On a June evening in 1951, a young man dressed in Victorian clothing appeared in New York City's Times Square around 11:15 pm. He appeared disoriented and went unnoticed until he walked into the street and was hit by a car a few minutes later.
When the officers discovered the body, they attempted to identify it but found something peculiar - a 5-cent metal token for a beer from a saloon that no one, including the oldest residents of the city, had ever heard of.
Upon further investigation, they discovered:
1. In addition, they found a receipt for horse care and carriage washing at a barn on Lexington Avenue, which was not listed in any directory, and the bill was paid using outdated bank notes worth approximately $70.
2. They also came across business cards bearing the name Rudolph Fentz and an address on Fifth Avenue.
3. They also found a letter sent to the same address in June 1876 from Philadelphia.
4. They also discovered a medal for a 3rd place finish in a three-legged race.
The most intriguing aspect was that, despite their age, none of the objects showed signs of wear and tear. Intrigued, Police Captain Hubert Rihm decided to conduct a thorough investigation to uncover the mystery of Rudolph Fentz.
First, the investigator contacted the Fifth Avenue address, which turned out to be a business where no one had heard of Rudolph Fentz. He then searched for the name and found an address listed under a Rudolph Fentz Jr. When he called, he was informed that the individual no longer lived there.
However, he was on the right track. He managed to locate the man's bank account, which led him to inquire at the bank, where he was informed that Fentz had died 5 years ago, but his wife was still alive.
The investigator spoke with her, who informed him that her father-in-law, after whom her husband was named, had disappeared in 1876 at the age of 29. He had left the house for an evening walk and never returned. All attempts to find him were unsuccessful and no trace of him was found.
Captain Rihm reviewed the missing persons' records for Rudolph Fentz in 1876. The description of his appearance, age, and clothing matched exactly with the unidentified dead man from Times Square. The case remained unsolved. Fearing he would be deemed mentally incompetent, Rihm never recorded the results of his investigation in official files.
The case of Rudolph Fentz is often cited as a typical example of spontaneous or interdimensional travel that occurs without the individual's consent.
However, today it is widely believed that Rudolph Fentz was nothing more than a fictional character from a 1951 science fiction short story written by Jack Finney, which was later reported as an urban legend as if the events had actually occurred. Some people claim that Fentz was a time traveler. What do you think? As a language model AI, I do not have personal opinions or beliefs, but I can provide information based on what I've been trained on.
