Compilation: Time Travel stories!

Recap

This compilation revisits several of The Why Files’ time-travel stories, mixing extraordinary claims with attempts to test or debunk them. Host AJ and Hecklefish provide interruptions and jokes throughout, including an ad skit in which Hecklefish pitches “Beaver Box,” a business selling wooden Valentine’s gifts and “heart-ons.”

Is Time Travel Possible?

AJ opens with famous “time traveler” evidence: a man said to have appeared in 1950 carrying 19th-century belongings; a spectacularly successful investor who claimed to be from the future; a supposed smartphone in footage of a 1990s Mike Tyson fight; and suspicious-looking details in old photographs, film, and art.

Most of the examples have less mysterious explanations. The Rudolph Fentz tale came from a short story, Andrew Carlson originated in a satirical tabloid, and the apparent time-traveling devices and clothing had plausible period explanations. A supposed ancient watch was a hoax, and Salamanca Cathedral’s astronaut was added during a 1992 restoration. One 1938 woman’s alleged wireless phone remains harder to explain.

AJ’s takeaway is that physics supports time travel to the future in limited ways, but these viral examples don’t establish trips to the past.

Project Stargate

The compilation explores the U.S. government’s research into psychic spying and remote viewing. It recounts claimed successes, including locating a crashed Russian aircraft and finding a fugitive, then focuses on Army officer Joe McMoneagle’s extraordinary account of psychically viewing Mars roughly a million years ago—with pyramids and tall, shadowy figures.

The story is based on declassified government material, but the program’s results remain disputed. Hecklefish also jokes about the CIA’s infamous attempt to turn a cat into a listening device, which ended with the cat being hit by a taxi.

Paul Amadeus Dienach

In a detailed first-person-style story, a teacher falls into a coma in the 1920s and wakes in the year 3906 in another man’s body. He describes a future society where people work only two years, material needs are met, and humanity has evolved beyond selfishness. A moving subplot links Dienach’s lost love, Anna, to a woman he meets in the future.

The episode challenges the story’s authenticity: there are no convincing records of Dienach, the original diary is missing, the photo used to depict him belongs to someone else, and the narrative resembles an H. P. Lovecraft story. AJ considers it more likely to be an intellectual or fictional work than a genuine time-travel diary.

The Dodleston Messages

In 1984, teacher Ken Webster and his housemates reportedly began receiving computer messages from “Lucas,” later identified as Thomas, who seemed to live in their cottage in the 16th century. The messages allegedly opened a line to “2109” as well. Strange cold spots, noises, and moving objects added to the eerie atmosphere.

Supporters point to historical details, a message predicting that Fermat’s Last Theorem would be solved, and other apparent coincidences. Skeptics cite errors in the period language, a possible match between Ken’s writing and the messages, and missing records from the Society for Psychical Research. The story remains intriguing but contested.

The Count of St Germain

The first part presents the legend of a mysterious, youthful man said to have advised rulers, mastered languages and the arts, and appeared across centuries—even after his reported death.

The second part examines the legend. Some famous anecdotes were exaggerated or sarcastic, alleged alchemical feats look more like tricks, and later occultists helped inflate the mythology. AJ concludes that St Germain was probably a clever, well-connected con man who encouraged the mystery around himself—not an immortal.

John Titor

A self-described soldier from 2036 posted online around 2000, claiming he had traveled back to retrieve an IBM 5100 computer. Titor supplied technical explanations for time travel, described alternate timelines, and predicted civil conflict, nuclear war, and a more community-focused future.

Some of his computer-related claims were notably specific, but many major predictions did not happen. AJ reviews competing theories about who created the persona, including Joseph Matheny, who said he and collaborators invented the story, and people connected to the Titor family’s commercial ventures. The episode leaves the mystery unresolved. Titor’s grim advice to “prepare for the future” inspires more jokes about survival gear, bicycles, and ammunition.

Kozyrev Mirrors

The final story examines Russian physicist Nikolai Kozyrev’s unconventional ideas that time is a form of energy and that concave aluminum mirrors might focus it. AJ describes reported Soviet-era experiments in which volunteers inside spiral-shaped “Kozyrev mirrors” allegedly experienced remote viewing, visions of the past, UFOs, and encounters with mysterious entities called “Observers.”

The researchers claimed striking results, but those claims are not accepted by mainstream science. The episode closes by weighing that skepticism against more recent research into time-related wave phenomena and asking whether such fringe ideas deserve further investigation.

Throughout the compilation, AJ balances extraordinary claims with caveats, while Hecklefish punctuates the stories with heckling, wordplay, and recurring jokes about AJ’s weight and the show’s increasingly long episodes.

Personalities featured: AJ (host), Hecklefish (co-host/puppet), and Gertie (mentioned in the sponsor skit).