Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Record
Daily Record
Lifestyle
Nicola Roy & Patrick Daly

People in disbelief at 1940s wartime photo that proves time travel is 'real'

An old photograph taken during World War II has people believing that time travel may be real.

History fans have claimed that a black and white snap taken in Reykjavik, Iceland contains proof that one man in the image has travelled through time as he appears to be holding a mobile phone up to his ear.

Standing amongst a crowd of locals and US soldiers, the smartly-dressed man looks ordinary at first, but upon taking a closer look, it looks as though he's holding the gadget that wouldn't be invented for decades, the Mirror reports.

Wearing a light trench coat and appearing to be staring directly at the camera, the man takes up the same stance as someone talking into a mobile phone.

And some eagle-eyed history lovers have claimed that he's in fact a time-traveller who was making use of his futuristic bit of technology.

Posted on the Facebook group Gamlar ljósmyndir — meaning "old photographs" in Icelandic — by Kristjan Hoffmann, the social media user made light of the image which was taken over 80 years ago.

"One thing that draws attention to this beautiful picture is… in the middle of the picture, a man is leaning and is using GSM [Global System of Mobile Communications]."

In the post, Kristjan said the man appeared to be "far ahead in technology" with many people in the comments believing it to be true.

Some others offered their own explanations of what could be happening in the historic snap, with one even claiming that it was Dr Who's time-travelling magic at work.

The first handheld phone was invented by Motorola in 1973, which was 30 years after the wartime photograph was taken.

But not everyone was convinced on the time-traveller theory, with some taking a more logical stance on what the man was doing.

"He's checking if the watch works," wrote one Facebook group member. This could be possible as it looks as though the man is standing next to a shop that sells or fixes watches.

Another suggestion offered was that he was using his tobacco pipe to scratch the back of his ear.

Allied forces took over Iceland in 1940 as Winston Churchill was concerned that Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany would invade and take control of the Northern Atlantic seas.

US troops agreed to defend Iceland - in place of British and Canadian troops - in 1941.

By 1943, when the photo is said to have been taken, around 30,000 Allied troops were said to have been based in Iceland.

Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond. Sign up to our daily newsletter here.

READ NEXT:

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.