Despite appearing relatively straightforward, time is one of the biggest mysteries to scientists today. While we understand some characteristics of it, such as time passing more slowly the stronger the gravity is, the fact is we are still learning much about this phenomenon. Throughout history, there have been numerous stories of people mysteriously traveling through decades or even centuries. Known as Time Slips, these events occur when a person or persons instantaneously travel through time. In this episode, we will examine a fascinating time slip story that occurred in 1979 that has come to be known as The Gisbey-Simpson Time Slip Incident.
Key Takeaways
- Time Slips are mysterious events where individuals reportedly travel through time instantaneously.
- The Gisbey-Simpson Time Slip Incident occurred in 1979 during a trip through France and Spain.
- The couples experienced an old-fashioned hotel with peculiar characteristics and later found it had vanished.
- Theories range from actual time travel to simple misunderstandings and even fabrication.
The Journey Begins
In the fall of 1979, Jeff and Pauline Simpson, along with Len and Cynthia Gisbey, embarked on a trip traveling through France and Spain. The two married couples arrived in France on October 3, 1979, ready to embark on a two-week vacation. After renting a car, the couples began driving through France. That night, around 9:30 p.m., they decided to start looking for a hotel. Driving on the autoroute in Montélimar Nord, the couples spotted a motel and pulled over. Len went inside and spoke to a hotel attendant who said there was no vacancy but a small hotel down the road should have rooms. The man gave Len directions, and the four were on their way.
The Mysterious Hotel
They were directed to go down a desolate side road. As they drove, they soon noticed the road became more narrow and cobbled. The road was eerily quiet, and the group spotted an old circus advertisement. Continuing on, they spotted a long building down the road. The car pulled over on the shoulder on the opposite side of the road and parked. Len, who spoke little French, went inside and discovered the building was actually a restaurant. He still asked if there were any rooms, and luckily, they had a few. The rooms were located over the restaurant.
Pauline Simpson would later recall how strange it was. She stated, “The sheets were bleached white; they didn’t have pillows, just a round bolster that went right across the top of the bed. There was a dim light in the room and no electrical switches. Even getting up the stairs was weird; they were given candles as it was so dark.” The bathroom was odd as well. It was at the end of a long corridor and huge. It had an antique bath that was sunk into the floor, and the soap was stuck on a metal spike on the wall. There were no glass windows in the rooms, but the windows were covered by wooden shutters. The rooms had no locks on the doors. The hotel was very old-fashioned with no electricity or elevators.
A Night to Remember
After dropping off their luggage, the couples ate in the dining room. The women had eggs, and the men ate steak. The silverware was very heavy and looked rustic. In the next room, they spotted more people wearing old-fashioned French clothing. At this point, the couples enjoyed the experience of this odd, old-fashioned hotel and wondered why it wasn’t recommended to them. Being exhausted, the couples went to sleep and didn’t think too much of any of the strange things they saw.
The Morning After
As they woke up the next day, the couples noticed a man mopping the floor outside their rooms. While he finished up, they decided to take some photos of the women. Both men took photos with their cameras of the women in front of the wooden shutters. Once the floor dried, they went to eat breakfast. There, the four spotted two police officers come into the dining room. It was odd to the group because they had seen police officers before in other parts of the country, and these men were dressed nothing like them. The group believed this uniform might have been specific to the area. In the dining room, a woman extremely well-dressed approached their table. Her dress reached her ankles, and the woman looked like she had come from a ball. They thought it was very peculiar how dressed up she was.
As they were getting ready to leave, Len asked the police officers about the best way to get back on the autoroute. The officers were perplexed and didn’t understand Len. They went to settle the bill and were astonished to see they were only being charged 19 francs. Len asked if it was correct, and the attendant assured him that it was. Len paid, and quickly they left the hotel.
The Search for the Hotel
The couple left and, two weeks later, after visiting Spain, they backtracked through the country. They decided to look for the cheap hotel once again since they liked it so much. At this point, they believed it was a theme hotel and were attracted to the ultra-cheap prices. The night they looked for it, it was raining outside, and they couldn’t locate it. After some time, they stopped at the big hotel that had told them about it. They asked to speak with the hotel attendant from two weeks ago. However, even after describing him, the hotel staff said no one fitting the description had ever worked there.
After this, they decided to press on and keep looking for it. However, the group still couldn’t find the hotel. They drove up and down the road and were thoroughly confused. Jeff was driving and believed Len had gotten them lost. However, later they would realize this was impossible as the road only had one way in and one way out. On the road once again, they saw the red wall with posters on it. However, it seemed much different this time. Also, before, many of the trees were small, but now all the trees were much larger. The couple found the spot where they had parked two weeks earlier. Astonishingly, though, the hotel, which was across the street, was no longer there.
The Unbelievable Discovery
That night, the four stayed in a different hotel and soon returned to England. Even after not being able to find the hotel, neither couple believed anything supernatural had occurred. That would soon change, though. As soon as they got back, they developed the camera film. Shockingly, none of the pictures from the hotel were there. It was as if they had imagined it. On Len’s camera, he remembered taking three photos at the hotel. He switched film as the group went into Spain. That roll, though, had nothing from the hotel. He got all the numbered prints, and both he and the man who developed the photos couldn’t find them. There were no blanks, and they double-checked all the numbers. Jeff’s camera had similar strange results. He got 12 photos from his roll but none from the hotel. Both couples became scared at this point but eventually, years later, decided to tell their story to a local newspaper. Once published, the story exploded in popularity and raised many questions and theories as to what happened to the couples.
Theories and Speculations
The first theory says the couples experienced a time slip. As mentioned, time is not well understood, and many speculate that somehow people step through portals and instantaneously travel forward or back in time. There are certainly other strange reports of time slips occurring, with many questions around how they are possible. Some speculate that intense gravity can warp the space-time continuum and open a hole where a person enters. This raises questions, though, around how someone is able to return to the exact same time and place. Modern science acknowledges that time can move differently. For example, we know astronauts in space experience time slower than individuals on the ground. Much of what happened in this case seems to support this unbelievable theory.
The second theory about what happened to these couples states the events were explainable. Proponents of the theory state they didn’t time travel but simply went to an old-fashioned hotel. Then, in a foreign land, the couples got lost driving and had issues communicating. The hotel wasn’t from the past but a rural hotel that lacked technology and even electricity. This seems like the most logical theory on the surface. However, it really doesn’t answer the question of how they went back to the shoulder and the hotel across the street had vanished completely. It could be the case they went to a different spot, but then again, only two weeks had passed, and surely one of them would have noticed they were in a different location.
Many who have critiqued this time slip theory have pointed out several inconsistencies. One is around the money paid to the hotel. The hotel didn’t question the coinage even though Len paid with modern money. This is a valid point but depends on how Len paid. Did Len pay with one-franc coins or a higher denomination? One-franc coins used in 1979 had the same design as those used from 1898 to 1920. They were a little larger and made of nickel instead of silver but had the same color. Nevertheless, critics point out people in the hotel would have noticed their automobile. Still, they could have just assumed the auto was an English car and one they weren’t familiar with. It’s important to point out automobiles were pretty rare in rural France then, and models varied considerably in design and appearance.
One other critique from skeptics is around the clothes. With regard to clothes, it’s reasonable to assume that the locals would never have met British people, so they might just think that their 1970s clothes were just strange.
One final theory states that the couple actually created the entire story. It seems unlikely, though, that two couples would do this and be able to keep their stories in sync. Years later, the four went back and tried to find the mysterious hotel again. They contacted locals in the area in an effort to help them. Once more, though, they found nothing adjacent to the area they had parked years earlier.
