11/22/2025
⚡ The Man Who Tried to Build a Time Machine — and Then Vanished
In 1995, a 21-year-old from Missouri named Mike “Madman” Marcum called into Coast to Coast AM, a late-night radio show famous for UFOs and the unexplained.
Mike claimed he was building a time machine in his backyard.
Using a Jacob’s Ladder and scavenged transformers, he said he’d already made small objects disappear for a few seconds—and promised that next time, he’d step in himself.
Listeners were hooked. He was part scientist, part daredevil, part mystery.
A year later, in 1996, he called the show again. The machine, he said, was almost ready. Then, in 1997, he simply vanished.
No trace. No goodbyes.
For years, conspiracy forums buzzed—had he succeeded? Had he been vaporized? Or was it all a hoax that spiraled into urban legend?
Then, nearly two decades later, Marcum resurfaced.
He claimed he had woken up in a field in Ohio, with no memory, no ID, and a two-year gap in his life.
He swore the machine had worked.
Skeptics call it fiction. Fans call it proof.
The truth? We only know that Mike Marcum was real, that his radio appearances happened, and that his disappearance—and return—remain unexplained.
