NICK REDFERN explores one of the most intriguing of all paranormal phenomena, incidents in which people apparently become immersed in another period in history.
Within the specific genre of science fiction, fantastic tales of time-travel to the far-flung future or to the distant past are ten-a-penny. From H. G. Wells’s seminal novel of 1895, The Time Machine, through the classic 1984 movie The Philadelphia Experiment, about an alleged time travel experiment in 1943, to today’s revamped Doctor Who, there is one thing such flights of fancy have in common: the journeys through time are all achieved through the use of highly advanced technology.
However, there are many reports on record of people who seem to have crossed the time-barrier entirely at random, and without the means of sci-fi style technologies. Such cases have become known as Time Slips – and cases have been reported from deep within the heart of the British Isles.
A key event of the First English Civil War, the Battle of Hopton Heath (a small village in south Shropshire) was fought on Sunday, March 19, 1643, between Parliamentarian and Royalist forces. The battle ended at nightfall, with the actual victory and outcome still remaining matters of very much personal opinion: the Royalists, for example, had succeeded in capturing eight enemy-guns; while the Parliamentarians believed that their successful killing of the enemy commander, the Earl of Northampton, was of equal – if not even greater – significance.
More than 300 years later, one night in the winter of 1974, John ‘Davy’ Davis, aged 36, painter-and-decorator of Lichfield in Staffordshire, was driving near Hopton Heath when he began to feel unwell: a tightness developed in his chest, an odd feeling of lightheadedness overcame him, and his ‘left ear hurt and felt hot’.
Pulling over to the side of the road, Davis was amazed to see the night-sky suddenly transform into daylight, while the road in front of him no longer existed: instead, it had been replaced by a mass of fields, heath and tangled trees. Before his unbelieving eyes countless soldiers adorned in Civil War period clothing fought each other savagely. Notably, Davis said that although at one point he was ‘nearly bloody surrounded’ by the soldiers, it seemed as if they could neither see him nor his vehicle. To a degree, at least, this afforded Davis a degree of relief, as he was practically frozen to the spot, unable to drive away if he’d wanted to.
As it transpired, Davis didn’t need to go anywhere: a few seconds later, the bizarre scene suddenly vanished, and he found himself sitting at the side of the road, with his car squashed against a line of hedge. All had returned to normal. Horning is an ancient village in Norfolk, situated between Wroxham and Ludham on the River Bure. The village’s Ferry Inn is typical of the many old taverns in the area and the 13th century church of St Benedict can be found half-a-mile east of the village.
On a summer’s afternoon in either 1978 or 1979, the Margoles family was enjoying a stroll around the picturesque village when they too were overcome by a feeling of uneasiness and unreality – as well as total silence, and a slight dizziness. That uneasiness became concern and then fright as the landscape became ‘fuzzy … like a big heat-haze’, the houses were replaced by ancient cottages, and the road ahead of them became little more than a muddy track. As for the cars that had been in sight: they were no more. Instead, a decrepit cart appeared, pulled by a large horse. A thin man dressed in brown walked alongside the horse; he took no notice of the family.
With equal suddenness, the modern-day sounds of cars and voices returned and the strange spectacle vanished. But it seems Mrs Margoles may have been exposed to the odd scene for slightly less time than her husband and 11-year-old son.
‘I looked at them when I came out of it,’ recalled Mrs Margoles in a 1997 interview, ‘and it was like they were in a trance: their mouths were hanging down, and their eyes looked funny. Then they looked like they woke up.’
Such unsettling feelings and sensations were also referred to by author Andrew Mackenzie in his book ‘Adventures in Time: Encounters with the Past’. Such events, reported Mackenzie, are ‘often accompanied by feelings of depression, eeriness and a marked sense of silence, deeper than normally experienced’.
These Time Slip cases, and many others like them, suggest we understand very little about the nature of time. Perhaps the last word should go to Emmy Award-winning writer Tim Swartz in his ‘On the Edge of Time; The Mystery of Time Slips’:
‘Perhaps there is a natural phenomenon that under the right conditions and location can produce briefly a doorway to another time and place. Even though this may sound outrageous, this natural “time machine” could show that modern concepts and perceptions of time need to be seriously reconsidered.’
I just wanted to report my time slip experience which was experienced by myself, my father and my sister.
It happened in the late 1990s (can’t remember exactly when – sorry) in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England. My dad, sister and I were in the town to send my sister off on the train and we were passing time standing by a fence near the railway station from which one could see a road and roundabout ahead. It was about noon and we had no agenda at that time other than to wait before heading to the station and there was a lull in the conversation.
We were all casually looking straight ahead when suddenly the atmosphere changed. The sound of the traffic around us stopped abruptly – as if someone had literally turned the volume right down. The air seemed to change too; it became very still; spookily still and no sound could be heard. None of us spoke. Then there came the sound of horses hooves on the road and within a few seconds we saw a horse and cart, driven by a large, angry-looking man, dressed in what I estimate to be 18th century clothes. He was of very rough, dirty appearance and his cart was well-used. He drove the cart around in a circle, all the time staring around, sometimes directly at us, sometimes away but looking absolutely furious as though he was looking for someone he wanted to kill. His face was red with hatred and he was a big, rough-looking man – someone you would definitely not want to cross. Eventually, he turned the horse and cart around and drove it off down the same road from which he had appeared and we could hear the horses hooves disappearing into the distance.
Immediately the sound had gone, the atmosphere changed back again and the sound of modern traffic and the din of a modern town returned again. We all three looked at each other; shaken and almost disbelieving but once we had asked the inevitable “Did you see that?” and received the answer “yes” we were even more shaken. It was such a peculiar experience and one which I shall never forget.
Was this a time slip? We didn’t notice any other changes; the buildings and road layout seemed the same but that part of King’s Lynn had remained unchanged for many years (although I understand it is quite different now) so I don’t know but it spooked us all for sure!
yes that was a time slip something simular happend to me as well i but i was in a building at the time but the affects where simular i was walking through a large echoed corridor (it was a new edidtion) towards the dance studio when the sound of my foot steps seemed to become muffeld and slightly more distant the light comming through the window at the end of it sort of shimmerd i blink and in the split second i felt breeze cold and harsh the sound of faint music from around me had gone i was standing in a feild completely on my own i shouted to what i though was someone or somthing the sky was grey as if it were raining there was a tomdous noise behind me i tuned to see the corridor again i was back i was completiy stunned this spured me on to find out what had happend and thererfore i belive your experience was completely genuine p.s i checked on google about there area the school had been located in and it was perioulsy a field
I have a friend who dabbles in psychotronics and he once had a time slip event. He was working with a thought amp and other psychotronic equipment and during that time a famous person died and he remembered it well as other people mentioned it too. About 5 months later he was doing another experiment with a mind amp and a few days later he was astounded to hear that the famous dead person would be on TV giving an interview which he watched in amazement. Had he been in an alternate reality for 5 months? Who knows but fact is stranger than fiction sometimes. My friend thinks our energy body may move through different quantum realities. I don’t know but it’s a good theory.
Could you give more details? What is the name of the famous dead person?
hi my name is although i havent had any time slips as such i have had dreams that have come in 1984 i had a dream that dustin gee who used to be les dawsons comedy paratner was going to die then about three months later he did then in 1986 i was on holiday in scarborough and i had a dream that ted malt who used to apear on tv in gardening programmes and he also used to do the everest advert was going to die one month later this happened .then in nov 1990 me and my wife were living in scarborough .my mum lived in bradford west yorkshire and was in hospital i had no knoledge of this as nobody from my family had told me i dreamnt that i was talking to my dad who had died in 1977 he looked younger but i knew it was him he told that my mum would die either before or just after xmas he also told me other things that have since come .i told my wife about thedream the day after then four days later the police came to our house to tell me mum had died on that thursday afternoon .plus i have also had several paranormaln experiences my email address is carolbarker5@sky.com if any one would like to contact me