Well, well, well, isn’t it odd that someone is coming out of the woodwork with claims of time travel just as a Hollywood movie is hitting theaters? My Spidey Sense is tingling!

Early this year Javier did a short article on this guy. Now he’s really coming on strong and with Hollywood opening the door, why not. So, I thought I’d revisit the story and give my twist on things.

Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the need for the traveler to experience the intervening period (at least not at the normal rate). Any technological device – whether fictional or hypothetical – that would be used to achieve time travel is commonly known as a time machine.

Seemingly right on cue, a Vancouver Washington Attorney named Andrew Basiago is alleging to be a seasoned time traveler from the cold war era. Not only that, but Basiago asserts that this technology was available over 40 years ago.

His claims get even more verbose as he says his first “jump” through time happened as a wee lad of just 7 years old. He took his first “Fringe”-like trip with his father while in the 3d grade, as part of the “Pegasus Program”.

Is this guy mental? Lets tune into the video and see what he has to say:

VANCOUVER, Wash. – The new Bruce Willis movie “Looper” opens this weekend, in which Willis’ character is sent back in time to kill himself.

And while most scientists say time travel isn’t possible, a Washington attorney claims he’s done it dozens of times as part of a secret Cold War project.

“I have physically traveled in time,” says Andrew Basiago, an attorney in Vancouver, Wash. “We have – we did over 40 years ago.”

“I entered the program officially in the fall of 1969 as a third grader, age 7,” says Basiago.

He says he was one of 140 kids, 60 adults – chrononauts, including his dad, who he says joined him on his first jump.

“My dad held my hand, we jumped through the field of energy, and we seem to be moving very rapidly but there was also a paradox and we seemed to be going no where at all,” he says.

The TV show “Fringe” aired a similar scene two years ago. A coincidence?

Paradoxes, unscientific claims, unbelievable stories and encounters on Earth and Mars – including meeting Barack Obama when the president was a kid.

Basiago also says he time-traveled six times to the Ford Theatre on the day President Lincoln was shot – but he didn’t see it happen. He also saw President Lincoln on another famous occasion, he says.

“In fact, during one probe, the one to Gettysburg, the Gettysburg Address, I was dressed as Union bugle boy,” he says.

That’s right – he was at the Gettysburg Address. He says a famous photo taken that day proves it. The picture shows a bugle boy who he says is him. It’s the only visual evidence he provides for any of his travels – nothing else.

“I was physically at Gettysburg,” says Basiago.

So, time traveller or whackadoo?

One thing I notice in the quoted material is the assertion that “most scientist believe time travel is not possible.” I’m not so sure that’s the case as more and more experts are giving into the concept of time travel. Now, most will tell you that the only possible direction is forward in time, which blows Basiago’s claims right out of the water. Then again, I don’t think we really need to sample the opinions of science types in this case, but hey, why not?

Instead of doing an edited version of time travel science, I included a link in the associated content below from How Stuff Works that will give a great and very understandable run down.

Now that we’ve covered that, lets get back to the more questionable aspects of time travel claims.

One of the most famous alleged time travelers is John Titor who just showed up on an interweb discussion board one day in 2000 and laid out a fascinating story of his experience. So convincing was Titor that he launched a debate among believers and non that is still going on as we speak. In fact, the film “Looper” is bound to boost his story back into pop culture, at least for those who follow such subjects.

The bottom line is while I believe that time travel is a distinct possibility, I am not so sure I believe those who claim to have experienced such a thing, unless LSD was involved, or possibly a canned ham.

If you happen to believe Basiago, he is now the big wheel-o-cheese regarding the new Project Pegasus and I’m sure he’d love to have you come aboard the time and space plane train:

Today, Andy serves as the Team Leader of the new Project Pegasus, the only group in the world that is lobbying the US government to declassify its time travel secrets.

Under Andy’s leadership, the mission of today’s Project Pegasus is to lead the campaign in law, politics, and culture to urge the US government to disclose its teleportation capability, so that this revolutionary technology can be used to advantage humanity in the 21st century.

Andy envisions a world in which teleports will replace airports for “real time” transit between major transport hubs around the world, thereby making long-distance travel faster, easier, safer, and cheaper.

The declassification and deployment of the US government’s teleportation capability may also be the most important environmental cause of our time, for it will prevent billions of tons of pollutants from conventional transport from entering the atmosphere every year.

Project Pegasus invites you to join Andy in his heroic quest to usher in the Time-Space Age. Together, we can transform life on Earth. Let’s go for it!

Thanks to Komo News for giving this the time of day.

Associated Content:

EX: How Time Travel Works
EX: Project Pegasus
GT: Seattle Attorney Claims Government Sent Him On Time Travel Missions