Did John Titor Get It Right?
by Dean Terry
Could a time traveler from the year 2036 have given us information about what will happen in our lifetime?
The time of our lives
The Story Of John Titor:
Starting on 2 November, 2000 and continuing for a period of about five months, someone calling themselves Timetravel_0 began posting to a number of online time travel-related message boards claiming to be a time-traveller from the year 2036. The first websites Timetravel_0 posted to include the old Art Bell website and the Time Travel Institute site. After a while Timetravel_0 changed his name to John Titor, although this apparently was not his real name.
Titor said he had travelled back in time because he was a soldier from the year 2036 who was recruited to a government time travel project. He had initially been sent back to 1975 to retrieve an IBM 5100 portable computer, which was needed to translate between some legacy IBM systems and UNIX. He claimed the IBM 5100 was able to do this due to certain in-built functions that were not documented when it was manufactured. When Titor left our timeline, some IBM engineers came forward to verify his claims about the IBM 5100.
IBM 5100 portable computer
After collecting the IBM 5100 Titor then travelled to the year 2000 because, he said, he wanted to visit his family and his younger self.
During his stay in 2000/2001 is when Titor made a number of predictions about the future, including how our present society will end in 2015. Most of what John Titor said about events between 2000 and 2036 center on a third World War followed by two decades of ongoing recuperation.
John Titor’s Predictions:
According to Titor, the period of conflict begins at the time of the American Presidential elections of 2004/5 when the seeds for a second American civil war are germinated. The nature of the conflict is described as civil unrest brought on by intrusive police-state tactics, which leads to an increasing number of Waco or Ruby Ridge-type events.
Eventually urban and rural areas are openly pitched against each other.
By 2015 the civil war is effectively ended when Russia begins a series of nuclear strikes on most major American cities therefore eliminating the federal government. Most major urban areas worldwide are also badly affected through a series of nuclear strikes, with a death count of approximately three billion people. The areas worst affected are Europe, Africa and Australia.
By 2036 the world has changed considerably. America is now made up of five states with Nebraska as the capital and consists of decentralised, tightly-knit rural communities. There is a greater emphasis on religion, personal interaction as well as self-sufficiency with people expected to work for part of the day in the fields to produce food. Water is still contaminated with radioactivity and needs to be filtered.
In spite of the war and the efforts to construct this new society from the remains of the old, technology does not seem to be too badly affected. Titor mentioned a system of rapid rail travel between cities, space travel, genetic engineering and of course time travel.
Besides the American civil conflict and a third World War Titor made a number of other significant predictions:
America will wage war on Iraq, claiming Iraq has nuclear weapons. Titor made this statement years before a war with Iraq was considered. He also claimed no weapons of mass destruction would be found.
War will erupt between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and weapons of mass destruction will be used.
Korea, Taiwan and Japan will be annexed by China as the West becomes unstable.
In the early 2000’s the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) will lay the foundations for time travel. In the autumn of 2001 after Titor had left, CERN released a statement indicating the creation of mini black holes was possible.
Mad cow disease will be a health issue in America but it will be under-played.
Genetically modified food will be used to produce hybrid seeds that will have detrimental effects on the population’s health.
Titor made a number of statements about constitutional and civil rights in America. He also said the American government will assume its citizens will prefer security over certain personal freedoms.
On 24th March, 2001 Titor said he was going to return to his own time and has not been heard of since.
While the story of John Titor is longer, and more complicated than space permits here, a search of the web will show the story of John Titor includes believers, skeptics and people who see it as an urban legend. A search will also show how Titor’s predictions have been mis-interpreted and distorted.
Did John Titor leave us a blueprint of our future? Time will tell. But there is one last John Titor prediction that I have no doubt is real: The future will judge the present harshly.
Copyright © 2008 Our Strange World
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wapasa_01 on Tuesday, July 08, 2008What is a YTMND user? You say YTMND users discovered this and that about John Titor, so what is it? All I could find in search was, “Your the Man Dog!?” Doesn’t sound like a site linked to anything scientific, paranormal, or otherworldly to me!
Dean Terry on Tuesday, July 08, 2008I’m not sure what you are reading, but I don’t think it’s the above article - which makes no mention of YTMND. And yes, YTMND does stand for You’re The Man Now Dog, which is a website that was linked to another time-traveler called The Mullet Man.
meme on Friday, July 11, 2008Think about it. You develop a time machine, something humanity has dreamed about for hundreds(?) of years. All of the worlds best minds are at work, making the dream a reality. So, it’s finally finished and you send back the very first time traveller to the past. Where do you send him: 1975 to retrieve a piece of IBM office equipment! Huh? Why not just send him off to the convenience store for yesterday’s newspaper? The most important trip a human will ever make is used to get an old portable computer? Sorry, I just don’t buy it.
Oh well, I’m off to go plan for the coming apocalypse.
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tacopotato123 on Friday, July 11, 2008Sounds like a basis for a bad pulp 1950’s sci-fi story… and starring Ronald Reagan! I’m not a physist or a mathematician of chaos theoy, just a plain old electronic/IT tech. But,I am a li’l self- educated on some subjects. First, in theory, time travel is next to impossible. Secondly, however, according to some very good geniuses out there in the fields of quantum physics and string theory, “ interdimensional” time travel- differetial realities, may be possible one day.
If this “John Titor” came from the “future”, the question begs answering, “ Is it the future of our own reality that will be affected by our own undoings or is it Jon Titor’s reality that becomes affected? “ HMMMMM, something to think about…
Dean Terry on Saturday, July 12, 2008To those who are skeptical about time travel:
My good friend Mike Marcum constructed his first time machine in 1995. Mike’s story was documented in several newspapers and he appeared on the Art Bell show to discuss his experiences. It was Art Bell who gave Mike the nickname “Madman Marcum.”
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Steven Gibbs is another person with lots of experience in this area. In 1985 Steven invented a device he calls a Hyper Dimensional Resonator, which can physically send people through time.
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A department of the government developed a means of time travel in the mid-60s. Over the years it has been refined into a highly advanced system. While I can’t divulge any information on this, I can say that departmental employees are routinely rewarded by being sent into the past to hunt extinct species.
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Time travel is not only possible - it’s a reality. It’s possible that in your life-time you will have the opportunity to visit another era - it’s about time.
timincal on Sunday, July 13, 2008Dean Terry wrote,
To those who are skeptical about time travel:
My good friend Mike Marcum constructed his first time machine in 1995. Mike’s story was documented in several newspapers and he appeared on the Art Bell show to discuss his experiences. It was Art Bell who gave Mike the nickname “Madman Marcum.”
Dean,Have you been in contact with Mike Marcum recently?
I know a few years back you were searching for his whereabouts.Did you find him?
Dean Terry on Monday, July 14, 2008To Timincal - Yeah, I’ve been in regular contact with Mike Marcum for a little over a year now. He’s a very private person and I’ve promised him I wouldn’t divulge where he’s at or what he’s doing.
That’s the main reason I haven’t made mention of him for awhile, as soon as I say I’m in contact with him, but can’t reveal details, everyone would assume I’m fibbing.
I can say this: you’d definatly be surprised at where he’s at.
Mike is probably the most intelligent person I’ve ever met. I’m currently writing an article about one of our conversations concerning Mike’s current theories on time travel, based on what he’s learned over the years. I’ve also got a photo of him which I’ll include in the article. I plan on posting the story on OSW sometime this week - so stay tuned.
jorden Perez on Friday, July 18, 2008if he was real when did he leave and how did things work out. why not take new software then an ibm 5100 or why not go back in time and talk to the master minds who destroyed his world why not just get his family in his truck(the one that had the time machine in) and move them to our perfect world or maybe he did.
Aditya on Friday, July 25, 2008Hi,
Well I think the story of John Titor is definately interesting.
While reading I realized or rather figured something, now if you are a skecptic you could debunk it but I am not a skecptic or a supporter.
If you add 4 years to every date that he gives I think this whole thing sounds fairly compelling to me. Lincolnesqu wannabe president (obama) to CERN finally testing LHC in october. Israel and Iran unrest with US interfering. These are only a few things coming to my mind at the moment.
While of all this, you have to keep in mind that he is just an ‘ordinary’ guy from the future and should not expect him to know the insider stuff etc. When he says lincolnesque president then thats him as a normal guy saying that, and obama is the closest that comes to mind ( maybe good or bad). So I think by the end of this year we should know whether John was real or not but at the moment I think my theory sounds pretty interesting, although it may be wrong.
Timetravel_0 on Friday, August 08, 2008The truth is that I was bored one night in about 1996-7 and went to a chatroom and posted calling myself timetravel_o it was all a hoax. just a bit of fun. I then carried this on in the beginning of year 2000 as John Titor. All the posts since then are by someone else exploiting my hoax posts for financial gain. Its as simple as that.
Anonymous on Friday, August 08, 2008“Titor made this statement years before a war with Iraq was considered.”
In 1998 Bill Clinton had already stated that Iraq had broken the UN sanctions and that they could have been doing anything. After that, and nothing more than a cease-fire in 1992, and the fact of Russia’s incompetence in nearby-Afganistan for so long, something greater was inevitable. Leaving out this crucial information reveals more about you the author than the situation you’re writing about.
WIKI on Friday, August 08, 2008YOU KNOW!!! who ever made that wiki edit is a silly kid. If you think you are John Titor you can always prove it by mentioning the song to pam.
She still posts at the same site.... Year after year I see deunkers go nuts and attempt to claim to BE john Titor to Disprove john titor to those of us that still believe his story.
I maybe parinoid or nutty… But at least I don’t pretend to be thing thing I loath to disprove the thing I loath.
Dean Terry on Saturday, August 09, 2008To Timetravel_0 - Do you have any proof of what you say? If you do, you can email me at
If you are on the level, I would like to hear from you.
Timetravel_0 on Saturday, August 09, 2008Look the person who told me about the IBM computer was an old friend of mine who was once a field service engineer for IBM. I had not seen them in years. I was under the belief that I was being bugged in my home as individuals or groups were stealing my Intellectual Property. I was discussing in my home about how this person had told me about things that certain groups get upto. How I was going to get some computer help from them as I had known them for a very long time adn knew I could trust them. However I found out a week later that they had been killed. Coincidnece? I don’t know, I really don’t.
Since doing the hoax posts all those years ago. I have had some education. So an examination of my writing today may not make a direct link to me possible. I can’t remember the mothers maiden name I used to register in early 2000. I used a false one as I was concerned about security. I do however know the ISP that I was accessing the site from and possibly the email address I used to register with. In 1996-7 I was asked were was I. This was when I was searching for information to back up my hoax. I said that I was waiting for a parcel to be delivered to me. That I had to go and check the door or something. That something I needed was being shipped from location A to location B.
My choice of time machine was as a consequence of watching back to the future. A car seemed ideal. I was into corvettes back then. I then said I changed it to a truck. I had no idea that Timetravel_0 would get this big! I can’t remember the websites I visited last week let along a decade ago. So my remembering would be an extremely hard thing to do. Say Hi to Pam for me, sorry if this has been a disappointment though.
At that point in my life I had written down all of my ideas on my first computer as word documents. I had written down several internet and technology and business concepts which have been fully exploited by others and made many people into Billionaires, yes that is correct. I also had a lot of song lyrics, TV concepts and Movie ideas stolen. My Intellectual Property has been stolen my whole life. For some reason I had totally forgotten all of this. Due to I suspect amnesia from a series of head blows as a child. To be honest I don’t think I have much time left. Either from paranoia or stress I am not 100% well anymore. My life has been one coincidence after another. It would make an incredible book and film. I doubt it would ever get told though. I lack the discipline to write it all down myself.
Some of the History page edits of mine have been removed from Wikipedia as they point to some of the Intellectual Property I have had stolen. They were not just deleted but totally removed from the edit tab on the history page. A huge cover-up is taking place. A lot of money is at stake and these people have very powerful friends. In deed they are very powerful. People will not believe me when I say just what has happened. It is mind blowing to consider the coincidence in my life. Also the way that my ideas have taken off by everyone who has come across them. I think I am destined to never get rich from any of my ideas. It is as if the Universe has given me all of this and somehow it has decided that I am cursed to never profit from any of it. However maybe I will break the curse. Maybe I am the one to prove the existence of some higher force. Just from examination of the coincidences in my life points to something more than chance or luck at work.
Timetravel_0 on Saturday, August 09, 2008I’ve just been thinking that it is possible. That the 2nd person to post as John Titor is for real and is a time traveler from the future. Maybe in a few thousand years from now they do a search and come across Timetravel_0 in the archives of the internet. Maybe by sheer chance I posted how time travel is really done and when they discover it for real they travel back to now and start posting up! So life imitating art imitating life. Now that is a paradox. Which came first my hoax or timetravel for real! See the possibility of it being time travel lives on
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Timetravel_0 on Saturday, August 09, 2008I don’t know how to find out your email address Dean Terry.
Dean Terry on Sunday, August 10, 2008You can email me at

