In 1995, Mike “Madman” Marcum, a 21-year-old from Missouri, made waves by claiming he was building a time machine right in his backyard. He told listeners on the radio show Coast to Coast AM that he was constructing it using a Jacob’s Ladder and scavenged parts. Marcum claimed he’d already made objects vanish—and he planned to step in next.

In 1996, he called the show again, this time saying the machine was nearly complete. Then, in 1997, Marcum vanished. No goodbye. No sightings. Nothing. For years, conspiracy forums fiercely debated what had happened to him.

Then, out of nowhere, Marcum resurfaced—saying he woke up in a field in Ohio with no ID, no memory of how he got there, and a two-year time gap he couldn’t explain. He firmly believed the machine had worked. The rest of the world wasn’t so sure.

To some, he’s a forgotten hoax. To others, he’s the first man to break time. Mike Marcum’s story remains a persistent reminder that sometimes, the greatest mysteries are found right in our own backyards.