"If you could go back in time for a day to witness a historic event, which would you choose?"
A Day Out with Dad
"I would go back to Monday the fifth of August in 1996 to spend a day with my father. He passed on the seventh of August that week."
"I want a day with him to ask questions, get a hug, and to express my appreciation of him."
"He was my best friend and was the only person who seemed to understand me and respect me."
- Trying_To_Adult_101
To See Freddie Mercury at Live Aid
"To see Queen at Live Aid in 1985."
"From the footage, you can tell it was an amazing event, but to be there and experience it, it must have been something else."
- Duldain92
To See Freddie Mercury Perform... Anywhere
"Queen 1985 Live Aid. Freddie died before I was even born, so even if I could just see him perform live anywhere, anytime would be such a dream come true."
- JakobiiKenobii
The Pre-Divorce Years
"My biological parent's wedding."
"It would be so interesting to see a couple I've only known as being divorced instead being in love."
"They shouldn't be together, but it would be fascinating to see the emotions behind where my brother and I came from."
- sassyphrass
Feeling Religious
"The Crucifixion of Jesus. I am not Christian or Religious. I am just curious about a man that changed the world. Or maybe the Resurrection day would be better. Did he really come back? How many 'witnesses' were actually there?"
"During Orientation week at a Catholic University, they asked if you could have dinner with anyone living or dead who would it be? I said Jesus and everyone was so impressed and thinking, 'I should have said that,' But, As an atheist at a Catholic University, I had a very different agenda."
- GenXDGAF
The Designated Driver
"This isn't historic for anyone but my family. October 27, 2018. I was in Colorado 'celebrating' Halloween. My younger siblings in Texas were at a party."
"One of my sisters, 15, left the party with an older boy, both drunk. The older boy was driving, and he ran off the road and hit a tree. The older boy broke his back but lived. My sister died instantly."
"I'd go back in time, stay sober, park down the road, and wait for my siblings to need a ride and drive them home."
- butterfly_burps
Seeing Extinct Animals
"I'd love to see a dodo. A one-meter tall ground-dwelling pigeon that has no fear of humans."
"As long as it doesn't peck me or try and sit on my shoulder or something."
- ThePhoenixBird2022
JFK Assassination
"Just imagine: You’re there. You find a spot to get you a clear vantage point. The motorcade approaches… he’s nearing the location… And…"
"Nothing."
"They drive by. Nothing happened."
"You turn around and notice a person behind you, shuffling through a bush. Hurriedly packing a long, dark, narrow object (a rifle, maybe?) into a case."
"You were blocking his line of sight."
- alphaomega0669
Revenge Fantasy
"January 13th, 2007."
"I'll be on the patio outside my kitchen in Brussels."
"I will find out, once and for all, if she actually locked the door when we left for Rome as she claims. To see if that burglar chose our apartment out of all the others to use their lock-picking skills to enter and steal all my CDs."
"Or she didn't and a burglar who tries to see if doors are locked or not found ours."
- cote112
Regret Stings
"There are a few times that I need to shout at myself. Does that count?"
- ReleaseTheBeeees
Jack the Ripper
"Whitechapel 1888. Finally see who Jack the Ripper was."
"It was definitely just some guy. I'm not in the way of thinking it was anybody famous or high status as some conspiracies suggest, but I'd still like to know."
- nomiselrease
A Trip to Egypt
"The building of the Pyramids."
- EssexEnglishman
The 9th Symphony
"The premier of Beethoven’s 9th symphony in Vienna."
- Ghost-Lumos
"Welcome to..."
"I would love to see and hear dinosaurs roaming around our land."
- rci_ancilla
Time travel continues to be a favorite theme in science fiction books and films for a reason, and there seems to be an endless supply of moments, people, and animals that Redditors would love to go back and see, and for good reason.
Ever wonder about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand?
Somebody throws a grenade at his car.
It blows up behind him.
That's the first incident of time travel, stopping the assassination.
Later, as he goes back, the driver realizes he's on the same route where the grenade was thrown, and they try to turn around.
The whole procession of cars stalls and a guy who just happened to be sitting there goes over and shoots the Archduke setting off the events that lead to the first world war.
Did a time traveler meddle then?
Wouldn't surprise us.
People shared their own observations after Redditor HeteroZygoats asked the online community:
"What historical event 100% reads as if a time traveler went back in time to alter history?"
Basically, Poe writes about four people who are starving at sea, draw straws, and kill and eat the loser, cabin boy Richard Parker. 40 odd years later four people are adrift at sea in a lifeboat, one drinks seawater and goes into a coma."
"When they draw straws for who will be eaten, the coma guy gets the short straw in a development that surprises no one. And so the three other men kill and eat the cabin boy. Richard Parker. Seriously."
What did the original Hugh Williams do to deserve any of this?!
"When Andrew Jackson's assassin..."
"When Andrew Jackson's assassin attempted to shoot him, both of his flintlock pistols misfired. Andrew Jackson had to be restrained after almost beating the assassin to death with his cane. The two flintlocks were examined after the incident and found to be in good condition."
Jackson was a pretty horrid human being—and it doesn't surprise me that this happened.
"20,000 people..."
"Cyanide Gas Attack Thwarted in Tokyo Subway."
"20,000 people could have died but a worker found a burning gasbag in a toilet just before it mixed with another poisonous gas bag - just in time - and put them out. That was in Shinjuku station. I was in that station that day, and that person might have saved my life."
"The number of times we DIDN'T go to nuclear war because of a false positive of a launch. Honestly, Stanislav Petrov should have statues in every country."
The Most Unexplained Events In History | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
History is littered with unsolved mysteries. Whether those answers are buried somewhere or lost forever, it doesn't stop people from wondering or hypothesizi...
"Jack Ruby..."
"Jack Ruby clearly was sent to kill Lee Harvey Oswald so no one would ever discover it wasn't him who killed Kennedy."
I mean... when you put it that way... can we argue?
Fidel Castro's assassination attempts..."
"Fidel Castro's assassination attempts being dodged is so unrealistic (really, he dodged about 600) that it feels like a time traveler went back and foiled every single one of them."
"If you read up on his life, you'll find there are so many times Adolf Hitler almost died, but somehow survived, that makes me think there was/is a time traveler war going on."
"A faction trying to kill Hitler, because it's Hitler, and a faction preventing his death because the guy who would replace him was even worse than Hitler."
Maybe Hitler had a guardian angel... which is a scary thought as it is.
Sheesh.
"The Germans spent a lot of time..."
"The Germans spent a lot of time and money developing a magnetic sea mine that probably would have significantly reduced England's ability to stay in the war, except they dropped a single one of the mines accidentally on an English beach, and also failed to arm it so none of the booby traps were active and the British basically found out straight away how it worked and we're able to cheaply build magnetic minesweepers."
