The very strange case of Enoch Soames, time travel, Teller, my friend's dad, and his unique photo.

reply to post by cyberjedi


The joke is on you friend. I'm afraid you might have missed the whole point of it. Read the Esquire article.

Also do you earn a degree in theoretical time travel or just announce to the world that you know all there is to know?

Originally posted by sputniksteve
I went bavk and read the Esquire article, it's fantastic. It makes me want to see Penn and Teller live. It spoils the story a little by almost saying the Enoch was hired by him but it doesnt actually say it.

I'd love to see Penn and Teller live. I've been a fan ever since I saw them debut on UK TV on a Jonathan Ross show on Channel 4 in the early 90's... I believe they cut a live snake in half in a very gory performance!

I think the Esquire article clearly implies it would be easy for Teller to pull off the stunt given his experience and connections at the time... but that is all. I think the author thinks it likely but Teller keeps it a mystery.

I guess its easier to believe a magician more likely to be performing a trick than a man to travel in time.

Person in the cloak looks female to me..

Other than that, nice story.

might be of interest

Alberto Manguel ( Sept.1998, NYT) on "The Writers' Wish List" reports that on " June 3, 1997, a group of literary aficionados gathered in the Reading Room of the British Library in London to welcome the arrival of Enoch Soames, a fictional poet in a short story by the English humorist Max Beerbohm. Perhaps not unexpectedly, he didn't appear [...] It can only be assumed that, for those of us who awaited his appearance in the British Library, even his ghost was invisible. So much for the fruits of ambition.

www.nytimes.com...

Nice fiction.

Yeah, Teller stages a lot of crap. Why even question this? Its what he does.

I liked that! I agree "not enuff time travel books" anyway I recently read this one en.wikipedia.org... and it was good. Thanks a gain for that story!

Originally posted by mutatismutandis
reply to post by manmental

 

I sent Teller the link in an email...we shall see if we get a response.

Teller says:
" Thanks so much for the lovely spirit photo. Remarkable how well ectoplasm photographs."

I'm on my phone at the moment. I will try to post a screenshot later...after blocking out the end of his email of course (sorry guys, not something i have permission to give out).

reply to post by mutatismutandis


Well kudos to you for going through the trouble, I'm actually surprised he responded as quickly as he did. If at all.
Is there anything in that email you are privy to, suggest he already has a copy of the picture?

Funny, I can *possibly* accept the idea that time travel can be developed as a concept per se, but as a result of a "pact with the devil"? That this demon can simply send you 100 years into the future, and then wisk you off to a literal Hell immediately after returning you back to the present? That's what makes this story unbelievable in my mind.

reply to post by Monsieur Neary


Maybe he wasnt really the devil...maybe he was some German WWII Nazi scientist who worked on Hitler's bell, and discovered the time travel aspects of the UFO, and has since been popping in and out of history ... testing the parameters of temporal paradox in time travel?

* blinks *

...It could happen?

reply to post by manmental


Really great story. Very interesting. Time travel stories are always of great interest to me, mostly because they truly freak me out lol.

reply to post by manmental


Which back of the head is the guy in the photo? Does he have gray hair?

So to know what people will think of you in 100 years, you have to spend eternity in hell, wow, Enoch doesnt sound the sharpest tool in the box?

Good story though!

I wonder if Enoch is with the Hipster dude breaking rocks to melt.

I live in Las Vegas, and have seen their show at the Rio several times. It is the best show here. After their show they are known to greet the fans personally. Although Teller doesn't speak, I am going to make it a point to ask him about this the next time I go. What an interesting story

reply to post by manmental

A poor bargain to make with the devil. But all such mysteries and horror stories start with somebody making a poor bargain, now if the character made a good bargain. Well sorry to say that then the story would be boring, the whole time travel thing it would be a non event, more so then this, and worse nobody would want to hear of it....Cool story however.

reply to post by manmental


based on my time travel experience, I can tell you that this story is a hoax.

Great story and I think totally bogus, but here are some ramblings for the fun of it.

1) If it is true then so is the devil of western folklore, one that can materialize and make deals for your soul. This is different to the devil of the Bible as the Bible says you can always repent and be born again in the spirit (notice spirit not soul) and thus annul any "deals" with the devil, even if these were possible. Also the hell of the bible is different to the hell of folklore.

2) The words in the story regarding the reading room "as it would be in 1997" would indicate that the devil was going to somehow re-create the reading room as it would be in 1997 not actually transport Soame's body or soul or spirit there. As such Soames should have realized that the devil could falsify what he saw and so what would be the point?
If the devil really could perform this feat and didn't want to lie to Soames about it, then he would have to be able to see across time himself. I dont beleive the Biblical devil can see across time like God can as the Bible says "But of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" Mar 13:32. But if he could do that then he would see his own demise and know that all his scheming is useless, the only thing left would be rage at his loss. Interestingly the Bible says "Woe for the earth and for the sea: because the devil is gone down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time" Rev 12:12. So either he has seen his demise or has learned of it some other way.

I also dont believe the Biblical devil can create, so he could not have re-created the reading room as what he thought it would look like 100 years later.

Of course the New Age devil, Lucifer, does not believe that he is going to lose at the final battle (who is right and who is wrong we shall see) and also claims to be able to create (as in healing, for example).

3) If the man in the library that day was really Soames, why didnt he show any surprise at the computerized catalogue? Or the really high hemlines of the women there?

I think the clue as to who was behind it is this "The bearded librarian addresses the group. "Ladies and gentlemen, if you are visitors, it's time to leave now. There's nothing more to see here; shall we be moving along, then?""

What an awesome story. (Even more so being a big fan of Penn and Teller since childhood.)

This thread even lead me to go read the original story-- which I have to confess I didn't enjoy as much as the rest of this. (The plot was excellent, and some of the writing not bad-- though I often find writing from the beginning of the 20th century and prior to be dry, stylistically, and somewhat difficult to read because of this (and language discrepancies).

It makes perfect sense that teller would have set this up... and have been unwilling to admit it.

The fact that the pic survived and made it to the web is also very cool. Too bad the photographer didn't get his face.

Originally posted by micpsi
On the other hand,......

if you want to learn about TRUE time travel, read Patrice Chaplin's books "City of Secrets" and "The Portal". The daughter-in-law of Charlie Chaplin, Patrice Chaplin is an internationally acclaimed writer and playright with a book made into a Hollywood film ("Siesta"). Her autobiographical revelation about the true secret of Rennes-le-Chateau and her account of her travel back in time has been the hottest paranormal story in recent years.

I remeber something a few years ago about a supposed time traveller turning up in a Charlie Chaplin movie, it looked like she was using a cell phone...coincidental?
Here it is:
www.youtube.com...

Originally posted by Unidentified_Objective
Nice fiction.

Yeah, Teller stages a lot of crap. Why even question this? Its what he does.

edit on 23-12-2012 by Unidentified_Objective because: (no reason given)

Why question it? Well, since you ased: Because not all of us are ignorant and egotistical enough to believe that we have the entire world figured out, and that all of our logical suppositions are always correct.

Furthermore, did you actually read the thread? I don't see that many people who seem to be genuinely questioning it. But I understand that some people like to make snide-sounding comments to "prove" how big and smart they are. Ironically, that would make such a person more than a little bit like Enoch Soames.

I agree that it's an interesting story, though.