Time slips are a paranormal event during which people – on their own or as a group – inexplicably travel through time by unknown means – and for unknown reasons…
In 1999, Sebastian Raynes was recently divorced and just plain tired. He needed a break and decided to head to NYC for a week of relaxation.
Raynes located a hotel room in the East Village and had plans to spend his time visiting the cities museums and art gallery’s and perhaps see a Broadway show.
On the evening of Raynes fourth day in the city, after seeing the show “Cats”, he was looking for a place to eat when he found a small cafe near his hotel. The cafe appeared to be a 1960′s retro eatery and Raynes was amazed at the detail that had been recreated.
The place appeared to be authentic in every way, including Coca Cola bottles with the name molded into the glass and a waitress wearing a tie dye shirt.
There were only a few people in the cafe, two girls with their boyfriends who both had very long hair, and another long-haired man playing 60′s music on a guitar.
Raynes ordered his food and found that not only were the portions generous, but the food was delicious and the prices were unbelievable. His full meal totaled just $3.25.
Raynes had such a good experience at the cafe he dreamed about the place that night and had every intention of returning. Following another day of sightseeing, Raynes went to the location of the cafe, it wasn’t there.
In the place where the cafe was located was a dark boarded up building that appeared to have had a fire. He was sure that he was at the same place as the previous evening, but just in case he wasn’t, he continued to search for more than two hours but never found the 60′s cafe.
Not about to give up, the next day Raynes went once again to where the cafe had been. As he stood outside the burnt out, boarded up building, he saw a woman who appeared to be in her 60′s.
The two began to talk and Raynes asked the woman if she knew where the cafe was located. She told him that he was in fact at the right location.
The woman said that she had been to the cafe that he described many times, the last time was in the 1974, at the very location where he was now standing. She had not been back because shortly after her last visit the cafe had a kitchen fire and was gutted.
The cafe was never reopened and the building had set empty ever since.
The only thing I can think of is that they may paid using $1 bills; those haven’t been redesigned since 1963. Clad quarters and dimes were circulating by the mid-1960s and wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow unless someone looked at the date.
That said, I’ve had the same question about a number of stories where people claim to have bought items using modern currency. Given that cashiers freak out when handed genuine but uncommon currency such as $2 bills or $1 coins, you would think they’d be on the phone to the cops if they received something from the future.
That question is a particular stumbling block for the famous story of the couple from the 1970s who claimed to have spent an evening at an early-1900s French inn. They were wearing modern clothes and paid for both meals and lodging using contemporary francs. Neither the bills nor coins of the 1970s looked anything like those in use at the turn of the 20th century, let alone clothing … but no one remarked on the anomalies? While I firmly believe time slips are real, some of the stories don’t seem to pass the sniff test.
So, just thinking of this last night. His bill at the diner is $3.25. I assume he paid for his food and did not dine and dash. So, he’s also from 1999 and supposedly had a time slip to the 60’s. So, while the redesign of the US currency to look how it does in the modern day did not go into effect until the 2000s; 90s currency would still be different than 60s currency. The presidents faces being larger. So, why did the waitress not notice. Also, you would assume at some point someone in the 60s would have noticed the “counterfeit” currency. At which point the Treasury Dept. and Secret Service would get involved. They’d have to notice the bill or bills were on official US paper because we use a special blend only the Treasury has for our bills. Logically an investigation would ensue. So, either this was all a lie, the people of the 60s sucked at spotting different bills, or somewhere out there is an internal report at the Treasury on the investigation of counterfeit bills using official Treasury tools which would corroborate the story.