A photograph depicting a scene from downtown Reykjavík in 1943, showing a crowd of locals and GI's walking along the sidewalk in Austurstræti (which was a street back in the 40s but has since been turned into a square) has been making the rounds on Icelandic social media in the past few days. The photographs seems to show a man speaking into a cell phone, a sure sign, some believe that time-travellers have visited Iceland in the past.
Read more: Watch: What did the “bleak outpost” of Reykjavík look like in WWII?
The photograph is taken on the corner of Lækjargata and Austurstræti streets. The group of GIs in the right corner stands in front of a Taxi-station which has since been torn down, but the suspected time-traveller is standing by the window of what is today Nordic Store, a clothing and gift shop. In 1943 the locale housed, appropriately, a watchmaker.
The photograph was shared to the Facebook group Gamlar ljósmyndir, or Old Photographs by Kristján Hoffmann. The photograph, which has been in the possession of Kristján's family for decades, is shot in 1943, at the height of WWII. It clearly shows that the city had clearly been overtaken by the Allied troops, and as Kristján pointed out on Facebook: The US military had clearly overshadowed Icelandic elegance… However, one of the men in the photo, who appears at first glance as a local worker, but at closer inspection looks more like a time-traveller speaking into a mobile phone of some sort.
The photograph sparked intense discussion on Facebook. Most thought the photo actually proved the mobile phone had either been invented in Iceland or pointed to it as yet another proof that Icelanders are unusually quick to adopt new trends. However, it was not until the former punk-rocker Bubbi Morthens, one of Iceland's most beloved pop-stars, pointed out that the photograph was actually proof of time-travel that local media picked up the story. The local newspaper DV ran the story asking readers to weigh in on the matter. Only a quarter of those who participated in the poll, however, believed the man was a time traveller. Most seemed to believe he was picking his ear.
A photograph depicting a scene from downtown Reykjavík in 1943, showing a crowd of locals and GI's walking along the sidewalk in Austurstræti (which was a street back in the 40s but has since been turned into a square) has been making the rounds on Icelandic social media in the past few days. The photographs seems to show a man speaking into a cell phone, a sure sign, some believe that time-travellers have visited Iceland in the past.
Read more: Watch: What did the “bleak outpost” of Reykjavík look like in WWII?
The photograph is taken on the corner of Lækjargata and Austurstræti streets. The group of GIs in the right corner stands in front of a Taxi-station which has since been torn down, but the suspected time-traveller is standing by the window of what is today Nordic Store, a clothing and gift shop. In 1943 the locale housed, appropriately, a watchmaker.
The photograph was shared to the Facebook group Gamlar ljósmyndir, or Old Photographs by Kristján Hoffmann. The photograph, which has been in the possession of Kristján's family for decades, is shot in 1943, at the height of WWII. It clearly shows that the city had clearly been overtaken by the Allied troops, and as Kristján pointed out on Facebook: The US military had clearly overshadowed Icelandic elegance… However, one of the men in the photo, who appears at first glance as a local worker, but at closer inspection looks more like a time-traveller speaking into a mobile phone of some sort.
The photograph sparked intense discussion on Facebook. Most thought the photo actually proved the mobile phone had either been invented in Iceland or pointed to it as yet another proof that Icelanders are unusually quick to adopt new trends. However, it was not until the former punk-rocker Bubbi Morthens, one of Iceland's most beloved pop-stars, pointed out that the photograph was actually proof of time-travel that local media picked up the story. The local newspaper DV ran the story asking readers to weigh in on the matter. Only a quarter of those who participated in the poll, however, believed the man was a time traveller. Most seemed to believe he was picking his ear.
