By Suzanne Choney
Is a woman in a 1928 film who appears to have a cell phone glued to her ear in fact a time traveler? That's what some conspiracy theorists think this eerie scene (video below) from Charlie Chaplin's 1928 film, "The Circus" is telegraphing, or rather phoning, and that the woman -- who looks about as time-traveler-ish as Martha Stewart, is indeed a voyager from the vortex of time and space.
Belfast filmmaker George Clarke, a Chaplin fan, says he was watching the "behind the scenes of 'The Circus' " and was "stumped" at what he saw.
"I kept winding it back, playing it; winding it back, playing it back, and I couldn't explain this," he says. "I want to get this out there to let people try and give me an idea, because right now the only conclusion that I can come to -- it sounds absolutely ridiculous, I'm sure, to some people -- it's a time traveler." Although, as Clarke notes, the "old woman ... looks like a man in drag ... on a mobile phone."
Some who have seen the clip and commented online say it's not a phone the woman is holding, that perhaps she's holding her hand up to her ear to shield the sun from her eyes, or to shield herself to stay out of the camera's gaze.
"Aside from some Star Trek time travel shenanigans -- could it have been some type of hearing aid ... or transistor radio or maybe even the fact that she might have been a nut bag and she was talking to herself?" said one person's posting on Gawker.com.
What do you think?
10-28-2010, 06:05 PM
BigClaws
Confirmed. There are time travelers.
10-28-2010, 06:16 PM
short faced bear
I'd have to go with tube-radio the lack of grip on the first two fingers and the look on the face seems like the woman is straining to hear a signal after tuning in a dial. Might have been cussing at at ballgame or something. Transistor radio of that size wasn't available until the '50's I believe. It is creepy. Perhaps a hearing aid device of some sort.
10-29-2010, 04:05 PM
nerrad
she was a cubs fan yelling when they blew the game.
10-30-2010, 04:24 AM
4th and 26
I am convinced it is a zebra with a saddle on its back.
10-30-2010, 08:49 AM
The Benjamin
could be a hearing aid, but the size might be a bit off
Here is the history of the hearing aid
10-30-2010, 10:09 AM
GrizzlyBear91
My questions...
if it's a hearing aid who's she talking to cause it does look like she's saying something.
(I dont think it's a time traveler however, I am curious as to what it really is)
The object looks a bit Boxy, and I'm not an expert on hearing aid's or old radios, but I'm wondering about batter power?
it will be intresting to see if anyone figures it out...
fun to think about.
10-30-2010, 12:20 PM
short faced bear
If she could be IDed that would figure into if she was crazy of deaf. The only other thing I could think of would be some sort of ear infection and a device to keep the wind from blowing through it.
If it had been a cellphone, you would want to know where the cell towers were. Because even talking to another person on a cellular device requires a station.
So it's a walkie-talkie (two-way radio). Which is feasible. Except, if they're from the future, then they're from our future as well (since we haven't discovered time travel yet), so if they're from even our own future and are using two-way radio comms... whyzit gotta be in a box that size?
Even now, we have radio comms that are hidden, voice-activated... think spec-ops, secret service, etc. Nah, the time traveler thing is bunk.
It's a hearing aid.
The people who started this urban legend are jerks. The ones who fell for it...
