Mike “Madman” Marcum attempted to construct a time machine on the porch of his house in Stanberry, Missouri, in early 1995. He started working on a gadget known as the Jacobs Ladder.

It reduces air resistance between two poles by using a modified Compact Disc laser. A continuous arc will result as a result of this. When he turned on the gadget, he saw something odd.

There was a heat mark, similar to what you’d see on hot pavement, except it was in the form of a vortex and was round. So he decided to test the effect by throwing a sheet metal screw into the vortex to see what would happen. It vanished for approximately half a second, then returned a few feet away a second later, according to him.

He was just 21 years old and a student majoring in electrical at the time. Marcum is considered to be very clever when compared to his peers. Marcum allegedly attempted to construct a time machine in order to get the winning lotto numbers from the future. He did, however, have one issue: he required a lot of electricity to make it function.

The CD laser caught fire after a few more attempts. He reasoned that if he was going to rebuild the machine, he should use bigger transformers.

His first idea was to buy the transformers, but they’re very pricey. He had no choice but to turn to the alternative. There were six ancient transformers at the local power plant. Marcum took six transformers weighing more than 300 pounds from a St. Joseph Light and Power generating plant in King City, Missouri.

He created a widespread blackout of several blocks across his area while testing his experiments. On January 29, 1995, Gentry County Sheriff Eugene Lupfer arrested him inside his home with a warrant for stealing the transformers.

Marcum was freed from jail after many months. Then he was asked to join Art Bell on Coast to Coast Radio as a guest. He recounts the screw’s origins and his intentions to construct a time machine. He swears that he will only do it legally from now on.

Marcum informed Art that he still wanted to do another experiment but lacked the funds and replacement components to do so. He provided his phone number during the interview and got nonstop calls for three days. Marcum benefited greatly from the program since many listeners contributed ideas, money, and spare components.

His second Time Machine project was more powerful and considerably larger than the previous one, thanks to the assistance and contributions of his listeners.

The first engine was intended to run at a kilowatt rate, but this time it was built to run at 3 megawatts. He intended to put the equipment to the test on himself.

Marcum also installs a rotating magnetic field similar to the one employed in the Philadelphia Experiment by the US military. The revolving magnetic field, he claims, is more effective and efficient.

Mike Marcum was a guest on Art Bell’s show again approximately a year later. Marcum said he was tinkering with a more advanced time machine. It was large enough for a man to walk across the electromagnetic vortex.

Marcum said at the conclusion of the interview that he was on the verge of producing the required level of power to operate the machine. When asked what he would bring, he said that he would just bring his mobile phone. Mike chose to disclose his address instead of his phone number at the conclusion of the program. Anyone with a Google Earth account can look up his home.

Marcum claimed he was 30 days away from finishing his “legal” time machine on his second and last visit to Bell’s program in 1996.

Mike Marcum vanished in 1997 and hasn’t been seen or heard from since.

A listener phoned the Art Bell program shortly after Marcum vanished to tell him about a bizarre tale he had discovered. A deceased guy was discovered on a California beach in the 1930s by authorities.

The guy was unrecognizable and a mystery gadget was discovered beside his corpse after he was crushed to death in a weird metal tube. The gadget seemed to be a mobile phone, according to the caller.

In many accounts, this is where the tale ends.