People are convinced they've spotted 'time traveller' in this 1940s beach pic

01 February 2024 , 15:09

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An apparent beach goer among the scores of others seems to be from a different era (Image: Getty Images/Popperfoto Creative)

People are convinced a 'time traveller' has been spotted in a photograph taken on a beach in the 1940s.

The photo shows Brits enjoying some respite during World War II – but it also contains a strange anomaly that people insist might just be "proof" of time travel. One man appears to be out of place among other sunbathers in Cornwall in 1943. Dressed in brown he is engrossed in what looks like a smartphone from today's era – despite no mobiles being available at the time.

The quirky photograph, taken on Towan Beach in Newquay, now has social media watchers convinced it shows proof of time travel .

The beaches were crowded as 1940s families flocked to the sands (Getty Images/Popperfoto Creative)

The Express reports one social media user who sparked a debate when he asked: "Er...is it just me or is this guy checking his phone.....in the 1940s?" And another commenter said: "Good catch. It's clearly the man in the shot is a time travelling tourist checking his mobile device." Sceptics, however, dismissed the bizarre theory as "nonsensical". One social media user disagreed with the "time travelling" theory and suggested: "I think that chap is rolling a cigarette!"

It is not the first time a bizarre historical photograph sent time travel believers into a frenzy. The Mirror recently revealed how footage from 1938 seemed to offer evidence of time travel. A video showed a group of people walking towards the camera including a young woman who appears to be holding something next to her ear.

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War workers in Cornwall enjoy the beach, but one man is more noticeable than others (Getty Images/Popperfoto Creative)

Social media users claimed she was caught on camera chatting on a mobile - a technology not invented yet in her era. She is wearing in a chic 30s dress and taking a dark object, about the size of a modern phone, away from her ear.

Conspiracy theorists, however, claimed the woman had been caught on film chatting on a mobile phone, decades before the technology was invented. The woman can be seen chatting as she walks in the crowd of people, with the device clamped to the side of her head with one hand. She then lowers it before the film clip ends.

As the woman, clad in a stylish 30s dress, lowers the object from her ear, it can be seen as a dark hand-sized item; the same dimensions as a modern mobile phone. The mystery deepens when one YouTuber came forward claiming the woman in the shot was their great-grandmother, and she was in fact using a mobile phone.

According to YouTube user Planetcheck, the divide is an experimental wireless phone developed by industrial giant Dupont at their factory in Leominster, Massachusetts.

Graeme Murray