1941 photo of child clutching 'iPad' hailed as proof of time travel

Apple may be shooting for the future with its latest line of tech products, but eagle-eyed social media viewers are busy looking at the past.

A decades-old photo has been doing the rounds on Reddit, with users convinced that it is evidence of time travel thanks to one key “clue”.

The image, taken in 1941 by photographer Edwin Rosskam, shows a group of kids lining up to enter a Chicago cinema.

And whilst the snap itself offers a fascinating glimpse at a very different era, this isn’t what’s been piquing people’s interest.

They’re more taken with the figure of a boy on the far right hand side, dressed smartly in a suit and hat and clutching what appears to be… an iPad.

The first iPad wasn’t released till 2010 so, naturally, most people would argue that the object must be something else.

However, lovers of the supernatural have another theory: that the boy must have grabbed the device sometime over the past decade then travelled back in time with it.

Social media users are transfixed by the item being clutched by the boy on the far right of the photo(Edwin Rosskam/Reddit)

One wrote: “How is the first kid in line holding an Apple IPad in 1941[?] (Time for the theme from ‘The Twilight Zone’.)”

Another added: “If you zoom right in close, that is too big to be a ‘book’ or ‘notepad’ plus you can see what looks like the iconic Apple logo on the back of it.”

Meanwhile, other commentators pointed out another apparent inconsistency, noting that a girl in the centre of the frame, dressed in a white hat, seems to be holding a plastic water bottle.

“I can't work out what that actually is. I would say that is more suspect than the 'iPad,'” one wrote.

Plastic water bottles didn’t enter the market until 1947 – some six years after the picture was taken.

Of course, plenty of Redditors were quick to offer logical explanations for both irregularities.

One noted that the “water bottle” was more likely a “clutch purse held on its end”, while others were convinced that the iPad was, in fact, a notepad or even a Bible.

They wrote: “It's most likely The Holy Bible. [The children] have their Sunday best on, bless their wee souls. Yes, I definitely think that's what it is.”

While another commented: “Back in the day of early film, usher's scanned the audience for pens and notepads as to prevent bootleg recreations of the film.”

Others emphasised that even if time travel were possible, it’s unlikely the boy would have chosen to travel to 1940s Chicago with that kind of kit.

“Not going to be much use NO INTERNET then!” one wrote.

And another pointed out: “Ain’t no way in the world anyone black would travel back to 1941. Wasn’t exactly a ‘good time’ for us.”

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