Recap

Building a Time Machine

In Art Bell's first interview with Michael "Mad Man" Marcum, originally recorded on April 18, 1995, he details the chronology of his "time machine" experiments. Marcum said he initially was trying to create a small "Jacob's ladder" (a spark that continuously travels between two metal rods), and to do this he used a laser from a CD player to produce the arcing. But during the experiment he noticed a strange shimmering effect above the arc. He threw a screw into it, which he said temporarily disappeared, possibly traveling "half a second into the future."

Marcum then decided he wanted to try the experiment on a larger scale, and stole six unused power transformers from a Missouri power station. Subsequent experiments caused brownouts in the area, and eventually the police investigated, arresting Marcum for theft of the transformers.

The latter portion of the show featured Open Lines.

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Email to the Future

Aside from the occasional Mad Mad Marcum-type claims, time travel technology doesn't exist yet that would enable a person to visit their future self. For now though, you can send an email to the person you will become via FutureMe.org, which lets you specify a date, up to 2035. Forbes.com recently ran a similar experiment, collecting email "time capsules" to be sent out over the next 20 years.