World History
In 2000/2001, someone claiming to be a time traveller began posting to several message forums on the Web. The poster went by the name of John Titor and claimed to be a time traveller from the year 2036. He posted numerous times and made a variety of claims that would be verifiable in only a few short years.
John Titor loaded pictures of his time machine as well as a cutaway diagram of the device. He answered questions about the future and told his life story as someone who grew up in the early 21st century. His predictions for the future were grim. He claimed that a civil war would engulf the USA starting in 2004. He predicted a Third World War in 2015 that will kill 3 billion people. During this war, Washington D.C. will be destroyed, China will annex Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, and Australia will repel a Chinese invasion. Most American cities are going to be destroyed and it is the rural areas of America which will survive and rebuild the nation. Universities take on a greater role in American life.
Thankfully, John Titor has now been proven a fraud. No civil war began in the USA in 2004. In late summer 2006, it is fairly easy to dismiss this claim. As the alleged time traveller has already failed in his first major prediction, it is a fair assumption that the rest will not happen either. There may be a Third World War someday, but John Titor likely has not predicted the timing or course of events of it. I guess his proponents can claim that John Titor was not a fraud and that he must have visited the past from a different alternate timeline. However, as I am only interested in the timeline I am living in, I am going to dismiss Titor.
John Titor was a major phenomenom in time travel and paranormal circles until his predictions failed to come true in 2004. As I hinted at above, some have even came up with theories that he was real despite the false predictions. I guess the lesson here is if you want to make up claims of being a time traveller, pretend to be from the far future. In this way, you can claim a lack of knowledge of 21st century history and make grand predictions of the far future with no chance of being proven a fraud.
Here are some sites on John Titor:
Wikipedia on John Titor
The Original Forum where John Titor posted
http://www.johntitorweb.com/
Cryptic Universe
Update 7 August 2008: Joh Titor, Proven Hoax - Yes Virginia, there were a 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
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World History
John Titor, Fake Time Traveller
In 2000/2001, someone claiming to be a time traveller began posting to several message forums on the Web. The poster went by the name of John Titor and claimed to be a time traveller from the year 2036. He posted numerous times and made a variety of claims that would be verifiable in only a few short years.
John Titor loaded pictures of his time machine as well as a cutaway diagram of the device. He answered questions about the future and told his life story as someone who grew up in the early 21st century. His predictions for the future were grim. He claimed that a civil war would engulf the USA starting in 2004. He predicted a Third World War in 2015 that will kill 3 billion people. During this war, Washington D.C. will be destroyed, China will annex Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, and Australia will repel a Chinese invasion. Most American cities are going to be destroyed and it is the rural areas of America which will survive and rebuild the nation. Universities take on a greater role in American life.
Thankfully, John Titor has now been proven a fraud. No civil war began in the USA in 2004. In late summer 2006, it is fairly easy to dismiss this claim. As the alleged time traveller has already failed in his first major prediction, it is a fair assumption that the rest will not happen either. There may be a Third World War someday, but John Titor likely has not predicted the timing or course of events of it. I guess his proponents can claim that John Titor was not a fraud and that he must have visited the past from a different alternate timeline. However, as I am only interested in the timeline I am living in, I am going to dismiss Titor.
John Titor was a major phenomenom in time travel and paranormal circles until his predictions failed to come true in 2004. As I hinted at above, some have even came up with theories that he was real despite the false predictions. I guess the lesson here is if you want to make up claims of being a time traveller, pretend to be from the far future. In this way, you can claim a lack of knowledge of 21st century history and make grand predictions of the far future with no chance of being proven a fraud.
Here are some sites on John Titor:
Wikipedia on John Titor
The Original Forum where John Titor posted
http://www.johntitorweb.com/
Cryptic Universe
Update 7 August 2008: Joh Titor, Proven Hoax - Yes Virginia, there were a 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
- John Brown's Raid 150th Anniversary
2009 marks the 150th anniversary of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry. Although the American Civil War may have been inevitable, many historians mark this failed attempt at ending slavery in the United States of America as one of the final...
- Three Years Of The World History Blog
Happy New Year! Last week, this blog successfully passed the three year birthday date. As blogs tend to have short lives, I am very happy to still be around and blogging on a regular basis. Let me thank some people: 1. I appreciate all the readers who...
- The Carnival Of Bad History #9
Who does not know that the first law of historical writing is the truth? Cicero God alone knows the future, but only a historian can alter the past.Ambrose Bierce Welcome to the Carnival of Bad History #9! I am Miland Brown of the World History Blog...
- Unexplained Mysteries Of World War Ii
I recently finished reading Unexplained Mysteries of World War II by William B. Breuer. It was a fun easy read book with lots of short stories that allow for a book you can put down and pick up again frequently without having any difficulty picking up...
- The John Hampden Society
The John Hampden Society. A society devoted to the study of 17th-century Parliamentarian John Hampden, who famous for resisting the King's illegal Ship Money tax. From the site: John Hampden was descended from an ancient Buckinghamshire family of...