The Time Traveler Everyone’s Talking About In Central New York

If you’ve been to one McDonald’s in Central New York, you may have spotted him: the so-called “Time Traveler.”

Who Is This Time Traveler?

One Redditor, posting under the name u/AKAMrPjs, says he and his Dad ran into the mysterious figure a few months ago at a local McDonald's, and the encounter was anything but ordinary:

"A few months ago my dad and I went to the McDonalds in Shop City. While at the McDs we came across this "Time Traveller" he was such an interesting dude, probably 250lbs 5'9 Caucasian White hair and a Time Traveller type outfit. This man went on and on about how he dated Marilyn Monroe in the 1920s, how he dated Britney Spears, he fought in WW2, so many different things. He even had pictures, cool notes in his notebook and really knew how to make his wording keep you engaged. If I find the pictures and Videos of him I'll share them."

So let's review these claims for a moment. The man claimed he’d dated Marilyn Monroe in the 1920s....which is impossible. She was born in 1926, which means, did he date a toddler? Was Marilyn Monroe a time traveler too? This mystery guy also romanced Britney Spears, and even fought in World War II. He carried props, photos, handwritten notes, and a notebook full of tales.

And he’s not a one-time apparition. The original poster’s Mom later saw a Facebook post from someone else who met the very same man in Syracuse, who told the very same stories. Cue the chorus of Reddit sleuths, skeptics, and comedians.

Reddit Responds: Skeptics, Jokes, and Theories

Some leaned into the joke. “I met him two weeks from now. Good dude,” quipped u/AnxiousCreme6247, earning over 160 upvotes. Then there were the pop-culture detectives. “The Doctor is in Syracuse?” asked u/britishink, sparking a chain of “Doctor Who” gags. Others veered into Back to the Future territory: “This is the Twin Pines Mall fiasco all over again!” joked u/CertifiableQuint. To which another corrected, of course, “It’s the Lone Pine Mall” (u/wighty).

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Local Sightings and Eyewitness Accounts

But not everyone was laughing off the Shop City phenomenon. One commenter recalled seeing a similarly dressed “out of place” man in the late ’80s and early ’90s all over Central New York: trench coat, big hat, and somehow everywhere at once.

So is Shop City’s McDonald’s a time-traveler hotspot? As one user put it: “You don’t know what butterfly-effect thing started there—it may be a time traveler’s mecca.”