unforum

[kaaate]

Found this on the tube... very intrigued

[Nostromo]

can you check it with blacklight?

[kaaate]

[MsDirection]

Question - if you didn't know about ARGs or Trailheads, how did you find UnFiction?

Regarding the photo and envelope, might it have something to do with the Battle of Britain?

Excited for the possible start of a new ARG!!

[kosmopol]

Interesting!
But are you sure, it's "19 Yo"
and not 1940?
I mean "Aug. 15-22. 1940"

[JumboTron]

Various issues:

The grammar is all wrong with "do you know who i am before i gone missing?" Should be "went", rather than "gone".

The car doesn't appear to be from the 1940s - more like the 60s. I would say that the car could be a Hillman Imp, which started manufacture in 1963.

Possibly the writing on the back of the photo says "Nearby Great Yarmouth. August 15-22 1970"?

[kosmopol]

Are there something at the back side of the photo?

[kaaate]

[kaaate]

[kaaate]

[kaaate]

[kosmopol]

Thank you for your answers!
I am really wondering now if it's a Scavenger Hunt alike project or really an Alternate Reality Game. You are fully right to come to UnFiction - we are looking for such stories hier. Welcome and let's try to find many clues.

It it's 19yo, so it's pretty weird kind of dating. So we would have here just a month (August) and a day range "15-22". Which try to point out a many days event (vacation, travel or something more personal, like short relationship).

Then the person on the photo - is it the narrator who went missing? Or rather another person, who is being adressed by the letter?

[curiousmofo]

Hello

My interest has been thoroughly piqued by all this.

I saw this thread because my friend posted on Facebook that he had found an envelope, a sheet with the sameness phrase (but with more faded letters which suggests we are too find out before fades away entirely), and a photo of an old(ish) man in a suit, which also had writing on the back. That's how I came to see this forum and see Kaate's post.

Here's are all the relevant photos and my findings or thoughts with you about all the clues and info so far.

(alt+p)

(alt+p)

(alt+p)

My friend found the photo at approx 6.45am on the Piccadilly line on a London underground train going westbound from Finsbury Park (where he got on). It was Thursday 13th July.

Okay. So we know this photo has a proper date to it. It is 1968. At first these men in photos were same men. They seem to have fairly similar face shape but seems unlikely to be same as I think the photos not taken that far apart from one another to have such a difference in appearance in age. Worth noting that it looks like man in the 1968 photo has a cigarette in his hand.

We know that the man in the Gt Yarmouth photo appears considerably older than 19. It is hard to tell if it says yo or if it says 40 or if it says 70. I don't think the photo was taken in 1970 or in 1940. The main reason being that by 1970 colour had taken over as dominant photography.

It also appears that the car is from mid fifties to mid to late 60s. I'm confident that the car is not a Hillman Imp but a Hillman Minx. A friend of mine tipped me off on that but I am almost certain he's right.

It's still slightly unclear which particular model it is. The reason it's a Hillman Minx and not an Hillman Imp is the Imp's door and side body came out more, the position of the door handle was lower from the bottom of the window than the Minx and the door handle itself was different. We can also tell from the steering wheel too but there were lots of Minx steering wheels and series so it's really hard to date this one - would need more of a care expert to say. One thing that does puzzle me is what appears to be a side light close to the bumper. I can't find a model that sort of light - perhaps it is just a bump or lighting blimp. There's also a wing mirror on the bonnet which is quite an interesting style. I think the photo could be taken anywhere between late 50's and late 60's and the Minx itself is potentially from around that same time. AS it's non-colour, I would suggest that the Gt Yarmouth photo was taken a few years earlier than the 68 photo, but that's fairly speculative.

Anyway, we also know that the writing in this photograph is v different than the writing in the 1968 photo. The style of M's and the style of O's are different and in particularly the style of 9 is different. One does a 9 in two strokes, one does in whole stroke (not sure if this is the technical way of putting it but zoom in on the numbers and you'll see what I mean).

One thought that occurred is that perhaps the photo was taken around the same time in two different places and we have to try and piece that link together.

As was pointed out, Battle of Britain is still an angle worth thinking about.

Perhaps there is something around Dunkirk too - mainly thinking that as Christoper Nolan's film is coming out soon and Batman film had crazy ARG for that. Perhaps the idea is finding out about a veteran survivor as per the Battle of Britain lead too.

Some questions that may help us:

What is the exact model and date of car in the first photo? Is there any link between Great Yarmouth and Isle of Man and/or Port Soderick? Is there a link between Hillman Minx and Yarmouth, Isle of Mann and/or Port Soderick? Is there a link between Hillman Minx and Dunkirk/Battle of Britain and/or Great Yarmouth and/or Isle of Man and/or Port Soderick?

Other things to observe an in first photo is holding sunglasses. Are they of any particular style that we can recognise or help date the photo?


Anyway, I hope you all might be able to shed more light on this

Oh, finally as to the grammar. Isn't it deliberate so we know that perhaps the person is from the West, probably Norfolk or surrounding areas?

[kosmopol]

Interesting, thank you for submission!

Both letters are written with various typewriters (last one has some issue with "e").

Looking for clues and possible abbreviatures (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOM), I suppose, I.O.M. can rather stay for

[JumboTron]

This is getting weirder and weirder!

Initially I thought this was just something that someone accidentally left on the tube, but with the second envelope it does appear to be some sort of puzzle. It must the same man - as he holds his cigarette the same way.

It's got to be chronological, as the words are (deliberately) beginning to fade.

With that in mind the first photo - "Nearby Great Yarmouth" - must be August 15-22 1940 and not 1970.

The second photo - "Isle of Man" - is 1968. So taken 28 years after the first photo.

I would guess that the man is around 65 years old in the second photo(?) Which would make him 37 years old in the first photo.

Intriguing.