I’m Scared

by Jack Finney

In the 1950s, a retired man in New York City speculates on a variety of cases of odd temporal occurrences such as the woman who realized that the old dog who persistently followed her in 1947 was actually the puppy she adopted several years later. And then there was the now famous case of Rudolph Fentz who seemingly popped into Times Square on an evening in the 1950s, apparently straight from 1876.

— Michael Main

Got himself killed is right. Eleven-fifteen at night in Times Square—the theaters letting out, busiest time and place in the world—and this guy shows up in the middle of the street, gawking and looking around at the cars and up at the signs like he'd never seen them before.

“I’m Scared” by Jack Finney, in Collier’s, 15 September 1951, pp. 24ff..

Million Eyes 0.01

Who Is Rudolph Fentz?

by C. R. Berry

It would seem that Jack Finney got it wrong in his 1951 story “I’m Scared.” But never fear! C. R. Berry tells us the true story of how a certain Mr. Rudolph Fentz came to find himself in front of a cab on a busy street next to Times Square.

— Michael Main

At 11.15pm, Forrest was passing through Times Square, New York City, heading for his apartment on West 51st Street during Times Square’s busiest time, theatre letting out time. Carving through the crowds, wishing he’d gone a different way, Forrest noticed a man in his thirties standing in the middle of the road.

“Who Is Rudolph Fentz?” by C. R. Berry, in Scribble 68, Winter 2015.

Rudolph Fentz

Fictional Characters