Do These Photos Prove That Time Travelers Walk Amongst Us?

Published: Jun 17, 2024

If you’re a fan of Doctor Who or Back To The Future, you might have always wanted to step into a time machine to be whisked away to another point in history. The scientific theory of today tells us that time travel is impossible and should be relegated to the realm of science fiction—but, these pictures potentially tell another story.

Pull out your magnifying glasses and tin-foiled hats, and let’s take a peek at these tidbits of history! Hidden within may be a reference to today’s world or perhaps the world of the future. Who knows—maybe if you learn the truth or uncover a time-travel conspiracy, the whole world could change—or maybe you’ll just be the only one who knows. Let’s begin!

McConaughey Through The Ages

It’s easy to imagine Matthew McConaughey as a time traveler. It’s easy to see him as one, too, if you’ve seen one particular movie of his. But could he really have found a time travel machine in our time, messed around with the past, and returned to the present day?

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Source: Reddit/EmberRainbow | Getty Images

This picture of a man with a striking resemblance to the Texan actor certainly makes us think so, but then, anything is possible. The two certainly share the same classic style. Either way, we’d love to see Matthew grow a mustache out like this one. 

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2. Time-Trip To The Seaside

Take a look at this one. Proof of time travel might well be staring you in the face. Do you see it yet? The man in the center of the photograph looks strangely out of place when compared to the well-dressed people around him. His clothes, his hair, and his expression look odd.

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Source: YouTube/Jamie D. Grant

Could it be that he’s wearing jean shorts, t-shirts, and a modern hairstyle because he used a time machine to get to the shoreline? It’s possible—the man next to him has a surprised expression on his face as if bewildered by a man with some kind of unknown attire.

Timepunk

If time travel science fiction is anything to off of, we know that the punk style will survive at least until humanity begins traveling to other star systems. Could this be evidence of a punk visiting the 1900s in an attempt to shake up the status quo?

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Source: YouTube/Weird World

His mohawk and general dress sense seem to suggest that this might be the case. However, the people around him seem unfazed by his appearance, which might indicate that fashion in the 1900s and the 1970s may share some kind of connection—but who are we to say?

Time Traveling Face Off

If anyone could time travel, it would be the legendary Nick Cage. Not even the laws of physics can hold him. This uncanny side-by-side compares the 58-year-old actor with a 158-year-old unnamed Tennessee man from times gone by.

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Source: Pure People

Everything—from the hairline, the eyebrows, and the droll look on his face—seems to match up. Could Cage have been doing research for a new movie set in the 1870s? Or could it simply be a trick of the camera, a coincidence? You decide!

Catching Shade

Here’s an image of a crowd in British Columbia in the 1940s. See anything odd about this one? Check out the man in red. He looks like he’s wearing shades and holding some kind of device in his hands. Maybe a phone, camera, or portable time travel gadget?

Source: YouTube/Talltanic

He also looks like he could be wearing some kind of hoodie and t-shirt, which wouldn’t have made an appearance until many years later. Are we looking at a time-traveling hipster or just someone with a forward-thinking fashion sense? It’s unclear. What is clear, though, is how cool this guy looks either way.

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Cell Phone In 1973

If this woman is a time traveler, she’s really got her history muddled up. Cell phones weren’t really in use until the 1990s or the later 1980s at the earliest—and they certainly wouldn’t look as small and compact as this model seems to be. Then again, if she is a time traveler, she could be using an interplanetary communicator or something even more technologically advanced.

Source: Youtube/scoopview

One thing’s for sure—she’d look and sound odd talking to herself like that in the middle of the street. Talking to yourself wasn’t always considered that out of the ordinary, but if you carried out a full-blown conversation, people might start taking notice. Other than her phone, she does look the part.

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Bruce Willis: Die Hard: 1950

While some might argue that Bruce Willis simply has an enduring, old-timey look about him that resonates no matter the time period, one look at this comparison shot could make you question everything you thought you knew about science, time travel, and nautical engineering.

Source: Getty Images

Well, maybe not nautical engineering, but if anyone might know, it’s Bruce Willis, who may have been around a lot longer than he’s letting on. Could this captain be the very same person we see save Christmas in Die Hard? Could Willis be an immortal traveler through time? It’s up to you to find out.

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Getting A Phone Call From The Circus In 1928

This piece of evidence comes from Charlie Chaplin’s The Circus, produced in 1928. That’s right—if you own a copy of this movie, you can play it back and check it out for yourself. Charlie Chaplin was known for having friends from all over the world—could it be that he had friends from another time, too?

Source: Youtube/Scoopview

This woman appears to be speaking into a cell phone, presumably telling her future friends that she just stumbled onto a Hollywood set and that she’s looking at a circus. Stranger things have happened. If you want to delve deeper into this one, check out the film yourself.

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Snapping Mike Tyson’s Match On Instagram

Having the power of time travel doesn’t mean you have to go as far back as 100 years to have a good time. Boxing fans with this power might be tempted to hop back to 1995 when Mike Tyson was punching in his prime. If you look carefully in the background of this shot, you may notice a familiar item.

Source: Youtube/Inside Edition

That’s right—it looks like a modern-day cell phone. How else are you going to get proof of your anachronistic vacation? By snapping up pictures of famous people for your Insta friends, of course! This could only be the product of time travel—while cell phones had been invented by then, they didn’t look anything like the model you see here.

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Front Row Snaps Of The World Cup 

If you look at the bottom of this picture, you might be able to make out something strange in this person’s hand. It looks suspiciously like a cell phone—specifically a flip phone. It even seems to have a screen depicting the trophy-shaking action.

Source: QUO

Unless flip phones make a major comeback in the future—or one person in the 2010s managed to invent the time machine but never made it back to the future, it might just be that we’re looking at a strangely-shaped microphone. But, who knows?

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Seaside Selfie

Here’s a colorized photograph depicting working-class people taking a vacation to the seaside. If you look right at the center of the photo, you might notice a man in unusual clothes—unusual for the beach, anyway. It’s a man in a brown suit holding something strange.

Source: STUARTHUMPHRYES

He appears to be looking down at something. It’s a pose we’re all familiar with—whether you’re at a party, on the train, or walking around the street—he seems to be staring down at his phone. Well, it could be something other than his phone, but we’ll let you decide.

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Ancient Astronaut

This picture, taken in a cathedral in Salamanca, Spain, had everyone up in arms about time travel after it made its rounds on the internet. It’s easy to see why. Why would a cathedral built in the 16th century depict a spaceman with a helmet, space boots, and spacesuit? How?

Source: THE EPOC TIMES

Well, it turns out that this isn’t actually proof of time travel. This astronaut was added to the building’s facade by Jerónimo García de Quiñones during the cathedral’s renovations in 1992. Still, we’re sure this one is going to confuse a lot of archeological aliens once humanity disappears in the future if it survives!

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Fallon Out Of Time

On the right is a picture of America’s much-celebrated fall guy, Jimmy Fallon. On the left is the Turkish Marxist-Leninist Revolutionary Leader, Mahir Cayan. It turns out that Cayan died sometime in 1972, aged 26—or did he!? Could it be that he survived, traveled forward in time, moved to America, and eventually worked his way up to talk show host?

Source: BORED PANDA

We’re not sure how Fallon’s falling down the stairs act could coincide with Cayan’s theory of the artificial balance between imperial and oligarchic power, but maybe it’s all going over our heads. It could also be possible that these two just so happen to have similar facial features.

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Pieter de Hooch’s “Meme Checkpoint”

You’re looking at a fine art painting by Pieter de Hooch, completed in 1670. The boy on the right is supposed to be a messenger relaying information from a far-off place, but to us, it looks like he just stopped to check his cell phone’s notifications. He could be relaying something off of messenger, maybe.

Source: WIKIPEDIA/PIETER DE HOOCH

He could also be relaying a fresh new meme to his doggo-loving bae—however, it’s entirely possible that this messenger is reading from a tiny scrap of paper or card. But it’s much more fun to imagine that Pieter de Hooch took a quick trip to our times, after which he snuck this little hint in.

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Running Shoes For The Afterlife

The rulers of ancient Egypt tended to get buried with their most valuable possessions, which they would take with them to the afterlife if their hearts were judged to be pure enough. This mummy seems to have been buried with a pair of his most valuable Adidas kicks.

Source: IFLSCIENCE

We can’t imagine what the smell must be like after all these years, but additionally, how did this mummy get his hands on a pair of Adidas sneakers when he was buried 1,000 years before Adidas first became a thing? Perhaps it was a gift from a time traveler?

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Going To Voicemail In 1943

You’re looking at a picture of downtown Reykjavík, Iceland, in 1943. At the center of this image, there appears to be a man in a hat listening to one of his voice notes or checking his voicemail. What else could he be doing, holding his hand to his ear like that?

Photo/Facebook group Gamlar Ljósmyndir

…Other than scratching his ear or tipping his hat. You might ask who he could be calling or talking to in 1943, but with all the other pictures of people on their phones from the past in this list, he might be spoiled for choice.

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Jay Z Through History Z

This photo, taken from a New York public library, may be definitive proof that Jay-Z, like his music, is timeless. The man in the photo goes nameless (we know it’s Jay), but as you can see, there’s a great resemblance between the two, especially in these photos.

Source: Pinterest/Brian Douglas

The photo was taken in Harlem in 1939. If it is Jay, he’s never looked so dapper. The legendary rapper did score The Great Gatsby, the story of which did take place in the 1920s, which isn’t too far off. Convinced?

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Dabbing Way Back When

World War II was a major event in human history. It shaped the culture of the entire species in one way or another, so it’s no wonder that time travelers would be interested in this period. Take a look at this colorized image of World War II. What do you make of it? Fact or fiction?

Source: KNOWYOURMEME

This one’s just a reminder for you to always stay skeptical. This isn’t actually a colorized image but a behind-the-scenes photo from Chris Nolan’s Dunkirk. Other than the dab, the smiles on the faces of the soldiers might have given this one away.

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Greta Thunberg In The Past

The black and white photo on the right shows a picture of a woman who has a remarkable likeness to the climate change activist Greta Thunberg. Since Greta’s efforts to steer humanity’s collective sleepwalking away from oblivion seem to be going unheeded, is it possible she went 100 years into the past to try again at an earlier date?

Source: J.S. STRANGE

If so, why did she reappear in the past as her younger self? It’s possible that her signature braided pigtails and look could have been popular in Canada back in 1898, and it’s unclear what she would be doing working at a goldmine, but hey.

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Low Signal Out In The Country, 1860

Here’s a picture by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller. It depicts a woman walking down a country path while a man with pink flowers waits for her. She seems to be too distracted by her cell phone to notice him, however.

Source: Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller

It’s unclear what she’s texting, or even if she’s holding a phone and not a cell phone-like object, but this could be evidence of time travel if you ask us.

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Putin’s Long-Term Plan

From these photographs spanning over 100 years, you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking that the Russian warmonger has been around for a lot longer than he looks. It might explain why he loves putting the military to work—he seems to have been in it for over a century.

Source: JOHNCONNER8

But if Putin has been around for that long, how could it be that he’s so bad at war-games? Perhaps he just craves the action of warfare. If so, maybe he could just find a way to get back to the front lines again, back under fire, instead of sending other people to do it.

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Time Travel Trading

Apparently, this man, Andrew Carlssin, first appeared in 2002—literally. There was no record of his existence before that time. After the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated him for his uncannily lucky stock market dealings, he vanished without a trace.

Source: tinhhoa

He claimed to have come from the year 2256. He managed to turn $800 into $350 million over the course of a fortnight. The authorities put it down to illegal insider trading, but Andrew denied this, saying that he had arrived in a “time craft.” Before he vanished, he also predicted the dates and details of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Mysterious.

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Travolta Through Time

This photo was once put up for auction for $50,000 as proof of immortality or time travel. As you can see, the old-fashioned gentleman in the picture does strike a surprising resemblance to John Travolta, seen here on the right.

Source: thedailybeast

John Travolta looks quite different today with his shaved head and beard. Perhaps the change of appearance was necessary to cover his time-traveling tracks.

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Wanted: Adventures Through Time

This is an ominous ad to put in the paper. Is it a prank or a genuine call for help in taking care of some time business? It looks like something you would see on Rick And Morty if the cartoon actually dealt with time travel.

Source: sportstle.com

“Safety not guaranteed—bring your own weapons,” it says. What exactly is this guy planning to do to history? If we had to put money on it, we’re guessing that they won’t be found at that address anymore.

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Bathroom Selfie With Marilyn Monroe

This is a still from the 1953 movie, Niagara, starring Marilyn Monroe. This certainly isn’t a personal makeup mirror—it has to be an iPhone from 2019 in the hands of a time tourist, evident by the phone camera on the back!

Source: Instagram/floraborsiofficial

A selfie with Marilyn Monroe! What a great addition to your Instagram page! We don’t know what’s harder to believe, though—time travel or the survival of the attention economy in the future. If we had to pick, we know what we’d take.

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Have You Seen My Boots, Abe?

See the kid in this picture, taken at Gettysburg in 1863? A man named Andrew Basiago claims to have been that boy after being sent back in time in the 1970s. It was all a part of a secret project called “Project Pegasus,” according to Basiago, now a Seattle-based attorney.

Source: YouTube/CHANNEL3X

As well as visiting Gettysburg, he also claims to have visited the theater in which Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, and more than once, too. He claimed that we exist on one timeline, having met copies of himself in the past. Sounds wild, right?

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A Tyrion Time Tripper

Anyone who’s seen Game of Thrones or Avengers: Infinity War will recognize this man, Peter Dinklage. When you look at this picture, it’s easy to imagine him traveling through time to get immersed in what a medieval society would look like.

Source: YouTube/Modernwhiz.com

This old regal-looking lord is the spitting image of Dinklage. Even his beard and signature deadly scowl match between the photo and the old painting. Are we looking into the face (or faces) of a secret time traveler?

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Watch The Clue

This is an odd one: this artifact was found in China. It appears to be a miniature version of a Swiss watch, and apparently, it was engraved with the words “swiss” on the back. How extraordinary! The watch was found in the tomb of Si Qing.

Source: Pinterest/Ancient-Origins.net

But how did this watch appear in the tomb 400 years before the present day? Is it a clue left behind by some trickster time traveler? And how small was the time traveler? Did they have a tiny body that only a tiny watch would fit?

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No Phones On Set

You’re looking at a picture of a man in a civil war army uniform—no, this wasn’t taken during the civil war. It’s a movie still. That’s Henry Fonda in the uniform, on the set of Stagecoach, filmed in 1939. But wait, if it’s 1939, what could he be holding in his hand?

Source: Youtube

It looks a lot like a smartphone if you ask us. But that can’t be right because smartphones weren’t invented back then. But if he isn’t holding a phone, what else could he be looking at? How did people check their makeup was on point back then without the help of selfies?

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A Roller Before His Time

Notice anything strange about this image of a man in the street taken in the 1960s? That’s right, he’s cruising down the street on a skateboard. It’s odd because skateboards only really came around in the mid-70s.

Source: Twitter

But here’s this guy in a suit, tie, and hat rolling down like he was born to grind. Is this guy a time traveler, back to teach the kids of the 60s what cool looks like, or just a man ahead of his time?

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Leonardo da Vinci's Visions Through Time

Now here’s a man who was truly ahead of his time. Among his other inventions and designs was this: the world’s first helicopter. Where did he get the idea for something like this? Could he have gotten his ideas from a mysterious visitor from the future?

Source: gameprom

It’s possible. He also invented the world’s first tank, or at least he drew up the designs. It’s unknown if he actually went through and developed them. Maybe the prototypes were destroyed by some kind of temporal police agency.

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The Eddie Murphy Morph

Take a moment to time travel with us—back to a simpler time, back when he hosted SNL and starred in movies like Trading Places and Beverly Hills cop. Well, anyway, here’s a picture of the comedy legend side by side with a familiar face.

Source: Reddit

Maybe Murphy tried to travel back to the 80’s, back to the height of his fame, but ended up in the 1880s instead? Could this be proof of a future Eddie trying to leave a message for us? Somehow, when we look at the picture on the right, we can’t help but chuckle—even if it isn’t the man himself.

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Boston Skyline From Up High

Would you believe us if we told you that this photograph was taken in 1860? It’s true! But you may be thinking to yourself: “But planes, at least commercial flights, hadn’t been invented back then? Well, you’d be right.

Source: reddit

Well, this picture wasn’t taken in some kind of time-traveling spaceship, but it wasn’t taken in a plane, either. We hate to ruin the mystery, but this photo was actually taken from a hot air balloon. Don’t worry, though—we’ve got plenty of genuine mysteries coming.

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Mr. Reeves Looking As Fresh As Ever

If you’ve been on the internet for more than a week, you might have seen a picture like this. Here’s Keanu Reeves fresh out of the 1530s, painted by a man named Francesco Maria Mazzola.

Source: Getty Images | Wikimedia Commons

Well, Keanu has started to show signs of aging lately—or maybe it’s just a way to cover his tracks. Either he’s immortal, or he’s been skipping around through history, offering his good looks up to painters in times gone by. Keanu is so chill we can imagine him offering his face for free.

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CD Collection From The 1800s

This painting seems to depict a group of men gathering around what appears to be a compact disc—or a CD—in amazement. The painting was completed at some point in the 1800s, so it can’t be a CD case, can it?

Source: soha

The CD seems like an antiquated technology to us now, but just imagine how futuristic that would have seemed to people back then, assuming they had something to play it on. Perhaps what this little box was for?

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Conan Tries… Time Travel

We’d know that mop of hair and surly look anywhere—it’s Conan O’Brien and a picture of him when he was younger. Wait, that’s not quite right. Actually, the second photograph is actually of Marshall H. Twitchell, an officer in the Civil War.

Source: imgur

But if Conan found himself back in time, that’s definitely a name he’d give himself. Of course, Twitchell was on the right side of history as far as we’re concerned. Conan, unlike many other media personalities, treats his staff right, so it matches up.

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Justin Time For Timberlake

It isn’t clear who the photo on the right belongs to, but we think we have the answer—none other than the time-traveling pop superstar Justin Timberlake, of course. While he may not have any credits in a time travel caper, he took the leading role in In Time, which is tenuously related to time travel, right?

Source: imgur

It could just be that this rough-n-ready look is classic and that it will never fall out of fashion, but it’s uncanny how alike they look side by side. Just look at that ice-cold glare. We’re guessing that old-timey Timberlake was a military man—or had at least seen his share of action. Or maybe it’s just because they never smiled in old photos. Hard to say.

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Stranger Things Have Happened

According to this clipping, the US government once dipped its toes into temporal tampering in a government-funded lab. Apparently, things didn’t go perfectly to plan. One man was found in a field in what they described as a two-foot-long “space tube.”

Source: axar

We can only speculate what kind of experiments they were doing. Did the man die in the tube during time travel (you always have to account for the movement of the planet!), or was that just where the spooks dumped the body?

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Matt Damon Jumps To The Past

You have to admit this one is uncanny. No, that’s not Matt Damon acting in a black and white period drama. That’s a real photo taken back in the late 50s or early 60s. You might argue that Matt Damon has a classic, regularly-handsome guy type-look. But just look at that smile and jawline! Uncanny. 

Source: boredpanda

Maybe Matt Damon makes it to Elysium after all, where, after climate change had ravaged the planet below, the wealthy few construct a time machine that allows them to live on the planet when it was once bountiful. Bam! In comes Matt, knocking fools left and right when—suddenly—he’s thrown back into the past where he’s last seen at a wedding. How’s that for a sequel?

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