Podcast Summary: Conspiracy Theories

Episode Title: BEST OF 2025: Time-Slipping Through Europe
Hosts: Carter Roy & Co-host (Miki Taylor or Connor Sampson)
Release Date: December 17, 2025
Duration (Content): ~45 min

Episode Overview

This "Best Of" installment revisits the year’s most compelling story: time slips across Europe. The episode dives deep into claims of involuntary time travel—ordinary people finding themselves transported to different eras, seemingly by accident. The stories span historic locales in England, France, Scotland, and Germany, blending skeptical analysis with classic mystery and motive-hunting. Anchored by well-known cases like the Moberly–Jourdain incident at Versailles, the episode examines other European time slip accounts, psychological explanations, and what these stories say about our understanding of time.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: What is a Time Slip?

• Hosts recap the year (00:00–02:11): Carter and the co-host riff on notable 2025 podcast themes before introducing the topic of time slips—unintentional, uncontrolled travel to a different time.

• Stephen Hawking’s Time Travelers Party (01:20–02:11): An amusing and thought-provoking opener, where Hawking invites time travelers to a party, sending invitations only after the event to see if any guests from “the future” would show up. None do, which he takes as “experimental evidence that time travel is not possible.”

  “What if humans have already time traveled by accident? What if we can move through time, we just have no control over when that happens or what year we visit? What if we can time slip?”
  — Carter Roy (01:55)

2. Case Study: The Moberly–Jourdain Incident (Versailles, 1901)

• Background on the main subjects (05:33–07:46): Introduces Charlotte Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain, two English academics.

• Strange Events at the Petit Trianon (07:46–11:19): While wandering Versailles, the pair experiences altered surroundings, ghostly figures in antique dress, and an overwhelming eerie atmosphere.

  “Moberly later describes feeling despondent, even depressed, while Jourdain likens her own state to walking through a dream.” — Co-host (08:48)

• Aftermath & Investigation (11:19–17:34): They compare notes, realize their experiences match, and embark on a years-long investigation. Ultimately, they publish An Adventure, detailing what they think was a psychic glimpse into Marie Antoinette’s last days.

  “They even theorized that what they saw was like an echo of Marie Antoinette’s memories, a psychic imprint of her last peaceful days at the Petit Trianon that became visible in 1911.”
  — Co-host (17:08)

• Skeptics and Supporters (17:34–18:23): The book draws both masses of readers and detractors. Later discovered architectural plans of a lost Chinese kiosk add a twist of possible validation.

  “The official website of Versailles acknowledges that decades after An Adventure came out, old plans are discovered that seem to back up at least part of their story.” — Co-host (18:23)

3. A Glimpse of the Future: Victor Goddard and Drem Airfield (Scotland, 1935)

• Victor Goddard’s Experience (20:23–24:08): RAF commander Goddard flies over an abandoned airfield; in a sudden burst of sunlight, he sees the place fully restored with unfamiliar aircraft and mechanics in blue overalls—four years before these changes actually take place.

• Dealing with the Aftermath (24:08–25:56): Goddard remains quiet for years, only to see his vision become reality in 1939. This shakes his sense of fate and free will.

  “He wonders, do the fatalists have it right? Is everything preordained? And if not, then was he somehow chosen to have that vision of the future?”
  — Carter Roy (25:27)

• Goddard’s Legacy (25:59–27:34): After documenting other paranormal incidents, Goddard eventually becomes a well-respected wartime figure, noted for his role at Dunkirk and his knighthood.

4. The Kersey Time Slip: Three Cadets in Medieval England (1957/1980s)

• Incident Overview (28:58–32:13): Three rookie Royal Navy cadets in Suffolk stumble into what appears to be a medieval version of the village Kersey—sound is deadened, modern features vanish, and a butcher shop is eerily empty and dilapidated.

• Long-Term Impact and Investigation (32:13–35:34): Two cadets reflect on the event decades later, eventually reaching out to parapsychology researcher Andrew Mackenzie.

• Retrocognition Theory (35:34–36:31): Mackenzie suggests the boys witnessed "retrocognition," essentially reliving a piece of the past—possibly the plague-ravaged 15th century, when Kersey appeared deserted and midtown landmarks were incomplete.

  “Mackenzie suggests the cadets had seen Kersey in the year 1420 or thereabouts. In those years, the village, like much of Europe, had been devastated by the Black Death.”
  — Carter Roy (36:05)

5. Other European Time Slips

• Hamburg Bombing Premonition (37:53–38:28): Two journalists witness a bombing in Hamburg in 1932, only for it to occur exactly as witnessed—11 years later during World War II.
• Bold Street, Liverpool (38:55–40:14): Stories of people “slipping” into the past (usually the 1950s) abound in this bustling shopping district, including the famous account of the police officer Frank and the vanishing bookstore.

6. Debunking and Skeptical Perspectives

• Cognitive Fallibility (40:21–41:27): Psychologists like Dr. Kieran O’Keefe propose time slips are natural errors—misinterpretation, tiredness, or confirmation bias.

  “People who witness these events believe they’re real, but they’re actually experiencing tricks of the mind.”
  — Carter Roy (40:42)

• Physical Theories and Limitations (41:32–43:41): The hosts break down scientific theories like Einstein’s time dilation, wormholes, and closed time-like curves but stress the immense barriers and unlikelihood, at least as it relates to these anecdotal events.

7. Why Europe?

• Many cases come from Europe due to its dense history and preserved architecture; “time leaks” may feel more plausible amid so many old buildings.

8. Concluding Thoughts

• Unsolved Mysteries (43:41–44:24): It’s impossible, the hosts admit, to rule out every explanation. Perhaps if time slips exist, the universe reveals them only at its whim.

  “Perhaps we can only time travel when—and if—the universe dictates it.”
  — Carter Roy (44:24)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the unsettling nature of time slips:

  “Or maybe you’d get a sickening feeling down in the pit of your stomach telling you something isn’t right.” (05:21)

• On the limits of science:

  “There’s so much we don’t know about the nature of time and how it works.” (41:32)

• On the persistence of belief:

  “Some say the Bold Street time slips are urban legends...but that doesn’t change the fact that so many people claim it’s happened to them too.” (40:14)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Stephen Hawking’s Time Traveler Experiment: 01:20–02:11
• Moberly–Jourdain Incident (Versailles): 05:33–19:07
• Victor Goddard’s “Future Trip”: 20:23–27:34
• Kersey Cadets & Retrocognition: 28:58–37:53
• Other European Cases: 37:53–40:14
• Skeptical Explanations: 40:21–43:41
• Wrap-Up & Final Theories: 43:41–44:24

Style & Tone

The hosts strike a balance between skeptical inquiry, narrative suspense, and playful engagement. There’s a consistent theme: questioning both official explanations and extraordinary claims, always returning to mystery and wonder.

Further Reading / Sources Cited

• Moberly and Jourdain, An Adventure
• Victor Goddard, Flight Towards Reality
• Mike Dash, “When Three British Boys Traveled to Medieval England — Or Did They?” Smithsonian Magazine

In Summary:
This episode of Conspiracy Theories is a compelling, well-researched journey through Europe’s most enduring “time slip” stories, weaving together historical accounts, skeptical science, and an open-ended sense of wonder about the strange nature of time.