Monthly mystery The other side

Could someone have buried a spectacular time machine?

Time travel has always been a top sci-fi subject. From Marty Mcfly’s trip away from the 80s in Back to the Future to Dr Who’s TARDIS adventures, the idea that the present isn’t all we have is certainly an imagination grabber. The big question is: could it happen in real life?

The answer may lie behind the bronze doors of a mausoleum in Brompton Cemetery, West London.

The tomb is the final resting place of socialite Hannah Courtoy, who died in 1849 at the age of 65. Hannah had accumulated much wealth and her last address was in salubrious Belgravia.

No wonder she wanted to be buried somewhere luxurious.

Following their own deaths, two of Hannah’s three daughters, Elizabeth and Mary Ann, also joined their mum in the tomb.

Whispers

For years now, rumours abound that the tomb – for which the key has been lost – isn’t what it seems, and that its doors hide a time machine.

Hannah’s somewhat unlikely connection with time travel comes from her close friendship with Joseph Bonomi, an Egyptologist.

It’s rumoured that Bonomi designed her resting place, as it has a pyramidshaped peak, and both it and Bonomi’s gravestone – situated just a few metres away from Hannah’s – are inscribed with hieroglyphs.

Back in Hannah’s day, some people believed that the ancient Pharaohs had learnt how to travel through time.

Could Bonomi have discovered its secrets during one of his trips to Egypt? If so, he may have turned to a London inventor called Samuel Alfred Warner to help design his time machine. Warner, who is also buried in Brompton Cemetery,

invented an invisible shell – or, as he put it, ‘A bomb that can be teleported a short distance’.

A network

Those who believe this trio were involved in time travel reckon that Hannah’s final resting place is part of a network of teleportation chambers. Perhaps one day a new key will be made for Hannah’s mausoleum, and we’ll finally find out whether science fiction has become science fact.

had he discovered its secrets during a trip to egypt?