# What's The Concensus on "Time Slips"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 20, 2013, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415 "2013-06-20T01:01:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/21 "2013-06-20T12:46:22Z")
Midnight showings at the Roxy in Toronto in the 70s. Epicentre of the cult. Got to the point that it was the only thing showing at the Roxy. Good times! But nothing can ever be the same. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/22 "2013-06-20T13:06:22Z")
Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ Into the future… ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/23 "2013-06-20T14:03:45Z")
I wonder what physical phenomenon was at work that allowed the people to retain their memories of the event but erased the photographic evidence. Quite a selective process, that. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/24 "2013-06-20T14:34:45Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > “Time slip” was also a phrase used by Kim Stanley Robinson in _Red Mars_. There’s also PKD’s [Martian Time-Slip](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_Time-Slip). ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/25 "2013-06-20T15:14:48Z")
The show with one of the clips was called “Strange but True?” Note the question mark. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/26 "2013-06-20T15:25:45Z")
Has someone been plucking Chronitons out of that nebula? That wasn’t supposed to happen until after the 3000 as depicted in the documentary Futurama. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/27 "2013-06-20T15:26:54Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I wonder what physical phenomenon was at work that allowed the people to retain their memories of the event but erased the photographic evidence. > > Quite a selective process, that. Either bad chemicals in the film development process or bad chemicals in the brain’s thought process. My money is on the brains. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/28 "2013-06-20T16:02:21Z")
It’s possible. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/29 "2013-06-20T16:04:01Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > It’s possible. Based on what? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/30 "2013-06-20T16:20:16Z")
The Straight Dope has been fighting ignorance for a century now, and yet nonsense like this just keeps coming. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/31 "2013-06-20T16:23:30Z")
Some people believe that they have been through a time slip. Some people believe that they have been abducted by aliens. Some people believe that they have seen ghosts. Some people believe that they have had near-death experiences. Some people believe that they have seen the Mothman. Some people believe that they have seen Bigfoot. Some people believe that they have been visited by angels and demons. Some people believe that they can read minds. Some people believe that crop circles. Some people believe that there are various ancient artifacts that were created by aliens. Some people believe that some other people are witches. Some people believe that the moon landing was faked. Some people believe that the events of 9/11 were faked. Some people believe that Obama was born in Kenya. Some people believe that the Earth is flat. Which of these do you believe in? Why do you believe in the ones that you believe in? Why is it worth our time to investigate time slips rather than hundreds of other things with more people who believe in them? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/32 "2013-06-20T19:50:28Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > The Straight Dope has been fighting ignorance for a century now, and yet nonsense like this just keeps coming. We’ve been thoroughly infiltrated by deep cover operatives from the enemy. Luckily, they’re not very good at maintaining their cover, for obvious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/33 "2013-06-20T20:02:50Z")
I figured out how to get a time slip. Call up your local antiques shop and ask if they have any Victorian lingerie. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/34 "2013-06-20T21:05:09Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > I figured out how to get a time slip. Call up your local antiques shop and ask if they have any Victorian lingerie. I was thinking the undergarment angle would’ve been more along the lines of, “Wearing a time dress without a time slip is just trashy” but you already set the heading so whatever. There is room yet for a _thyme_ slip joke, but I have no ideas for that. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/35 "2013-06-20T21:22:09Z")
I could have sworn **ralph124c** started this same thread last month. I did a search but came up with nothing. ??? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/36 "2013-06-20T22:44:10Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Midnight showings at the Roxy in Toronto in the 70s. Epicentre of the cult. > > Got to the point that it was the only thing showing at the Roxy. > > Good times! > But nothing can ever be the same. The fist person that ever text me in a 3d online world stated they were from Germany and had attended the Rocky Horror show in Madison Wisconsin at the Orpheum Theatre, and did I know where it was. I said of course. It was with a bit of a mind flip. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/37 "2013-06-20T23:07:55Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Either bad chemicals in the film development process or bad chemicals in the brain’s thought process. My money is on the brains. This. Sounds to me more like deja vu, assuming they didn’t all make it up. Sure, it’d be rare for it to hit four people at once, but that’s nothing compared to the extraordinary claim of timeskips. Plus we have a social element, with each person involved reinforcing the others’ stories. There’s also the possibility of shared drug use, which can mess with perceptions of time. Well, at least, the idea of time skips sounds like that. What I read in the article doesn’t sound anything like a timeskip. It sounds like a convolution of getting lost on a trip and having some undeveloped photos exposed to light, with the story getting more fantastic over time through retellings. Again, far more likely than everything we know about time being wrong. As for the OP’s question: timeskips as described would not happen in relativity. Temporal wormholes can in theory exist, but they aren’t some sort of wondering phenomenon, and they aren’t going to make hotels appear out of nowhere or jump you to the past and jump you right back–that would mean it would have to last for at least 8 hours. And nothing about relativity would make only those photos not come out. And once you start questioning some of the story, there’s no reason not to question all of it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/38 "2013-06-21T01:57:40Z")
I hadn’t heard of this one. There’s an older case that was chronicled in A.M. Phillips’ piece “Time Travel Happens”, originally published in Campbell’s _Unknown_ in December 1939, but which got a big boost by being included n the anthology _Adventures in Time and Space_ (ed. Healy and McComas), which is where I first read it. It ends up being reprinted or cited every now and then, as in **The Big Book of the Unexplained** , where it was called “The Versailles Timeslip”. It tells pof two englishwomen who visited Versailles in 1901 and experienced what they thought was a sort-of trip back to the time before the Revolution, even possibly encountering Marie Antoinette. They published their own book on this is 1911, apparently. I don’t believe it, myself (the two accounts they give aren’t even consistent with each other, and apparently contradict some historic facts, even apart from the unlikelihood of something like this even happening), but it’s interesting reading. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/39 "2013-06-21T03:18:44Z")
I’m just glad Rod Serling isn’t alive to read this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415/40 "2013-06-21T03:27:39Z")
You only think he isn’t alive. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-concensus-on-time-slips/661415.md?page=3)