The following is a story from the mouth of a Merseyside Policeman who inadvertedly travelled back in time when he was off-duty in July of 1996 in Liverpool City Centre's Bold Street area.

Frank, the policeman in question, and his wife Carol were in Liverpool one sunny Saturday afternoon shopping. At Central Station, the pair split up; Carol went to Dillons Bookshop to buy a copy of Irvine Welsh's 'Trainspotting'. Frank went to HMV to look for a CD he wanted.Twenty minutes into his short stroll to the music shop, he walked up the incline near the Lyceum Post Office/Café building which leads onto Bold Street intending to meet up with his wife, when he suddenly noticed he had somehow entered an oasis of quietness.

Suddenly, a small boxvan that looked like something out of the 1950's sped across his path, honking its horn as it narrowly missed him. Frank noticed the name on the van's side. 'Caplan's'. When he looked down, the confused policeman looked at his shoes to see he was standing in the road. Frank crossed the road and saw that 'Dillons Book Store' now had 'Cripps' over its entrances. More confused he looked in to see not books, but womens' handbags and shoes.

When he looked around, Frank realised people were dressed like those from the 1940's. Suddenly he spotted a young girl in her early 20's dressed in a lime coloured sleevless top. The handbag she was carrying had a popular brand name on it, which reassured the policeman that maybe he was still partly in 1996¹. It was a Paradox², but the policeman was slightly relieved, and he smiled at the girl as she walked past him and entered 'Cripps'.

As he followed her, the whole interior of the building completely changed in a flash to that of Dillons Bookshop of 1996. As she was leaving 'Cripps', Frank lightly grasped the girls' arm to attract attention and said;
'Did you see that?'

She replied;
'Yeah! I thought it was a clothes shop- I was going to look around, But it's a bookshop.'

It has been recently proved that 'Cripps' and 'Caplan's' were actual businesses based in Liverpool during the 1950's.

Another related case of a timeslip is from a construction worker on the renovation of the Lyceum Building. He put down his helmet for a second and then it was gone, with nobody within fifty feet of him! He also noted that his DIGITAL³ watch had gone back two hours!

And now, as a bonus, you get this week's scheduled story as well!

In May 1988 Alice, a cleaner working in an architect's office, was about to start her shift when she noticed one of the staff computers had been left switched on. She didn't know much herself about computers, but knew it was on from the flickering screen. She stepped closer to the flickering screen but realised it wasn't part of her job and if she switched it off, she may get in trouble as unsaved information might be on there.

The next night she noticed that the same computer still with the same flickering screen was on again, but still ignored it. She made a mental note to ask a higher staff member, when she could, if there was any reason for its late night activity. When she asked Rob, an architect who worked there, he replied that it shouldn't be on. All computers and machinery are shut off after work. The only electricity being used should be the lights and vacuum cleaners!

So, Alice the cleaner remembered what Rob had told her as she went about her nightly cleaning work and, as she came up to room 1b, the office where the computer was, she walked in and reached for the plug. She went to switch it off by the mains but... there was no plug inserted! That was the only wall socket in the small office, so she followed the cords from the back. There was one leading to the keyboard, one leading to the printer and when she eventually found the thick black mains cord, she followed the cable to the mains plug. She startingly came across the machine's plug... not in the mains socket! Confused, she made another mental note to ask about this strange machine.

She made her way for the door and, looking back, she noticed a typed message on the screen, 'Hello'. Now she was even more confused, thinking she must be dreaming, but tripped by the mop bucket and felt it, so she assured herself she wasn't. The next day at closing time, she bumped into Rob, about to leave the building, when she remembered what had happened. She told him 'I Don't know much about computers myself, but I know they're not meant to work when they're switched off!' Confused, Rob asked what she was referring to, so she explained what happened the last night with the computer in office 1b. He told her this shouldn't Happen; she was right, so he stayed back and watched the computer, and was startled to find that at precisely 9:18PM on May 11th 1988, the screen flicked itself on and displayed this message: 'Thou!'.

This made Rob sit up from his coffee and pay more attention to the computer. 'Thou!' it repeated. Suddenly, it changed its 'tune'...
'Thou hathe comited a grate cryme.'

Confused, Rob wondered what it meant.
'Thou art a godly man who hathe fanciful woman'

Rob smiled.
...'Who Dwelth in myne home'

it continued.
'twas a grate cryme to hathe stolen myne home'

So, just think next time you wonder why Does that monitor light stay on for just a few seconds long after I switch off my computer by the mains?...

True Story.

Any Stories you may have, with copyright information too, please (if any) that would fit in aka's Haunted World, can be E-mailed to aka.

And... a note to all readers... I was left a message on my personal space by a reader who was a member of the Queen fan club and who I've forgotten the name of, and I apologize. But can said researcher please leave me a message at my website's Forum. Thanks.

aka

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¹This story is from 1996²Paradox; being of illusional Nature³HithchHiker Fans Enjoy!