A man known as Frank claims he was left baffled when he walked into a bookshop on Liverpool's famous Bold Street and believes he experienced a time slip back to the 1950s. The phenomenon, which reportedly occurred in July 1996, has been documented by paranormal investigator Tom Slemen in his 'Haunted Liverpool' series.
The 1996 Incident
According to Slemen, Frank visited Liverpool city centre with his wife. While she browsed in Dillons bookstore (now Waterstones), Frank looked at CDs in Our Price, a music shop near Central Station. When he met his wife at Dillons, he was shocked to find the bookshop had transformed into a department store named Cripps. Bold Street appeared to have regressed to the 1950s, with pedestrians in vintage clothing and classic cars on the road.
A box car with a 'Caplans' logo nearly hit Frank. As he tried to make sense of the scene, he collided with another time traveller from the 1990s—a 20-year-old woman named Emma, wearing a lime green top, black hipsters, and carrying a Miss Selfridge bag. Together, they peered through the window of Cripps at handbags and shoes. Suddenly, 1996 returned: Cripps reverted to Dillons. Frank asked Emma if she had felt the shift, and she nodded, saying, 'Yeah. I thought it was a new shop that had opened. I was going in to look at the clothes, and now it's a bookshop.'
Other Reports
Frank was not the first nor the last to report a time slip on Bold Street. In 1971, a woman named Irene Morton wrote: 'I experienced a time slip in Bold Street in 1971. I know it seems unbelievable but it was real and the people from the other time could see me too.' Many others have shared similar experiences beneath an AI-generated image of a Bold Street time slip.
Possible Explanations
The phenomenon may be linked to the street's underground network of walls and waterways. In 2001, archaeologists discovered a well in one of these structures, described by the History Museum of Liverpool as 'one of the greatest finds in Liverpool City Centre.' Excavations revealed clay pipes and porcelain fragments. Today, visitors can view Ye Olde Wishing Well on Jeff's premises.
