I honestly have no idea if I believe in time travel or not. On the one hand, how can it really happen? But on the other hand, I’ve seen some freaky sh*t in my life that leads me to believe that time travel could very well be possible. (I will not confirm nor deny if drugs were involved on those occasions)
A man in Ireland named George Clarke apparently believes in time travel because he’s claiming he spotted something in a 1928 Charlie Chaplin film that no one has ever noticed before – a woman talking on a cell phone. Clarke is so convinced of what he saw he posted a video on YouTube saying he believes the actor in the film is a “time traveler.”
Seriously.
The YouTube video Clarke posted last week, featuring a few minutes of behind-the-scenes footage from the Chaplin film “The Circus,” has since become has become [sic] the latest viral sensation to sweep the Web, with more than 1.4 million views.
The scene in question shows a woman (or man) in a long black coat walking down the street and appearing to hold something up to her ear.
“If you look carefully, she’s talking on a thin, black device that is held to her ear. If you notice also that the knuckles are bent in the flat shape… of a phone. The phone is to the ear. It’s not an ear trumpet. It is not an AM/FM radio, obviously because it’s 1928.”
Obviously! There’s no way it’s a radio, but it could totally be a cell phone. Riiiiight.
Clarke says in the video. “Technically, there’s nothing that can explain [what] is in her hand… It’s clear she’s talking. She’s on her own. She’s talking into the device.”
Later, he says that he’s “completely” stumped by the scene, which features “possibly a time traveler, possibly some lunatic with a black piece of something.”
Before posting the video to YouTube and asking the collective Internet for thoughts on the mystery, Clarke said he showed the video to more than 100 people and a film festival audience. No one could provide an adequate explanation, he said.
In the days since George Clarke posted the footage, thousands of people have put in their two cents and have offered up alternatives to the “time traveler” theory.
I’m leaning towards agreeing with The Daily News:
The Daily News said that “while this fantastical theory is fun to ponder, in all likelihood the woman is actually using a hearing aid.” The hearing aid was invented in 1920s, and by the time the film was produced, small devices were available for the public, the paper reported.
Here’s George Clarke’s YouTube video if you want to check it out: