A painting that is nearly a century old has become the latest talking point for people who believe time travel is real. The artwork seems to show a Native American man staring at a small, dark rectangle that looks remarkably like an iPhone, even though smartphones did not reach the market until 2007.
The painting that baffled viewers
The work is called Mr Pynchon and the Settling of Springfield. Italian artist Umberto Romano painted it in 1937, and it depicts settlers arriving in the Massachusetts town during the 1620s.
In the scene, one Native American man holds a compact, dark object and looks intently at it. To many viewers the pose seems oddly familiar, as though he is snapping a selfie. Numerous people have suggested that the item is proof that someone from the future slipped into the picture.
A simpler explanation
Writer Brian Anderson looked into the image and decided the object is probably a mirror. He noted that mirrors were often offered in exchanges between Europeans and Indigenous people. In his words, "There’s reason to believe, then, that what the man is examining is not an Indigenous object, but rather of European origin, like mirrors."
He added that the way the man holds the item up would make sense if he is looking at his own face reflected back at him.
Not the only suspected time traveller
The painting is only one of several cases where a phone-like gadget seems to have turned up long before its invention. Believers in time travel also rallied around a clip from the 1928 Charlie Chaplin silent film The Circus. In the black-and-white footage, a woman in a black top hat and white gloves walks through the background, apparently holding something to her ear.
Portable cell phones were not readily available to the public until the 1980s, roughly 50 years after the film reached cinemas. That gap is what convinced many viewers that she must be holding a phone.
Irish filmmaker George Clarke spotted the woman in 2010 and posted his findings on his YouTube channel. The clip has since collected close to seven million views. "If you look carefully, she’s talking on a thin, black device that is held to her ear," he said. He pointed to her bent knuckles, which he said form the flat shape of a phone, and insisted it was not an ear trumpet or a radio, "obviously because it’s 1928."
Theories and sceptics
Within days of the upload, conspiracy fans flocked to offer their own readings. Some argued that the woman was simply shielding her face from the sunlight, while others thought she was just holding her ear.
One news outlet swiftly dismissed the whole idea. It said that "while this fantastical theory is fun to ponder, in all likelihood the woman is actually using a hearing aid."
Where things stand
Neither case has produced any firm evidence of a visitor from the future. The most likely explanations are a mirror in Romano’s painting and a hearing aid in Chaplin’s film. Even so, both images keep circulating online, and each new viewer who spots a modern-looking gadget in an old picture is ready to reopen the debate.
Image credit: US Postal Service
Source: The Mirror US
Leave a Reply