Friday, February 23, 2018

A Freaky Disappearance...!

Nearly everyone loves a good mystery, right? Well, here's a good one for ya!

Louis Le Prince



Inventor Louis Le Prince could have been one of the most influential Frenchmen of the 19th century, but even though he was light years ahead of his time (and even created the world’s first moving picture), you’ve never heard of him.

Why? Because he disappeared from a moving train.

Le Prince was on his way to America in 1890 when he checked his bags and boarded a train from Dijon to Paris. When the train arrived, Le Prince was nowhere to be found.

The windows in his cabin were locked, no one heard a thing, and–get this–his luggage was missing as well. The entire train was searched, with hide nor hair of the luggage or the man found.

Theories range from family financial trouble to Le Prince committing an elaborate suicide (even though he was on his way to brag about the breakthroughs he’d made in his field). There is even a question of whether American competitor Thomas Edison could have been involved.

Le Prince and Edison were in direct competition, with the American inventor blocking Le Prince’s patents in the U.S., and Le Prince returning the favor by leaking Edison’s camera designs in France before Edison could obtain European patents.

Despite the fact that there was no love lost between the two men, there’s nothing that connects Edison to the disappearance. Furthermore, we still don’t have the slightest idea how the man disappeared.

We probably never will.

Pretty strange, I'd say. Missing from a moving train...along with his checked luggage? Sounds like the makings of a good Freaky Friday article to me!

Coffee in the kitchen this morning!

7 comments:

deb harvey said...

read where edison sent thugs to beat his rivals and anyone who seemed to be making his own advances. edison wanted to stop anybody getting ahead of him.
read that is why the movie industry moved to california from new york, to get away from edison and his hired criminals.
if it is true he may have engineered the disappearance of the french inventor.

Momlady said...

Bet he never actually got on the train.

linda m said...

That is a good one for Freaky Friday. I'll put my money on shenanigans by someone competitor. Have a great weekend.

JO said...

Good mystery today. I wouldn't doubt that after he checked his things he went back somehow and retrieved them and took off. Maybe Momlady has something there. Never knew those things about Edison, very interesting

HermitJim said...

Hey Deborah...
Yeah, Edison was not the kind to play nice, for sure. Look at how he treated Tesla.
Thanks for stopping by today!


Hey Momlady...
Seems like a logical explanation to me.
Thanks for coming over today!


Hey Linda...
I'm sure that he must have had quite a few.
Thanks for the visit today!


Hey Jo...
Seems like the most likely.
Thanks, dear, for dropping by today!

Mamahen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dizzy-Dick said...

It was the aliens, the aliens beamed him up to their saucer. . . Anything we can't explain, just blame the aliens. (grin).