., mother Murphy.

Haunted Liverpool 9. Mary Murphy, 16 on 17/7/65.
BMD: Mary Murphy b. Jan-Mar 1949, Liverpool S., mother Dalton.

Haunted Liverpool 5. Billy Marston, b. ca 1949
BMD: William Marston, b. Jan-Mar 1948, Liverpool S., mother Booth.

haunted Liverpool 21. Jimmy Quirth, b, ca 1948.
I failed to find this one but it became evident from other early entries in Census data that the family is of Russian origin, and there are several variants, e.g. Kurth. It may be that he decided to change back to the original form even though he was registered at birth under something else. More checking needed.

Haunted Liverpool 10. Billy Wilson, 1992 case, 55 at time of writing (2010-11)
BMD: Four possible William Wilsons born in Liverpool in 1955.

In short, where it is possible to check Slemen's data regarding the witnesses, they seem entirely reliable.

 

[CuriousIdent]

Cheers for that, Carl.

I don't suppose you happen to have details of what story each was involved with? The nature of their experience?

 

[Carl Grove]

Firstly, I made a pig's ear of the Billy Marston case -- the birth date should have been 1914 not 1949 (don't ask!) and I can't confirm that one now. Also the tale, which rambles on at some length, was of a sad elderly man in 1974 wanting to return to his happy childhood in the 1920s and finding himself young again and revisiting his old home -- it sounds like self-induced hypnosis rather than a time slip. There was one Marston family in Everton Brow in the 1911 census but no William Marstons born in Liverpool in 1914, according to Free BMD.

Harry Waring was visiting Bold St with his wife, and they separated -- he had a funny turn and became totally disoriented. The shops changed and nothing seemed familiar. There was a shop called Maternally Yours and another called Arrowsmith Holidays. He went into the second and asked a man there what street this was, and got the reply "Bold Street, sir." He started to feel better and saw his wife approaching. He told her what had happened and she took him to sit down in a cafe. The funny turn was put down to hypertension. But the two odd shops had vanished. Later Slemen checked a 1960s trade directory and found that those two shops had existed precisely where Waring saw them.

In 1982, Andy Connolly in Birkenhead received a strange hand written letter from an old friend. It had a stamp showing Adolf Hitler in profile and was stamped with German franking. The letter used a lot of strange expressions and appeared to be from another dimension in which Germany had won the war and taken over Britain. Nothing at all said about any examination of the letter by Slemen or anyone else! A likely hoax, I suppose.

On 17/7/65, Mary Murphy and her older sister got off a train at Lime Street and as they left the station Mary spotted a newspaper seller with a big placard "AIR CRASH AT SPEKE". As they lived at Speke, Mary was going to buy the paper but at that moment her sister spotted their father waiting for them and dragged her on. On the ride home she asked about the crash, but her father knew nothing of it. Three days later there was a big explosion as the plane crashed on a nearby factory... If only she had bought that paper!....

Jimmy Quirth -- hard to say exactly what category this should be in. After a serious accident, as he recuperated in hospital, he found he had the ability to bring photographs to life. People in them would seem to come to life. Word spread and people began to visit him to bring pictures of their loved ones back and eventually were banned by the hospital administration. After he recovered, he lost the ability... Possibly time related but possibly not.

I still have quite a few more Slemen books to check through so will continue to make the effort.. will check the Wilson case also.

 

[Carl Grove]

From Haunted Liverpool 23:
In Sept 1974 Sandra Williams, 24, went to a night club and as she walked across the dance floor she seemed to disappear from view. Her friends searched for her before she suddenly reappeared in a frightened state. Described entering a futuristic dance with bizarre naked people, explicit sexual activity, and weird music.

Free BMD has two Sandra Williams born in Liverpool in 1950:-
Sandra Williams, mother Salmon, Jan-March Liverpool S.
Sandra P. Williams, mother Smythe, Jan-March Liverpool N.

 

[Mythopoeika]

From Haunted Liverpool 23:
In Sept 1974 Sandra Williams, 24, went to a night club and as she walked across the dance floor she seemed to disappear from view. Her friends searched for her before she suddenly reappeared in a frightened state. Described entering a futuristic dance with bizarre naked people, explicit sexual activity, and weird music.

Why can't a timeslip like that happen to me!

 

[Human_84]

Most time slip experiences, I agree, do feature a subject moving or entering a place or position where things begin to change around them. They may not notice it a first, but there could well be some kind of theoretical line crossed into (and out of) the timeslip.

But not all.

The example of the story above is more like (for want of a better analogy) a weather event. Like a cloud of rain passing over. Those involved did not move. The time slip event passed over the area, rather than their passing into it.

Well put. So a time slip experience is reminiscent of a ghost/ufo/creature experience, where you may enter and exit the experience by entering and exiting the place it currently resides (or manifests itself), while other times they seem to travel and enter/exit your location on their own (ie: they come to you instead).

If everything in our universe is created from pure energy and a time slip experience seems to come and go under intelligent control, i wonder if the experience itself could be a type of entity which is projecting itself as a "time-slip experience" for reasons that we are far too ignorant to understand.

 

[Carl Grove]

There are some time slip cases where there seems to be some purpose behind the experience: e.g. saving the witnesses from possible harm, but these are a minority. I think it more likely that, in places like Liverpool or Rougham, some geological features are behind the occurrences. (It is only fair to recall that my informant Jimmy Two Hats was convinced that fairies/entities were operating in Rougham, and the houses were aimed at attracting interest for some unknown reason.) So many possibilities..

 

[bob61]

Firstly, I made a pig's ear of the Billy Marston case -- the birth date should have been 1914 not 1949 (don't ask!) and I can't confirm that one now. Also the tale, which rambles on at some length, was of a sad elderly man in 1974 wanting to return to his happy childhood in the 1920s and finding himself young again and revisiting his old home -- it sounds like self-induced hypnosis rather than a time slip. There was one Marston family in Everton Brow in the 1911 census but no William Marstons born in Liverpool in 1914, according to Free BMD.

Harry Waring was visiting Bold St with his wife, and they separated -- he had a funny turn and became totally disoriented. The shops changed and nothing seemed familiar. There was a shop called Maternally Yours and another called Arrowsmith Holidays. He went into the second and asked a man there what street this was, and got the reply "Bold Street, sir." He started to feel better and saw his wife approaching. He told her what had happened and she took him to sit down in a cafe. The funny turn was put down to hypertension. But the two odd shops had vanished. Later Slemen checked a 1960s trade directory and found that those two shops had existed precisely where Waring saw them.

In 1982, Andy Connolly in Birkenhead received a strange hand written letter from an old friend. It had a stamp showing Adolf Hitler in profile and was stamped with German franking. The letter used a lot of strange expressions and appeared to be from another dimension in which Germany had won the war and taken over Britain. Nothing at all said about any examination of the letter by Slemen or anyone else! A likely hoax, I suppose.

On 17/7/65, Mary Murphy and her older sister got off a train at Lime Street and as they left the station Mary spotted a newspaper seller with a big placard "AIR CRASH AT SPEKE". As they lived at Speke, Mary was going to buy the paper but at that moment her sister spotted their father waiting for them and dragged her on. On the ride home she asked about the crash, but her father knew nothing of it. Three days later there was a big explosion as the plane crashed on a nearby factory... If only she had bought that paper!....

Jimmy Quirth -- hard to say exactly what category this should be in. After a serious accident, as he recuperated in hospital, he found he had the ability to bring photographs to life. People in them would seem to come to life. Word spread and people began to visit him to bring pictures of their loved ones back and eventually were banned by the hospital administration. After he recovered, he lost the ability... Possibly time related but possibly not.

I still have quite a few more Slemen books to check through so will continue to make the effort.. will check the Wilson case also.

WOW , looked up jimmy quirth ....... is that true ? , is quirth still alive ?

 

[Carl Grove]

WOW , looked up jimmy quirth ....... is that true ? , is quirth still alive ?

I just checked in the England and Wales Death index, and he hadn't died before 2005 (the last year for which records are available).

 

[EnolaGaia]

I just checked in the England and Wales Death index, and he hadn't died before 2005 (the last year for which records are available).

Did you check under alternative spellings? You mentioned there was a possibility he'd reverted to another spelling - perhaps one more consistent with his Russian ancestry.

For that matter ... Did you do the additional checking you mentioned was necessary to ensure the name was cited correctly and / or that there really was a Jimmy Quirth?

 

[Carl Grove]

Did you check under alternative spellings? You mentioned (post #89) there was a possibility he'd reverted to another spelling - perhaps one more consistent with his Russian ancestry.

For that matter ... Did you do the additional checking you mentioned was necessary (post #89) to ensure the name was cited correctly and / or that there really was a Jimmy Quirth?

Good point -- dealing with foreign names is something I've had to do researching my own family history, and it is a nightmare. Many immigrants from Eastern Europe were illiterate and census enumerators and registrars had to do the best they could Englishing their unintelligible names. I'm not sure this case (which isn't a time slip anyway) is worth much effort but I will try entering a few phonetic variations when I can. It took me about 16 years to track down my father's family (Lithuanian) so don't sit up waiting for my results!

 

[lordmongrove]

A time slip to the Carboniferous?

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

A time slip to the Carboniferous?

Nicely described account, but extremely similar to one from the Tom Sleman collection that I posted a couple of years ago. That also featured an elderly man with his 15 year-old granddaughter and an apparent timeslip to the Carboniferous.

https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/time-or-dimensional-slips.13755/page-48#post-2039554

I note that Bob Gymlan describes himself as a "creator and influencer" so probably wise to treat the creations of this American Tom Sleman as entertaining fiction rather than genuine accounts of time slips.