1936 New York Photo Sparks Time Travel Theories Over Mysterious Object

A photograph taken in New York City in 1936 has resurfaced, leading to widespread speculation online that a man in the image is a time traveler using a cellphone.

The black-and-white image, captured by photographer Berenice Abbott in Union Square, shows people walking through the area. One man, with his back to the camera, appears to be holding an object to his ear, fueling theories that he is using a mobile phone decades before the technology was invented.

The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, widely considered the first commercially available handheld cellphone, was not released until 1983, 47 years after the photo was taken. This temporal discrepancy has prompted many on social media to suggest the man is a time traveler.

However, skeptics propose that the object could be a shortwave radio receiver, a technology that existed as early as the 1920s. The first small transistor radio was not available until the 1950s.

Abbott's photograph, titled "Union Square, 14th Street and Broadway," was part of her "Changing New York" documentary project for the Federal Art Project. The image, which captures the bustling intersection during the Great Depression, is currently held in the Brooklyn Museum collection.

The debate echoes similar theories sparked by a 1943 photograph from Reykjavik, Iceland. In that image, a man appearing to use a cellphone on a busy street also led to online speculation about time travel. Some suggested he might have been a spy for the Axis powers, given Iceland's strategic importance during World War II, though the country officially remained neutral and was occupied by Allied forces.