The strange case of Enoch Soames, time travel, Teller, and a unique photo

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread911402/pg1

by kevinmchugh • 10 years ago

48 15 10 years ago

Becomes less entertaining when you realize the people there actually believe it or even disbelieve it based on different theories about how time travel "actually" works.

joemi3• 10 years ago

Not sure I understand why that changes the entertainment value. I personally think it was an elaborate obscure hoax, but I would have loved to have been there.

Gys• 10 years ago

Time travel is possible ? Maybe. But more importantly, if the story is true it means the Devil and the Hell actually exist... And therefore...

andreapaiola• 10 years ago

Or maybe was... Aliens...

joemi3• 10 years ago

I disagree. Even if Soames were indeed transported into the future for a bit, it hardly proves anything about the Devil. Merely that someone _claiming_ to be the Devil did this.

snikeris2• 10 years ago

I believe it was staged by Teller, and he gives you enough context in his article to figure it out:

"I wonder," he said, "how many Enoch Soameses will show up." At the time, I thought he was merely musing. Later I understood. He was giving me a homework assignment.

And then he closes the article:

D. G. "Rosey" Rosenbaum didn't come to the Reading Room; he no longer corrects homework assignments. He was buried seven years ago, dressed in a smart charcoal suit, with a blood-red vest and his pince-nez, a rose in his lapel. The mourners said there was a sly smile on his face.

Teller's homework assignment was to stage Enoch's appearance and thus close the literary loop that Max Beerbohm left open. Teller's teacher was wondering how many other people would show up to do the same thing.

By closing his article by mentioning his teacher's death, Teller is letting us know that this performance was an homage to someone he greatly respected.

keithpeter• 10 years ago

As Beerbohm's short story might be quite well-known in some circles, one imagines that a local literary fan may have been up for making an appearance in appropriate costume, possibly without the illusionist's knowledge.

Nice story though.

joemi3• 10 years ago

I interpreted the assignment to be to show up there and see what happens. But what you've said could indeed be true. While I think the implication is there, it's hard to say whether that implication is an actual admission or just Teller having fun with a subtle implication.

anotheryou2• 10 years ago

can't find the photo, should it be somewhere?

snikeris2• 10 years ago

https://www.flickr.com/photos/allhails/8124880282

anotheryou2• 10 years ago

thanks, took the link for a headline

ablation• 10 years ago

"The incident remains a true time travel mystery" - er, really? It's a nice story, but that's about it. It would have been better to post the Teller article than the link above, too. Above Top Secret is a pretty awful website.

kevinmchugh• 10 years ago

I don't know anything about that site. I just liked the additional context it provided, including the picture.

api• 10 years ago

Fans of (artful hoaxes of) time travel might also enjoy John Titor:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Titor

Later it was revealed that a rather well known "transmedia" artist had a role in that one:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Matheny

cafard• 10 years ago

I just want to say that Seven Men is still in print, and for that matter some of it downloadable from the Gutenberg Project.

The strange case of Enoch Soames, time travel, Teller, and a unique photo

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