Distortions Of Time And Reality: Further Suggestions Of Portals And Gateways To The Unknown

There is no doubt about it – time and reality are two of the most intriguing and mind-bending subjects to get our head around. And they appear very much to be intertwined around each other, making their nature even more complex for us to get a true collective handle on.

Time shifts or slips are perhaps particularly intriguing, not least as they often involve multiple witnesses to the events and can often, indirectly and sometimes tentatively, be backed up by a certain amount of historical fact. People, for example, and as we shall see, who have witnessed buildings and details of them that have subsequently been matched by historical records. Or intricate details of situations they almost certainly would not have been aware of unless they had seen them, firsthand as they had claimed.

There are even accounts on record of strange buildings appearing out of nowhere right in front of a persons’ eyes (just like a ghost might) before fading away into nothing as if it had never been there. Indeed, accounts of time shifts and distorting of realties is seemingly much more than people claiming to have had visions of the past, or merely hallucinating. The accounts on record suggest that, even though we don’t understand how, many people have somehow found themselves at gateways or portals to the past, and view things as if they were physically there, which they just might have been. What follows are some of the most intriguing, thought-provoking, and, at times, unsettling encounters on record.

We will start first, though, with one of the most intriguing encounters on record. One involving an aircraft who along with the crew and passengers, appeared to skip forward in time a full 10 minutes without even being aware that anything out of the ordinary had taken place.

The National Airlines 727 Incident – A Skip Forward 10 Minutes In Time

Although there is not an exact date for the incident (perhaps intentionally so), a case of a plane and the entire crew and passengers “skipping” forward in time for ten minutes ^[1] is perhaps the best place to start looking at these bizarre and mindboggling incidents.

According to the report, the incident “has never been satisfactorily explained” when a National Airlines 727 approached Miami, Florida preparing to land and being tracked by Air Traffic Control, before it simply vanished from radar for 10 minutes before suddenly reappearing once more.

As soon as the plane disappeared, ground control issued emergency communications to all other aircraft in the area to attempt to visually locate the airliner. Given how it had suddenly vanished, there was a fear that it might have crashed or even exploded mid-air, so they were also ordered to look for what might be wreckage on the ground. None of the other pilots or crew, though, could see any sign of the plane. Nor was it on their radars either.

Then, almost exactly 10 minutes later, the plane suddenly reappeared as if nothing had happened. What’s more, it appeared in the exact location where it had been when it vanished. If the plane had simply disappeared from radar (while somehow managing to avoid the attention of the other planes in the region) they should have traveled a significant distance in 10 minutes. Even stranger, during the time of their disappearance as other planes (including rescue planes), were searching for them, several aircraft had flown through the exact location where they reappeared. ^[2] What’s more, it quickly became apparent to ground control that the pilot and crew (and also the passengers) were completely unaware that anything strange had taken place.

“You Might Want To Take A Look At Your Clock!”

By the time the captain was bringing in the aircraft to land, he was at a loss as to why he was being instructed to take the aircraft to an isolated runway that was specifically reserved for “security risks and special situations”. ^[3]

Moments after the plane came to a stop, security forces boarded the plane and quickly removed the passengers and crew, directing them to a very specific route from the plane to the airport. They were, essentially, being separated from other passengers at the airport, and they didn’t know why. The sight of multiple emergency vehicles and even airport police that greeted them as they left the plane was enough to tell all of them that something very strange was afoot.

Eventually, an explanation of sorts was given to the captain when the head of airport security informed the confused crew and passengers they had “disappeared into thin air for 10 minutes”, adding that they “might want to take a look at your clock”. With that, the captain looked at the clock inside the plane’s cockpit. Noting it read 9:20 am – which meant they were right on time. He checked his own wristwatch. It too read 9:20 am. However, when he compared this to the watches of the airport security staff and the airport clocks themselves, they all read 9:30 am.

Intriguingly, following an examination of the passengers and the remaining crew, each of their watches was also exactly 10 minutes behind. While all concerned knew that “something” had happened, they were completely at a loss as to what it might have been.

A Truly Perplexing Encounter

So, what should we make of this fascinating if perplexing account? While it appears that something truly bizarre did take place that day, (after all, it did eventually find its way into the newspapers), it has proven difficult to get further solid facts on the incident for researchers as there simply doesn’t appear to be any – no flight numbers, no official statements, almost nothing official that could lead to further information.

There could be several reasons for this. It could be the fact that whatever happened, federal investigators wanted it hushed up and off the record.

It could be, as researcher and author, Martin Caidin claimed it could be that the pilot and crew involved wished to remain anonymous regarding the incident, perhaps fearing for their careers if they spoke of the encounter publicly (in a similar way that many pilots – especially at the time – feared speaking about UFO sightings).

The previously mentioned Martin Caidin wrote of the incident in his 1994 book Ghosts of the Air: True Stories of Aerial Hauntings, and claimed that the “Federal investigators and officials of National couldn’t get into that jetliner fast enough” following its landing. Why might this have been? While it was undoubtedly a bizarre and intriguing situation, might it suggest some kind of knowledge on their part? Perhaps, for example, they had more knowledge on the Bermuda Triangle than they let on?

The Similar Encounter Of Bruce Gernon

It is also worth briefly mentioning the flight of Bruce Gernon that, coincidentally or not, occurred around the same time as the above National Airlines 727 incident. Gernon would set off from Andros Airport in the Bahamas at 3 pm on the 4^th December 1970 on his way to Miami, Florida in his Beechcraft Bonanza A36.

Not long after leaving the runway, however, somewhere near Bimini, he noticed an “elliptical cloud” that appeared to be hovering around 500 feet above the water in front of him. Gernon began to climb in an attempt to fly above the cloud but, bizarrely, the cloud appeared to be growing and becoming larger. It was only when he was over 11,000 feet that he finally appeared to break free of the strange formation. However, as his plane broke into clear skies, Gernon could see the cloud was now “abnormally shaped in the form of a giant semicircle extending around us”. The next thing Gernon realized, his plane – moving close to 200 miles per hour, was heading into another, very similar-looking cloud – only this one was even larger.

Gernon would later state of the cloud that it appeared to “emanate directly from the surface of the Earth”. Thinking a tremendous storm was approaching, Gernon headed from a “small tunnel” in the oncoming cloud, thinking it would, as before, take him out of the “storm” and to clearer skies. However, as he flew into this strange tunnel, it began to swirl around him, with several “bright white flashes” occurring around him. Even more bizarre, he felt as though he was traveling in “zero gravity”.

The plane eventually came out of the strange tunnel-like formation. Much to his surprise, he found himself only 100 miles off the Florida coast, even though he had only been flying over Bimini 20 seconds previously. Realizing this was impossible, the only explanation Gernon could arrive at was that he had entered some kind of time tunnel or portal. One that had transported him from one destination to another in a matter of seconds.

While Gernon’s encounter was different from that of the crew and passengers on the National Airlines Flight 727 aircraft (he was fully aware of something strange taking place, for example), the fact that he appeared to skip a great distance in a matter of seconds is extremely interesting. Might we suggest that while Gernon’s plane was inside this strange tunnel it “disappeared” from the skies until it emerged at the other side?

Almost half a century later, another incident that might be suggestive of portals and gateways in the skies above the earth unfolded. It is there we will turn our attention to next.

The Iberworld Airbus A330-300 “Time Warp” Incident

A very similar incident occurred in more recent times, in November 2009. Only this time, rather than merely disappeared and reappearing, the object reappeared thousands of miles away. ^[4] And according to claims from researchers, the cause of this apparent portal was CERN’s Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, which was in the process of being restarted for experiments following maintenance and ultimately kick-started a “time warp” or “time wave”.

The report first appeared online ^[5] claiming that “an interesting report circulating in the Kremlin” stated that a power blackout in South America appeared to have “emanated from the mysterious Bolivian Andes region called Tiahuanaco” (which is home to the Gateway to the Sun which some claim is indeed a gateway to another world) and was “triggered” by an “anomalous event” at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.

The online report notes that “time waves” are, generally speaking, referred to as “gravitational waves” in the West, which cause “fluctuations in the curvature of spacetime”, before continuing that scientists at CERN were in the middle of experiments and tests for the LHC’s restarting when they noticed that “their testing was distorting Earth’s magnetic field”. Following this distortion, a time wave “shot off towards the core” of the planet, which then “veered exactly” in the direction of Tiahuanaco, and specifically, the Sun Gate. It was at this point when the most bizarre event of the entire episode unfolded.

A Discovery Of A “Previously Unknown Natural Phenomenon”

According to the report, this time wave “erupted” and headed out into the skies above South America. However, at the same time, an Iberworld Airbus A330-300 (flown by Air Comet” as Flight A7-301) was coming into Santa Cruz in preparation to land. The plane was seemingly in the direct path of the time wave, and suddenly found themselves “instantly and mysteriously” over the skies of Santa Cruz” in Spain, which was over 5,000 miles from where it been only seconds earlier.

With not enough fuel to make the journey back across the Atlantic, the plane landed in Spain where they would spend the next 17 hours before setting off once more, eventually arriving at their destination almost 24 hours later than scheduled. Incidentally, none of the crew or passengers appeared to have suffered any ill effects of the time wave.

The LHC was shut down shortly after the incident, with an official explanation being that a “bird had dropped a piece of bread on outdoor machinery at the facility”. However, many researchers at the time believed the shutdown was due to the realization of what they had opened. This speculation became even more rampant a short time later when CERN’s Director for Research and Scientific Computing, Sergio Bertolucci, claimed that the scientists at the facility had achieved a “breakthrough” and discovered a “previously unknown natural phenomenon” that might even lead to an “extra dimension”.

The report would take an even stranger turn concerning the apparent power outage throughout Brazil and other South American countries, ^[6] with the alleged Russian report claiming that something akin to “digital communication” went from the Gateway of the Sun to multiple pyramid structures and other “ancient sites” around the South American continent (incidentally, the official reason for the power outage was a dam going offline due to “atmospheric discharges”). Perhaps also of interest is that the region suffered two relatively strong earthquakes in the days that followed of 6.5 and m.8 magnitude respectively.

It is certainly an interesting claim. And while we should perhaps treat it with a pinch of salt, ^[7] it is certainly worth keeping in mind when we examine other bizarre claims of time-slips and distortions of reality. Particularly when we realize that no official explanation was that “the crew had confused Santa Cruz in Bolivia with Santa Cruz on the Canary Islands”. Make of that what you will.

Time-Slips Involving People

We have written of many accounts of people who have disappeared, as well of those who have disappeared and then reappeared, sometimes thousands of miles away and in an incredibly short amount of time. Might it be possible, that some of these disappearances are the result of “time-slips” or due to portals that exist, even temporarily, here on Earth much like they appear to do in the skies overhead?

In a recent article in the Daily Mail, Flic Everett tells of an account of her partner, Andy, who might have experienced one of these apparent time slips. ^[8] The incident unfolded in 1977 when Andy was only 5 years olf. He and his 7-year-old sister were staying with their great aunt in Norfolk – a building that dated back to the 1600s. He would state of the incident that one morning “we woke very early and went to the living where we saw the fire lit and an old woman in a long dress and cap using a spinning wheel”. The woman turned toward them but didn’t say a word.

The children strolled into the kitchen thinking the lady would follow them and prepare their breakfast. However, when she didn’t follow them, they returned to the living room. To their amazement, the lady had vanished, and the fire was not only not lit, but it was also completely cold.

Although he has little time for “supernatural nonsense”, Andy can’t help but feel that the “past and present collided” that morning and that he and his sister may have experienced a time-slip, possibly hundreds of years into the past.

The Bizarre And Unnerving Account Of Caroline Anders

Several years after the above incident, in the early 1980s, another similar account took place involving Caroline Anders, who had recently moved to the Devon area of the country in order to take a job with the National Health Service.

One particular evening, she and a friend were driving to Plymouth in order to attend a party. As they drove around a roundabout, Caroline caught sight of a fantastic church that commanded her attention. She would recall how the “windows were filled with color from the light streaming through the stained glass”. Furthermore, as they passed the open doors of the building, she could see a “large congregation” inside. Much to her disappointment, no one else in the car had appeared to notice it.

She thought little of it after that. That was until she and her boyfriend, Phil, were driving back to Plymouth several weeks later. They approached the same roundabout where she had seen the glowing church. Only now, instead of the majestic, towering building, there were only “ruins”. So shocked was Caroline, that she let out a cry, asking if Phil knew what had happened to the building. When he answered her, she felt a chill run through her body.

The church, Phil claimed, was named Charles Church and was one of the oldest in the region. However, it had been bombed during the Second World War, killing several people. Since that time, the building had been left untouched as a “memorial for the dead”. Caroline blurted out what she had seen only weeks earlier, to which Phil responded “was impossible”.

What is perhaps interesting here is the fact that the other passengers in the car had not noticed the church on the evening Caroline claimed it was glowing and full of people. Was this merely because they simply didn’t look in that direction? Or might this apparent time-slip have happened to Caroline only, despite being in the presence of other people? If this is true, it adds another dimension to such accounts, suggesting perhaps that only some people are susceptible to them, and that these incidents, while real, may also be connected to the individuality of the mind.

The Mystery Man By The Canalside – The Encounter Of Matt Davies

A similar incident occurred much more recently in November 2020 when 50-year-old Matt Davies was cycling along the canal bank at around 9:30 am. As he peddled along, he suddenly noticed a “young guy sitting on the lock gate in what looked like Victorian working-class clothes”. The young man was smoking a pipe and staring into the water below.

As he rode past the young man, preparing himself to say “hello” as he passed, the man simply stared ahead, as if he was not even aware of his presence. Realizing there was something not quite right about the encounter, Matt returned home and immediately began researching the area. He would make some rather remarkable discoveries.

According to his research, at the canal cottages, which were directly opposite where he spotted the mysterious young man, there had been a murder – one that had remained unsolved. Might the person he had seen at the canal-side have been the victim? Or perhaps he was a loved one of the unfortunate soul who had met an untimely end? Or maybe even the murderer himself?

Although Matt concedes that the person could just have been someone in period dress, perhaps to do a reenactment, he maintains that there was something strange and off that morning.

Is The Ghost Of Clara Mills At Wesleyan University Haunting Or Time Shift?

It is safe to say that some would class the appearance of the ghost of Clara Mills as a haunting. However, not only this case but perhaps others should be considered examples of time shifts, which see two different times clashing together for a few brief moments. Indeed, might that be what most sightings of ghosts are?

According to the legend, the ghost of Clara Mills was first witnessed at around 8:50 am one October morning in 1963 ^[9] when secretary, Coleen Buterbaugh and Dr. Sam Dahl were attempting to locate a guest lecturer who they believed was on the first floor. As they walked down the corridor the sounds of students making their way to classes could be heard as usual. However, when she entered the office suite, things somehow began to feel different.

She noticed that all of the windows in the room were wide open. And while the room was entirely empty, she had the sudden feeling that someone was watching her as she stepped forward. As well as the increasingly overpowering odor of “musty, stale air”, she also noticed that cacophony of sound that was the students going to the classes appeared to have ceased. It was then that she saw what was surely her reason for feeling watched.

She would recall later that she looked up and “saw the figure of a woman standing with back to me at a cabinet” for several seconds. She continued that the woman was “reaching up into one of the drawers” stating that she also “felt the presence of a man sitting at the desk” to her left. When she turned her head, though, there was no one there.

She did, though, notice the scenery outside through the windows. She was shocked to see how it appeared to be not from the contemporary 1960s but “that of many years ago”, with none of the modern streets or buildings there. At this point, she became overwhelmingly frightened and quickly left the room.

It would appear, then, that rather merely seeing the ghost of Clara Mills – who the lady was ultimately be identified as – that Buterbaugh physically stepped foot into the past. In fact, we might argue, even though it would appear she was not noticed by Mills, that Buterbaugh was the ghost, only a ghost from the future.

Who Was Clara Mills?

Following Buterbaugh telling Dr. Dahl of the incident, he would discuss the matter of the mystery person’s identity with Dr. Callen, who served as the university’s Professor of Political Science. It was from this conversation that the Clara Mills surfaced, although Dahl did not, at first, tell Callen of Buterbaugh’s actual sighting, instead using the description that the secretary had given earlier.

She had claimed the lady she had witnessed was “young”, “tall”, and “slender”, with long black hair and was wearing an ankle-length skirt and a long-sleeved white blouse. From this, Callen proposed the lady sounded like Clara Mills, a one-time professor at the university. Mills had taught piano, music theory, and the history of music at the university from 1912 until the day she was discovered dead from a heart attack in her office on 12^th April 1940.

According to the many paranormal researchers and investigators who have examined the case, and the university, the sightings of Clara continue to this day. Once more, though, are they ghost sightings? Or are the shifts in time?

The Moberly-Jourdain Incident And The “Ghosts” Of Versailles

Perhaps a similar notion might explain one of the most famous alleged incidents of a time-slip, the incident known as the Ghosts of Versailles that occurred in 1901 just outside of Versailles in France. ^[10] What is particularly interesting about the incident, and something which perhaps adds weight to a controversial affair is that the witnesses were eventually revealed to be academics who had conducted extensive research into their experience.

The two women involved were from England – the principal (Anne Moberley) and vice-principal (Eleanor Jourdain) of St. Hughes College in Oxford. On 10^th August 1901, while on vacation and visiting the gardens of the Petit Trianon near Versailles, they would undergo a life-changing encounter.

As they ventured into the gardens, they immediately began to look for the Petit Trianon. However, according to their account, they soon became lost. ^[11] They continued on, soon noticing an abandoned farmhouse and an “old plow” sitting at the side of the road. It was also around this time that they began to “feel strange, as if a heavy mood was oppressing their spirits”.

At this stage, the two women noticed two men walking toward them. They were dressed in “long greyish-green coats with small three-cornered hats”. The women approached them and asked if they could tell them the way to the Petit Trianon, which they duly did. The women followed the instructions and made their way down a path, eventually finding themselves in front of a “gazebo shaded by trees”. They noted how “everything was very still” and that a “dark mood hung even heavier over them”.

Then, they noticed another man staring at them.

Further Waves Of “Intense Gloom!”

The women would later describe the strange man as “repulsive-looking” with a “face pitted with smallpox”. He was stood in front of the gazebo with an “unpleasant” look on his face as he watched them.

Before they could take in any more details, one of the men rushed toward them from behind, claiming they were going the wrong way. He corrected them and they set out, eager to leave the strange man near the gazebo behind. After crossing a small bridge, they eventually came to what they assumed was the Petit Trianon.

They noticed that a young woman was sat on a stool, sketching. She was wearing an “old-fashioned dress, covered with a pale green scarf”. Bizarrely, yet another wave of “intense gloom” washed over them.

Then, a door opened in a nearby building and a footman emerged. He approached the two women and after telling them they wished to see the Petit Trianon, were directed to the other side of the building. Once there, they noticed how the mood had suddenly lifted and they saw a wedding party waiting to embark on a tour of the rooms.

This was the end of the unusual encounter. However, several months later when they were back in England, the two women discussed the unusual day once more and began to come to a remarkable conclusion.

The “Ghost” Of Marie Antoinette?

The two women had initially come to the conclusion that the Petit Trianon simply must be haunted with ghosts of past years. However, they both also agreed that these were not “ordinary apparitions”.

Around three months after the incident, Jourdain was preparing one of her lessons which dealt with the French Revolution. As she did so, she noted that on the 10^th August 1792 – exactly 109 years before she and Moberly had visited the Petit Trianon, the Paris Commune had stormed the Tuileries Palace and burned it down. The royal family was taken prisoner with the monarchy being officially abolished a month later. Marie Antoinette was eventually executed in October 1793.

The two women would ultimately come to, to them, a bizarre but mind-bending revelation – that the woman they had witnessed sketching was Marie Antoinette, enjoying what would prove to be “her last peaceful moments” before her arrest.

They would question whether they had seen the ghost of Antoinette, or whether they had, in fact, passed backward in time to the moments just before the storming of the palace. Or even if they had somehow entered into the memories of Antoinette herself, experiencing them as if they were real. Whatever the truth, they knew something truly extraordinary had taken place that afternoon. When they viewed a painting of Antoinette each was shocked – she looked exactly like the woman they had viewed in the garden, sketching, right down to the clothes she wore.

Several months later, in January 1902, Jourdain returned to Versailles in order to attempt to retrace her steps. However, she would claim that the grounds appeared “altered” somehow. She did, though, conduct ample research while there, and came across some further eye-opening discoveries.

For example, she discovered that Marie Antoinette had indeed been sitting at the Petit Trianon when she was first informed of a mob marching toward the palace from Paris. When she discussed her findings with Moberly, they decided that the woman they had seen simply must have been Antoinette and that they had stumbled onto her in the moments following her receiving the news of the approaching mob, something they felt explained the constant feelings of gloom and depression.

The two women took their findings to the Society for Psychical Research, urging them to conduct an investigation. However, they would dismiss their findings which would ultimately lead the two academics to investigate it themselves.

Acclaim And Criticism

Their investigation and research would eventually result in their 1911 book, An Adventure (although they used pseudonyms – Miss Morrison and Miss Lamont). And their research did indeed appear to pull up some remarkable evidence.

They would discover, for example, that even though they had seen a plow on the roadside, there were no such plows in Versailles in 1901. There was, however, one on the grounds they had visited in 1789. This was similar to the small bridge they had crossed – a bridge that existed in 1789, but not in 1901. The two men they had asked directions from were, they would later discover, wearing the exact same clothes as Marie Antoinette’s Swiss Guards did.

Even more remarkable, they appeared to have identified the “repulsive man” with the pock-marked face. They claimed this was Comte de Vaudreuil (whose description does indeed match the description of the two women) who was an enemy of Antoinette’s.

As we might imagine, for as many who were fascinated with the account told in the book, there were just as many who were just as critical. One of the main criticisms was that the account in the book appeared greatly “embellished” from that which was initially sent to the Society of Psychical Research shortly after the incident occurred. However, this was defended by the authors themselves, when they claimed that much of the extra detail was not an embellishment, but rather research in order to arrive at their conclusions, not least as neither knew anything about eighteenth-century Versailles. One researcher, Phillippe Jullian would even suggest that the two women had stumbled onto a themed party event and had merely become confused.

It wasn’t until 1937 – after both women had died – that their identities were revealed to the public (although this was merely an official recognition, with their identity being an “open secret” of sorts). And because they were revealed to be academics and not two “chancers” seemingly looking to make money, the case enjoyed a renewed interest, this time with many looking to investigate it seriously.

Whatever the truth of the matter, it appears the two women certainly stumbled onto something unusual and had an experience out of the ordinary. What that might have been, and if they did indeed stumble into the past remains open to debate.

The Kersey Time Slip – A Trip To Medieval England?

Without a doubt, one of the most disturbing and intriguing encounters is that known commonly as The Kersey Time Slip. The incident occurred during the autumn of 1957 in Suffolk in England when three teenage British Royal Navy cadets experienced an event that would alter their entire perception of life while on a routine map-reading exercise. ^[12]

The three cadets – Michael Crowley, Ray Baker, and William Laing – had simple instructions. They were to make their way into the countryside using the coordinates given and then report back to their superiors. Things began normal enough. However, as they neared the serene village of Kersey – with the church bells ringing out loudly, things began to change drastically.

Although they didn’t understand what was happening, the three teenagers noticed that a sudden silence fell all around them. ^[13] They could no longer hear the church bells ringing, and even stranger, the entire village appeared completely devoid of life.

They continued into the village, they noticed how the trees appeared to be fully green – as if it was the middle of summer – as opposed to the shades of orange and brown of autumn, as they had been only moments ago. Even more bizarre, there were seemingly no signs of modern life at all. No cars were parked on the road, no phone wires overhead. Even the buildings appeared “medieval in appearance”, with timber frames and decidedly shoddy by modern twentieth-century standards. What’s more, the church tower, which they could not only see only moments ago but hear also, was no longer visible, as if it was no longer there.

Deciding that something was very much amiss, the three boys made their way to the window of a nearby building.

A Very Grim And Unsettling Scene

The windows themselves were grimy but each managed to peek through. The building appeared to be a butcher’s shop although “there were no tables inside”. Laing would later state to the researcher, Andrew MacKenzie, that they could clearly see “two or three oxen carcasses which had been skinned and in places were quite green with age”. In fact, they appeared decidedly “moldy”.

Shocked and a little unnerved by the sight, they came away from the window and made their way to another nearby building. This building appeared to be a house, although it also seemed to be empty and uninhabited. They could see that the walls had been whitewashed and not a single piece of furniture could be seen.

Deciding they had seen enough, the three cadets decided to make their way back out of the village and report would they had seen to their superiors. In order to do so, they had to make their way up a hill in the road. Suddenly, as they neared the top, they realized they could hear the church bells once more. Even more bizarre, as they turned around to face the village, they could see “the smoke rising from chimneys” of the buildings, buildings that had appeared completely vacant only moments earlier.

Convinced They Had “Walked Back In Time!”

Laing would later describe the experience like they had “walked back in time” and that the entire village was “a ghost village”. Even more unsettling were Lang’s claims that he “experienced an overwhelming feeling of sadness and depression” while in the village, and also a “feeling of unfriendliness and unseen watchers”. Given Lang’s description, we might ask whether the boys had slipped into another dimension as opposed to another time.

Ultimately, the boys’ superiors dismissed their account, and it would ultimately be forgotten about for over a quarter of a century until the 1980s. By this time, Laing and Crowley had settled down in Australia, and while Crowley didn’t recall the incident in as much detail as Laing, they would speak of the strange incident during a telephone conversation. In fact, it was at this point when Laing contacted the previously mentioned Andrew MacKenzie, who was a member of the Society for Psychical Research.

MacKenzie was well aware of time-slip cases – or retrocognition as the SPR called them – and was immediately intrigued by Laing’s account. He would eventually invite Laing to England after two years of regular correspondence so they could both visit the village of Kelsey. MacKenzie would ultimately conclude that the incident had been genuine, and at the very least, the witnesses were credible, honest, and compelling with their recollections.

There were also several very intriguing details in the accounts that could be backed up factually, at least to a degree. Perhaps the most compelling of these was the recollection of looking through the windows of what the boys described as a butcher’s shop. MacKenzie’s research revealed that the building was a private house in 1957 (and still so at the time of this research), and had stood continuously since around 1350. Even more intriguing, records show that in the late eighteenth century, it had operated as a butcher’s shop and continued to do so until 1905. MacKenzie, though, would state that the building was “associated” with the butcher trade for centuries prior to the records of 1790, maybe as early as the mid-fourteenth century.

A Trip To Medieval England?

In fact, the mid-1300s to the early 1400s just might have been when in time the three cadets had found themselves, possibly just after the Black Death, which records show killed at least half of the population of Kersey.

At this point in time, the construction of the famous church in Kersey had been halted due to the outbreak of the plague and remained unfinished until after 1481. We might recall that the three witnesses claimed to no longer be able to see the church after entering the village.

Might it be, then, that the three teenagers had found themselves in Kersey somewhere between 1350 and 1480 when the village had been ravaged by disease and many buildings and businesses stood abandoned? Mackenzie believes the most likely date to be around 1420, mainly due to the presence of glass windows in the buildings, which he believes would have matched the time when the village was “wealthy” enough to obtain such (then) luxuries.

However, given that the village appeared abandoned, is it not more likely they had slipped into a time closer to the plague around 1350? If so, how do we explain the windows the boys claimed to have looked through?

As we might imagine, not everyone is convinced with the account or the explanation. Although their explanations, as some researchers have pointed out, are just as speculative as MacKenzie’s. For example, they point to the fact that Kersey was “unlikely” to have had their own permanent butchers during the time highlighted by MacKenzie, instead likely relying on traveling meat traders or by visiting nearby larger towns.

Other skeptics have suggested that the three cadets were simply overwhelmed by the many remaining buildings from the medieval periods and believed they had “traveled back in time”. However, as young as they all were, each was unlikely to have confused “old buildings” with literally being in a different time. We might recall they suddenly became aware of the lack of modern details such as parked cars, and telephone and electricity wires (although the wires might be explained by Kersey not having a mains system until the early 1950s, this was still before 1957, when the account unfolded).

Another suggestion put forward is that the three teenagers suffered a case of derealization, which means they perceive the real world as not being real. This, though, would perhaps not explain why all three of them would be struck by this at exactly the same time.

The Mel Riley Encounter

In the book Real Time Travel Stories From A Psychic Engineer, Martin Ettington writes of the account of Mel Riley, a 12-year-old boy who lived in one of the less affluent areas of Racine in Wisconsin in the early 1950s. In fact, so dreary was Riley’s environment he would often venture into the surrounding woodlands and countryside in order to escape it.

It was while he was off on one of these adventures that something truly strange happened. He was in a recently plowed cornfield – a location once inhabited by Native American tribes since the Stone Age, with many discoveries of their tools and weapons having been made over the years.

As he was walking along through the field, he noticed the feel of the environment change somewhat. He suddenly noticed he could smell wood burning as well as the smell of cooking food. Furthermore, he could hear voices nearby and believed he had come across a group of campers. However, when he surveyed his surroundings, he was shocked to see that where the plowed field had been only moments ago, was now a grassy field that stretched for miles. Even more bizarre, were the many Native American living quarters in what was clearly a settlement area – just as it had been hundreds of years previously.

He stood where he was, watching in amazement at the Native Americans simply “going about their lives”. He watched the scene for several minutes, immediately convinced he had somehow gone back in time. Then, without him realizing how it happened, the entire scene was gone, and he found himself looking out once more on the plowed cornfield.

He would later tell researcher and writer, Jim Schnabel that the scene “just sort of dissolved and there was the field again”. He would state that he was convinced that “we could access different times (and) different places”, even liking the experience to time travel itself. ^[14]

The Rougham House Sightings

It is perhaps one thing to suggest people might slip into another time. However, our next case features a building that appears to appear in our reality for a short period before disappearing again. And this has been happening for a little over 150 years, if not longer. ^[15]

Perhaps the earliest account is that of Robert Palfry from 1860, who was enjoying a summer’s evening in a field in Rougham when the warm air suddenly turned cold. Even stranger, a “large, red, brick house” suddenly appeared in front of him, complete with gardens full of flowers before disappearing again as if it had never been there.

Just over half a century later, in 1912, Palfry’s great-grandson, James Cobbold, had his own experience of the Rougham House. And what’s more, he had a witness with him. He was riding a pony trap along with the local butcher, George Waylett. Much like Palfry’s encounter, each noticed how the temperature suddenly dropped. Even stranger, their horse suddenly reared upwards as if spooked by something, which resulted in Waylett being thrown to the ground. Then, the two men heard a strange sound “as if air was being displaced”.

Then, a “huge three-story Georgian building and its gardens” appeared in the empty field next to them. Cobbold was completely amazed by the sight in front of him and turned his attention to Waylett on the ground below to see if too was seeing what he was. As he did so, though, a strange mist appeared to wrap itself around the house and it disappeared as quickly as it appeared leaving nothing but the empty field exactly as it had been moments earlier. According to an account Cobbold would give to Amateur Gardening magazine decades later in 1975, the butcher merely dusted himself down and claimed that it was the third time he had seen the strange house appear out of nowhere before disappearing. Cobbold also claimed that he had heard of two further sightings since his own encounter.

Sightings Continue, Seemingly Randomly Over The Years

Sightings of the strange red-bricked house would seemingly continue as the twentieth century unfolded. In 1923, for example, teacher, Ruth Wynne, and one of her students who she was privately tutoring (a 10-year old girl), were in the countryside on a ramble. They were making their way to a church in the next village.

They could see the church as they made their way through a field, eventually coming out on a road. They made their way down the road, one side of which was flanked by a “high wall of greenish-yellow bricks”. They eventually came to a set of tall, iron gates, which were shut. However, they could see a long drive making its way among the trees which line the estate inside. Behind the trees, they could see part of a large, Georgian red-bricked house.

The pair wondered who might live there and would ask others about the house and who lived there. Much to their surprise, no one appeared to know anything about the property. The pair would make a return to the house the following spring in an attempt to locate it once more. However, when they came onto the road from the field, they were shocked to discover that there was no sign whatsoever of the wall, the gates, nor the house. All they could see were open fields, trees, and overgrown vegetation.

Around two decades later, at some time in the 1940s, another sighting was reported, this time by deliveryman, Edward Bentley. On the day in question, he was delivering clothing catalogs with his manager, Aubyn Davies, along with another member of staff. It was a particularly warm day as Bentley guided their car along their chosen route.

It was as they were driving down one of the country road when Bentley suddenly spotted a large, red-bricked house on their right. Thinking they had missed a property – particularly one that was owned by someone with plenty of money to spend – he quickly alerted Davies, who saw it too. They put the vehicle in reverse ready to make their way to the house. However, when they looked up again, the house was nowhere to be seen.

Sighting In The Modern Era

There are also sighting in our (relatively) contemporary era. For example, in the summer of 1976, teenager, Sandra Hardwick was cycling home from her friend’s house one evening when she noticed a strange house on her right. At the same time, she noticed how it had become “unnaturally quiet” around her.

She noticed that the house was extremely bright with lights, as if “the sun had come out on it on a bright Summer’s day”. She further noticed how vibrant the garden was, with colorful flowers everywhere. Despite the apparent warm illumination of the property, she noticed how it was extremely cold. And of more concern, she felt a sudden feeling of terror and quickly began to cycle away from the house. When she looked back, to her amazement, the property was no longer there.

Although there is little known of the incident, another report of the house suddenly appearing comes from 1998 when the daughter of a rector from the Rougham Green Rectory suddenly ran into a packed pub in the area claiming to have seen the mysterious property suddenly appear out of nowhere right in front of here. So disturbed was she that she broke down in tears as she relayed the account.

Perhaps one of the most recent sightings of the Rougham House occurred in the early 2000s when Jean Bartram and her husband Sydney were out driving in the countryside. It was as they were approaching two bungalows on the road that Jean suddenly noticed a large, Georgian house just in front of some woods. She alerted her husband who witnessed it also. They made a decision to return along the same route in order to get another view of it. However, when they did so, they were more than a little perplexed when they could no longer locate the property.

Although Jean wished to report the sighting, Sydney advised against it. However, by 2007, she would speak to the East Anglican Daily Times of the incident, claiming, “I know I saw this house”, and that it was so clear in her mind she “could sketch it if I needed to”. She also noted how many people in the area were familiar with the tale and that some had even seen it themselves.

The Truly Bizarre Experiences Of The Rose Family

Perhaps it is also worth examining the accounts of the Rose family, who lived in one of the bungalows where the house often appears. Undoubtedly one of the most unnerving happened to Edith Rose, who was crocheting one evening in her living room. Suddenly, half of the room disappeared as if enveloped by an intense blackness.

Fascinated, if a little unnerved, Edith approached the darkness and places her hand to it. As soon as she did so, it disappeared from view, with her no longer able to even see it. She quickly withdrew it and the darkness soon disappeared leaving the living room back to normal.

The Rose family has also seen strange monk-like figures walking right past their living room window. And on several occasions, strange “shadowy figures” have been seen walking up their garden paths before disappearing into thin air. Whether of consequence or not, these figures are almost always seen at a time when a person might typically have their evening meal. Of further interest is the Rose’s horse refuses to go past a certain point of the land around the property.

What might be behind the appearing and disappearing Rougham House very much remains a mystery. Is it a case of a portal to another time opening up at random intervals and so allowing the house to be seen? Might it be a clashing of times, or even dimensions, that makes this possible? Or, while admittedly an outrageous suggestion, might there be something “living” about the property that allows it to be seen at its own will? And where do these strange figures fit into all of this?

A Connection To Ancient Sites And Locations?

It is perhaps interesting to note that many researchers into time-slips have noted that the incidents appear to occur more often than not in and around historic locations, particularly those that contain ancient sites. Perhaps one such ancient site is the Temple of Karnak in Luxor, which features in a recent account relayed by the previously mentioned Flic Everett.

The incident occurred in 2011 during the social unrest that swept the country when 46-year-old Rhian Kivitis decided to visit the ancient site and take advantage of the fact that there were so few people there. As she was viewing the goddess statue, however, she felt suddenly “disorientated” and she could hear the sound of a “crowd shouting outside”. When she glanced at the statue again, it was now “shiny and new”, not like it had been when she first viewed it only moments earlier. The sound of her husband’s “muffled” voice seemingly brought her back to “now”. This account perhaps again asks if time-slips may only capture certain people.

Why might ancient or historic sites be of importance with regard to the reasons time-slips occur? Might it be that ancient civilizations – perhaps even one great, unknown civilization in pre-history – were aware of the harnessing of the power of the planet, and these (now) ancient sites and temples were established there either to warn of such possibilities or to harness them, allowing them to travel to different realms and dimension? Without a doubt that is rampant speculation and bordering on outrageous to most. It is, though, worth consideration.

A Natural Phenomenon That Is Not Understood?

As we can see, then, even from the small number of examples we have examined here, there are plenty of accounts of apparent time-slips and merging of realities on record.

We have examined previously, for example, the case of Geoff and Pauline Simpson, and Len and Cynthia Gisby, went traveling through Spain and France in the late autumn of 1979 only to find themselves 70 years in the past. And there are many, many more on record, spread out across the Internet and in books and newspaper clippings that have survived from the past.

Are these time-slips real, and if so, why are they happening? Might it be the result of some natural phenomenon that not only do we not understand but are essentially unaware of? And, like many areas of the paranormal and supernatural, might our understanding of these time-slips shine light on other mysteries across the spectrum? And would our understanding of these mysterious events mean for how we view the nature of our own collective realities.

It is perhaps worth repeating that many researchers suggest that rather than being linear, time is almost curved and intertwined, perhaps resulting in these clashes or slips of time that allow us to venture into other realms, and them into ours.

Indeed, might we view ghosts and apparitions not as the long-departed delving into our world, but rather us crashing into theirs while they were alive. Might ghost sightings be better explained as a temporary clashing of time and realities as opposed to an appearance from the other side?

Perhaps the understanding of energy and such energy from human emotions and consciousness manifests itself will also unlock the mysteries of these many encounters of time shifts and distortions of reality. And, if we discover that these encounters are the product of the human mind, then what does that say for the potential of each one of us? If we assume we are not talking about mere hallucination for a moment, might we all be able to shift our consciousness into another time or realm of existence? Might we even have our perception of time travel and what it actually means by attempting to understand these strange events? Might time shifts be a form of time travel, albeit a temporary one and one that would appear to be beyond the control of those experiencing it?

Only further investigation and study of accounts by researchers combined with serious scientific study will reveal the truth of these most fascinating and intriguing encounters.

The short video below examines the claims and theories of time-slips a little further.