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Most of us move through time without ever noticing it. Seconds pass, days accumulate, years slip quietly behind

us, but on rare occasions something appears to go wrong. A person finds themselves somewhere

they do not belong, surrounded by a world that feels unfamiliar, faster, louder and strangely

hostile.

In the winter of 1951, in the heart of New York City, witnesses reported seeing a man

step into existence where no man had stood a moment before. Within minutes he was dead, but when

investigators searched his body, it left them questioning not so much where he was dead, but when investigators searched his body, it left them questioning

not so much where he came from, but when. Thank you. I'm going to

The New York City in the winter of 1951 was a place caught between eras. The war had ended only a few years

earlier, and the city carried a sense of momentum and confidence that came with survival.

Times Square, already known as the crossroads of the world, was particularly alive in December.

Neon signs glowed against the early darkness, reflecting off wet pavements dusted with snow. Department store windows shimmered

with Christmas displays, whilst traffic pressed in from every direction, horns echoing

between the buildings as pedestrians hurried across the streets, collars turned up against the cold.

It was during one such evening amidst the noise and movement of the city that something profoundly out of

place was said to have occurred. Witnesses later described seeing a young man suddenly appear on the

pavement, as though he had stepped

forward from thin air. There was no warning, no gradual approach, no sign that he had crossed

the street. One moment the space was empty, the next, he was standing there, frozen, staring at the unfamiliar world around him.

He appeared to be in his late twenties.

...