Rip Van Winkle

by Washington Irving

Ah, poor man, Rip Van Winkle was his name, but it's twenty years since he went away from home with his gun, and never has been heard of since,—

“Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., No. 1 (C. S. Van Winkle, June 1819).

An Inhabitant of Carcosa

The ghost of a man from the ancient, fictional city of Carcosa seems destined to wander the city’s ruins, meeting wildlife and perhaps one even older ghost. Although we detected no definitive time phenomena, the time frame of the story is nebulous and intriguing, and the city’s mythos provided a fertile ground for 20th-century writers including Robert W. Chambers, H. P. Lovecraft, and George R. R. Martin.

— Michael Main

In one kind of death the spirit also dieth, and this it hath been known to do while yet the body was in vigour for many years. Sometimes, as is veritably attested, it dieth with the body, but after a season is raised up again in that place where the body did decay.

“An Inhabitant of Carcosa” by Ambrose Bierce, in the San Francisco Newsletter and California Advertiser, 25 December 1886.

The Lake

by Ray Bradbury

In this tragic tale, Doug returns to the lakeshore where a decade before, at age twelve, he built sandcastles with Tally, his first love.

— Michael Main

Tally, if you hear me, come in and build the rest.

“The Lake” by Ray Bradbury, in Weird Tales, May 1944.

The Silver Highway

by Harold Lawlor

Most likely, Lucy from 1905 is an ordinary ghost rather than a time traveling ghost, but she is confused by the forty years since her death in a brand new Pope-Hartford runabout, so who really knows? So, we’re calling it Debatable Time Travel™.

— Michael Main

She was dressed in a long linen duster and a linen hat, bound round with an emerald veil tied in a bow under her chin. Modish clothing for motoring—in 1905.

“The Silver Highway” by Harold Lawlor, Weird Tales, May 1946.

Portrait of Jennie

by Paul Osborn et al. , directed by William Dieterle

Unlike the original novella, only Eben can see Jennie, bringing up the possibility that she is but a ghost. The ghost theory is supported by her mild premonitions of their evenutal fate (which also differs in some ways from the novella), but we nevertheless hold out some hope that director (and the revolving cadre of five writers) intended the film to portray Jennie’s time travel.

— Michael Main

There’s something different about that child. I wondered if my pencil could catch it.

Portrait of Jennie by Paul Osborn et al. , directed by William Dieterle (premiered at an unknown movie theater, Los Angeles, 25 December 1948).

Casper the Friendly Ghost Theatrical #34

Red White and Boo

by Isadore Klein, directed by Izzy Sparber and Myron Waldman

Every Casper cartoon had the same plot, including at least one (“Red, White and Boo”) from 1955 where Casper wonders whether people in the past will also be scared of him, so he uses a time machine to visit a caveman, Robert Fulton, Paul Revere, General Washington, and a Revolutionary War battle.

— Michael Main

Gee, maybe people in the past won’t be scared of me.

“Red White and Boo” by Isadore Klein, directed by Izzy Sparber and Myron Waldman (21 October 1955).

Unusual Tales #3

Don Alvarado’s Treasure

[writer unknown]

Young Frank Winston has everything a man could ever want, but for the past three months, he's been unable to move on in his ideal life because he’s haunted by dreams of a band of 18th-century Spanish soldiers who buried a treasure chest in the desert north of Mexico.

— Michael Main

"Oh, Professor," half chided Helen Crane, "You don’t mean to say that you believe in these dreams. That the past can actually come back into the present."

“Don Alvarado’s Treasure” [writer unknown], Unusual Tales #3 (Charlton Comics, April 1956).

Journey into Mystery #40

The Swirling Mist!

by Carl Wessler and Joe Sinnott

Reporter Jeff Coates is working on a series of articles about the old Mississippi river mansions when he spots a riverboat near the old, dilapidated Waverly plantation.

— Michael Main

Peculiar things go on ’round that old mansion!

“The Swirling Mist!” by Carl Wessler and Joe Sinnott, in Journey into Mystery #40 (Atlas Comics, November 1956).

Unusual Tales #25

The Confederate Girl

by Joe Gill [?] and Steve Ditko

Civil War mythbuster Hiram White moves to a small Georgia town where the townspeople believe that Confederate ghosts still ride through the dusk.

— Michael Main

Miss Belle Herbert once lived here! During the Civil War she was a southern spy and captured by Major Joshua White!

“The Confederate Girl” by Joe Gill [?] and Steve Ditko, Unusual Tales #25 (Charlton Comics, December 1960).

Unusual Tales #47

The Unwelcome Guest

by Joe Gill [?] and Bill Molno

After a car accident, Steve Teller stumbles into a house that takes him from one time to another.

— Michael Main

Open up! I’ve had enough of this! Whatever crazy explanation there is, I want it now!

“The Unwelcome Guest” by Joe Gill [?] and Bill Molno, Unusual Tales #47 (Charlton Comics, November 1964).

The Ghosts

by Antonia Barber

In the 1960s, a solicitor—Mr. Blunden—arranges for a widow and her children to move to an English house while the rightful heir is tracked down. The two children, Lucy and Jamie, soon meet two orphans, Sara and Georgie, who are living in the house—with their own version Mr. Blunden—exactly one century before! The orphans need help, so with the aid of a magic potion, Lucy and Jamie go back in time to the very day before the orphans will die in a fire (according to the gravestone that Lucy and Jamie found). They definitely have a fix-the-past mission, and they definitely succeed, but in the process, an amazing twist on the grandfather paradox arises (see the spoiler below).

The story has a kind of reverse grandfather paradox: [spoiler Lucy and Jamie’s great-great-grandparents are Sara and Tom (a boy who died trying to save Sara and George). So, initially, Lucy and Jamie actually have no grandparents (at least not on that side), and it’s only by Lucy and Jamie going back in time to save Sara and George (as well as Tom) that Sara and Tom live long enough to have offspring. So where did Lucy and Jamie come from initially in order to be able to go back in time and create the conditions so that they will be born? This is almost a single nonbranching, static timeline, except for the fact that initially, Sara, Georgie, and Tom did die (as evinced by what Lucy and Jamie see and hear in the graveyar), so Lucy and Jamie did change things. I think we need a new name for it, perhaps the grandchild paradox.[/spoiler]

— Michael Main

Lucy found it very confusing. “I don’t think I really understand this Wheel of Time business even now,” she said.

“Oh, I don’t understand it,” said Jamie cheerfully, “but then I don’t understand television either. But when you’ve seen it working, you can’t help believing in it.”

The Ghosts by Antonia Barber (Jonathan Cape, 1969).

Scrooge

by Leslie Bricusse, directed by Ronald Neame

A faithful musical retelling of the original (complete with humbugs and the ambiguity over whether viewing the past and present consists of actual time travel).

— Michael Main

Humbug! Insolent young ruffians coming here with their Christmas nonsense!

Scrooge by Leslie Bricusse, directed by Ronald Neame (premiered at an unknown movie theater, Los Angeles, 5 November 1970).

The Amazing Mr. Blunden

written and directed by Lionel Jeffries

As in the The Ghosts, which formed the basis for the film, a mysterious Mr. Blunden arranges for a widow and her children to move to an old English house while the rightful heir to the house is tracked down. But in the film, young Lucy and Jamie are in 1918 rather than the 1960s, and the “ghost children” are from 1818 rather than the 1860s. Nevertheless, Lucy, Jamie, Sara, George, and Tom all have the same adventure in the past along with a cool Grandchild Paradox.

— Michael Main

Now is the time. Look straight ahead and don’t be afraid.

The Amazing Mr. Blunden written and directed by Lionel Jeffries (at movie theaters, UK, 30 November 1972).

retold for children

A Christmas Carol

abridged by Joan Collins from the original by Charles Dickens

The tale is a somewhat faithful retelling for children, abridge to about a third of the original length, in simple language, and with copious illustrations by Chris Russell. It even retains the metaphysical thought that the future will be bleak for Tiny Tim if things remain unchanged.

— Michael Main

If these shadows do not change, Tiny Tim will not see another Christmas.

“A Christmas Carol” abridged by Joan Collins from the original by Charles Dickens (Ladybird Books, 1982).

Hauntings

by Kim Antieau

“Hauntings” by Kim Antieau, Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, February 1985.

Field of Dreams

written and directed by Phil Alden Robinson

Corn farmer Ray Kinsella is called to build a ballpark in his cornfield; once the field is built, various ballplayers from the past come. The players seem more like ghosts who regard the field as their heaven rather than time travelers, so the actual time travel element is slight, arising from a walk when Ray slips into 1972.

— Michael Main

If you build it, they will come.

Field of Dreams written and directed by Phil Alden Robinson (at limited movie theaters, USA, 21 April 1989).

The Ray Bradbury Theater (s03e03)

The Lake

by Ray Bradbury, directed by Pat Robins

The TV adaptation of Bradbury’s “The Lake” focuses more on the adult man, who’s now thirty-something Doug, but the story structure and pathos of his lost childhood love remain intact.

— Michael Main

If I finish it, will you come?

The Ray Bradbury Theater (s03e03), “The Lake” by Ray Bradbury, directed by Pat Robins (USA Network, 21 July 1989).

The Magic Tree House 3

Mummies in the Morning

by Mary Pope Osborne

Jack and Annie go to the pyramids in Egypt where they help the thousand-year-old ghost of Queen Hupeti find her way to the next life. If this info from the queen is correct, that places them sometime in the period of 1500 BC to AD 700. They also ran into a tomb robber, the likes of which were a problem even in Ancient Egypt.

— Michael Main

“For a thousand years,” said the ghost-queen. “I have waited for help.”

Mummies in the Morning by Mary Pope Osborne (Random House, August 1993).

Edelstein Trilogie, Book 1

Rubinrot

English release: Ruby Red Literal: Ruby red

by Kerstin Gier

Sixteen-year-old Gwendolyn Shepherd [Gwyneth in the English translation] always seems to be in the shadow of her cousin Charlotte Montrose, just because Charlotte—born the day before “Gwenny”—is prophesized to be the twelfth and final carrier of a rare time-travel gene passed down through the centuries. But Gwenny doesn’t mind, as she can’t think of anything worse than Charlotte’s carefully prescribed upbringing and the prospect of dizzy spells sending her uncontrollably through time. As the first book of the tightly connected Edelstein Trilogy, the plot plods through Gwenny’s anxious awakening to complicated family mysteries and to her feelings for the pompous Gideon de Villiers, aka time traveler #11.

— Michael Main

Es regnete fürchterlich. Ich hätte besser nicht nur den Regenmantel, sondern auch Gummistiefel angezogen. Mein Lieblings-Magnolienbaum an der Ecke ließ traurif sein Blüten hängen. Brevor ich ihn erreicht hatte, war ich schon dreimal in eine Pfütze getreten. Als ich gerade eine vierte umgehen wollte, riss es mich vollkommen ohne Vorwarnung von den Beinen. Mein magen fuhr Achterbahn und die Straße verschwamm vor meinen Augen zu einem grauen Fluss.

It was raining cats and dogs, and I wished I’d put on my wellies. The flowers on my favorite magnolia tree on the corner were drooping in a melancholy way. Before I reached it, I’d already splashed through three puddles. Just as I was trying to steer my way around a fourth, I was swept suddenly off my soggy feet. My stomach flip-flopped, and before my eyes, the street blurred into a grey river.

English

[ex=bare]Rubinrot | Ruby red[/ex] by Kerstin Gier (Arena Verlag, January 2009).

Magic Tree House: Merlin Mission 14*

A Good Night for Ghosts

by Mary Pope Osborne

Jack and Annie must travel back in time to New Orleans in 1915 to help a teenage Louis Armstrong fulfill his destiny and become the “King of Jazz.”

— based on fandom.com

A Good Night for Ghosts by Mary Pope Osborne (Random House, July 2009) [print · e-book].

Edelstein Trilogie, Book 2

Saphirblau

English release: Sapphire Blue Literal: Sapphire blue

by Kerstin Gier

Apart from amusing blustering from the Count during her trips to the 18th century, time travel took a back seat to Gwenny’s on-again-off-again romance with Gideon in this second book of the trilogy. Gwenny’s new pal, the ghost/demon/gargoyle Xemerius, was enjoyable, though we wish that he would be time traveller #13.

— Michael Main

Rubinrot, Begabt mit der Magie des Raben, Schließt G-Dur den Kreis, Den zwölf gebildet haben.

Ruby Red, with G-major, the magic of the raven, brings the Circle of Twelve home into safe haven.

English

[ex=bare]Saphirblau | Sapphire blue[/ex] by Kerstin Gier (Arena Verlag, January 2010).

Magic Tree House: Merlin Mission 16*

A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time

by Mary Pope Osborne

Jack and Annie travel back to Victorian London when Merlin asks them to use their magic to inspire Charles Dickens to write “A Christmas Carol.”

— based on fandom.com

A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time by Mary Pope Osborne (Random House, September 2010) [print · e-book].

Insidious 2

Insidious: Chapter 2

by Leigh Whannell, directed by James Wan

The first scene goes back to the time of Josh (the dad in Insidious) as a boy when he was possessed by a woman in white. The movie then returns to the present day, just after a possessed Josh murdered the exorcist who had treated him as a child, and gives a horrific, supernatural explanation of it all—including time travel via a demon world of non-linear time.

— Michael Main

I, uh, digitized the actual footage taken from the night. I, uh, cropped and lightened the image.

Insidious: Chapter 2 by Leigh Whannell, directed by James Wan (at movie theaters, USA etc., 13 September 2013).

Effect and Cause

by Grove Koger

Over dinner, a group of professional men and women called the Club discuss a recent happening at a house that’s been haunted since 1928.

— Michael Main

The house Parry lived in had been built in 1928, right before the Depression hit, and the odd thing was that it apparently was haunted from the very beginning. From day one.

“Effect and Cause” by Grove Koger, Bewildering Stories, 15 September 2014.

Monster High, Movie #10

Monster High: Freaky Fusion

by Keith Wagner, directed by William Lau

The animated gang of teen monsters travel centuries into the past to the first day ever at Monster High, but when they return they have each merged with another in the group creating freaky hybrid monsters all around. I’m not sure, but I’m betting that Mattel used this DVD release as an opportunity to also sell freaky hybrid fashion dolls.

— Michael Main

It’s 1814: They’ve never seen fashion styles like ours before.

Monster High: Freaky Fusion by Keith Wagner, directed by William Lau (direct-to-video, USA, 16 September 2014).

Somewhere Between

by Stephen Tolkin et al., directed by Duane Clark et al.

After San Francisco suffers a week of terror at the hands of a serial killer ending with the death of Laura Price’s eight-year-old daughter Serena, Laura falls into a dark depression and attempts suicide. Next thing she knows, she’s waking up before that week, whereupon she teams up with ex-police detective Nico Jackson (who also got thrown back in time), hoping to change the week, catch the killer, save Nico’s brother’s life, and save Serena—all in a mere nine additional episodes.

— Michael Main

I’m not going to let anybody hurt you this time. I swear to you on my life.

Somewhere Between by Stephen Tolkin et al., directed by Duane Clark et al., 10 pts. (ABC-TV, USA, 24 July – 19 September 2017).

Found Things #1

The Little Shop of Found Things

by Paula Brackston

Xanthe Westlake and her mother are looking for a fresh start as owners of an antique shop in the village of Marlborough when a 17th century silver chanelaine calls to Xanthe’s psychic powers and eventually takes her on a quest to save a young servant girl in 1605 (and maybe, in the process, meet a handsome young architect with oddly modern views on women).

— Michael Main

Had she somehow crucially alterted her own present by changing Alice’s future? The thought that she might have started some terrible chain of events that she could not possibly have foreseen, nor known about, worried her more and more. It was only in the small hours of Wednesday night that an answer came to her that seemed to make sense. The present that she knew, the way things were in her time, could only have come about if she had traveled back to the past. Her finding the chatelaine, her answering Alice’s call for help, those things were necessary to shape the past and bring about the future as it was. She had to believe this. It did work. She was a part of how things had turned out, not an alternative version, but the one she was meant to live in. If she hadn’t gone back, hadn’t taken the decision to help Alice, well, that wouldhave resulted in a different future from the one she knew.

The Little Shop of Found Things by Paula Brackston (St. Martin’s Press, October 2018).

The Umbrella Academy, Season 1

by multiple writers and directors

Of the 43 children born 1 October 1989 with no gestation period, the eccentric and sometimes cruel billionaire Reginald Hargreeves brought up seven of them and turned them into the super-powered group called the Umbrella Academy when they developed powers. Nearly thirty years later, after Hargreeves dies, the five surviving members of the group gather at their family home. Oh, and: Number Six died some time ago and only Number Four can see him; Number Five disappeared about seventeen years ago, but he’s back (and in his 13-year-old body) after living 45 years in a post-apocalyptic future that’s scheduled to start in eight days.

— Michael Main

As far as I could tell, I was the last person left alive. I never figured out what killed the human race. I did find something else: the date it happens.. . . The world ends in eight days, and I have no idea how to stop it.

The Umbrella Academy, Season 1 by multiple writers and directors, 10 episodes (Netflix, USA, 15 February 2019).

The Umbrella Academy, Season 2

by multiple writers and directors

Five’s plan for the Umbrella siblings to escape the apocalypse by going into the past ends up scattering them throughout different years of Dallas in the 1960s. They manage okay on their own until shortly after 11/22/63, when secondary effects from changes to the timeline cause a nuclear holocaust that can be averted only by recently arrived Five jumping back to 11/15/63 to exert his unique charm into getting the gang to work together.

— Michael Main

Hazel to Five: If you want to live, come with me.”

The Umbrella Academy, Season 2 by multiple writers and directors, ten episodes (Netflix, USA, 31 July 2020).

Magic Tree House 36*

Sunlight on the Snow Leopard

by Mary Pope Osborne

The magic tree house is back with a message from Morgan le Fay telling Jack and Annie to seek out the Gray Ghost and listen to her story, and immediately they are whisked away to Nepal where they meet Tenzin, a climber who has recently lost his family, and who takes them up to the mountain to meet a snow leopard and renew himself.

— based on fandom.com

Sunlight on the Snow Leopard by Mary Pope Osborne (Random House, January 2022) [print · e-book].

The Magic Tree House: Graphic Novel 3

Mummies in the Morning: The Graphic Novel

adapted by Jenny Laird, Kelly Matthews, and Nicole Matthews

For the first time in graphic novel—live the adventure again with new full-color vibrant art that brings the magic to life!

— from publicity material

Mummies in the Morning: The Graphic Novel adapted by Jenny Laird, Kelly Matthews, and Nicole Matthews (Random House Children’s Books, June 2022) [print · e-book].

Ghosts of Christmas Always

by Zach Hug and Annika Marks[/urlx, directed by Rich Newey

This time around, the usual three ghosts are only one of the many three-ghost teams who are given a yearly assignment to scrooge one of the many Scrooges who seem to be more numerous than ever before. Together with their 2022 assignment—Peter Baron, an unsatisfied son of a food baron—they provide a nice tear-jerker for the entire family.

— Michael Main

He’s like the anti-Scrooge.

Ghosts of Christmas Always by Zach Hug and Annika Marks[/urlx, directed by Rich Newey (Hallmark Channel, USA, 30 October 2022).