May 14, 2007

Oak View: Time Port?

By Richard Senate

Does a door to other times exist in the community of Oak View, California? Some believe this hamlet does have its own time traveler. In 2004 a bizarre advertisement appeared in a local newspaper. It read:

"Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box---- Oak View, CA 93022. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before."

The strange ad made the rounds and stimulated a great deal of talk. It even appeared on the popular Jay Leno TV show. When talk began to die down, the story became an Internet phenomenon with Web sites and even investigations by amateur detectives. At this point the ad appeared on the Net a second time with the addition of a picture of a stone-faced man with a mullet-hair cut. The ad was accompanied by the song, "Push it to the limit" from the soundtrack from the film Scar Face.

Many were curious about the so-called time traveler and wanted to find out the identity of the mullet-haired man. Was he a real time traveler and did he really live in Oak View? One persistent investigator managed to get a phone number he thought was real. He called the number and asked for the time traveler. The woman who answered, listened, then cryptically said, "Never call here again," and hung up! Another investigator acquired a different phone number and got a voice message that asked callers to, "Leave a message for Mark, Debbie or Moses or Caesar." Could the message have referred to the Moses and Caesar of history staying as house guests in Oak View? Others suggest the two names must be pets of some type.

It wasn't long before someone on the Net came up with a curious photograph. It was found in a dusty attic and depicts a man wearing a Confederate uniform holding a rifle from the Civil War. The man in the picture looks like the fellow in the mullet hairstyle! Was this "proof "of his time traveling escapades or a simple hoax? Some have even walked the town of Oak View seeking further evidence of the traveler (or Moses and Caesar). One man believed he found the address of the traveler only to discover a vacant lot at the place. In the weeds on the lot, he found a yellowed letter from a "John Titor." A Web search linked the name to another time traveler said to have come from the year 2036 and discovered by Art Bell on his radio show years ago.

For years now Web sites and discussion boards have kept alive the story of the mullet-haired man and the catch phrase "safety not guaranteed." The craze has all the earmarks of an elaborate hoax, but as a fan of all things strange and bizarre it interested me. As a resident of Oak View I had to reluctantly admit that odd things do happen in the small community. Encounters with people on horseback are not uncommon. Are they just horse enthusiasts or are they real cowboys from the nineteenth century? Many strange people do walk the town. I have seen a few who might pass for Moses or Julius Caesar in modern dress. Even people wearing costumes of the Civil War are seen. Are they re-enactors or time travelers?

Then there are the power failures that happen from time-to-time. It is said that time travel takes a great deal of electrical energy. Could the flicker of the lights and black outs be the results of the mullet-haired man's experiments? I have heard stories of ghosts and strange lights seen in Oak View from Creek Road to the Ventura River bottom. There are even stories of UFOs. Are they aliens from other worlds looking into our earthly experiments in time travel? Could it be that Oak View is the center of a natural time vortex of some sort? Maybe the mullet haired man has discovered how to control the vortex and use it to travel the forth dimension?

Even if it all proves to be nothing but a very clever prank, it is a creative one. Maybe Oak View should capitalize on its Internet fame and call itself "Time Port USA." If Roswell, New Mexico, can turn a crashed weather/spy balloon into a UFO cottage industry, maybe Oak View can become the time traveler's Mecca?

PS. The time traveler can reach me at my e-mail site HaintHunter@aol.com. If you are still in 2007, that is. Richard Senate, Oak View, California.

Richard Senate is a California-based author and lecturer and a regular contributor to Ghostvillage.com. His latest book, The Ghosts of California Missions, is available now. Visit his Web site at: www.ghost-stalker.com