NOTES ON A STRANGE WORLD MASSIMO POLIDORO

I Remember Doing the Time Warp The Incredible Story of Father Ernetti's Chronovisor

arco Tullio Cicero, the great in time but was said to allow the user to Next, die time-travelers "dallied," as lawyer, orator, politician, and see historical events in the exact moment Ernetti put it, "at a playlet." The year was philosopher, gave a speech to they took place, like a sort of tridimen- 169 B.C.; they watched part of a tragedy, M sional television. Thyestes, written by the "father of Latin die Roman senate in 63 B.C. and an observer noted: "His gestures, his intona- poetry," Quintus Ennius. It was a play, As Time Goes By tion; how powerful they were! What explained Ernetti, that is now almost flights of oratory!" Father Ernetti, who was also an exorcist of wholly lost to us; only twenty-five frag- These comments, however, are not considerable renown, claimed that the ments, a line or so each, have survived. from a contemporary of Cicero but Chronovisor was die result of many years "Have you been able to reconstruct instead from Father Pellegrino Ernetti, an of study by a team of scientists that, apart what you heard?" asked Father Brune. Italian Benedictine monk born in 1925 from himself, included twelve famous "Yes," replied Father Ernetti enthusiasti- and who died in 1992. Logically, similar people who, he said, preferred to be cally. "Since we heard and saw everything, appreciations on gestures and intonations anonymous. The only names he let slip text, choruses, music, I've been able to could only be possible by observing the were those of physicist and Nobel publish the entire text of the tragedy." said orator in action; this is exactly what Laureate Enrico Fermi and of rocket sci- Ernetti appeared to be very reticent Father Ernetti claimed he had done. Not entist Wernher von Braun. to give details about the machine's only that, die monk was also apparently "First of all we wanted to verify that invention. "It happened virtually by able to witness one of Napoleon's what we saw was authentic," Ernetti told accident.... The basic idea was very sim- speeches, a Latin tragedy of 169 B.C., and Father Francois Brune, a French dieolo- ple. It was just a matter of stumbling even the passion of Christ on die cross. gian and author who had befriended die upon it." Just anodier mystic visionary? Not at Italian monk. "So we started off with a And who exactly invented it? "No all. Father Ernetti was a musician, a cele- relatively recent scene of which we had one person" replied Ernetti. It had been brated historian of archaic music at much documentation and footage. We a joint creation, where Fermi played a Venice's Conservatorio di Stato Benedetto tuned the machine on one of Mussolini's seminal role. Marcello, a philosopher, and a physics speeches. Then we started to go backward Father Ernetti said the Chronovisor studies graduate. It was thanks to his sci- and observed Napoleon giving die speech consisted of three components. First, a entific interest that, in the 1950s, he was in which he proclaimed Italy a republic. multitude of antennae, which were able to able to build the "Chronovisor," a true We then traveled much further back in pick up every conceivable wavelength of time machine! time, to ancient Rome. First, there was a light and sound. These antennae were Unlike die fantastic one imagined by bustling fruit and vegetable market in the made of alloys consisting of three mysteri- H.G. Wells, however, die Chronovisor time of Emperor Trajan. Next, a speech ous metals. The second component was a could not transport people back and forth by Cicero, one of the most famous, the type of direction finder, activated and dri- first delivered against Catilina." Ernetti ven by the wavelengths of light and sound said that he had noticed slight differences Massimo Polidoro is an investigator of the which it received. You could set it to a in the Latin pronunciation of Cicero's paranormal, author, lecturer, and co- given place, date, and even person of your time as compared to the Latin taught in founder and head of CICAP, the Italian choice. The third component was an schools today. skeptics group. extremely complex array of recording

2 2 May/June 2003 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER devices, which made possible the record- adorning the sanctuary. The woodcarv- Christ dying on the cross on Golgotha. ing of sound—and particularly of ing was by a Spanish sculptor named This was the vision she had communi- images—from any time and any place Cullot Valera. cated to the Spanish sculptor; following (Brune and Chauvin 1993). This photo and the one produced by her instructions, he had sculpted on the Father Ernetti were identical, except that face of the Christ on the wooden cross Jesus Christ Superstar! one was the mirror image of the other. No the exact features, the very expression of Aside from these engaging tales, however, one could deny that they were identical, Christ, that she had seen in her vision! the only solid fact was that nobody had not even Father Brune who, when the The fact that not only were the pictures ever seen the Chronovisor; the only proof monk had less than a year to live, asked his identical in their subject, but also in the of its existence was Father Ernetti's words. friend about this compromising photo. shadows and light reflections, means that On May 2, 1972, the weekly the two images were in fact the Italian magazine La Domenica del same picture (Krassa 2000). Corriere (Courier's Sunday) pub- lished a picture which Father Sunset Boulevard Ernetti claimed was obtained No trace of the Chronovisor exists through the Chronovisor: the and Father Ernetti was very careful image showed Christ's face in to explain that, after its experimen- agony on the cross. tal runs, it had been disassembled "At first," explained Father and "hidden in a safe place." Ernetti to Brune, "we tried to But why hide such a discovery, recapture the images of the day of Father Brune asked. Father Christ's crucifixion. But we had a Ernetti's replied, "This machine problem. Crucifixions, as awful as can tune in on everyones past they were, were commonplace in completely, leaving nothing out. Christ's time. People were nailed With it, there can be no more to the cross every day. It also did- secrets; no more state secrets, no n't help that Christ wore a crown more industrial secrets—no more of thorns, because, contrary to private lives. The door would be popular belief, it wasn't unusual wide open for the most fearsome to be punished by having a crown dictatorship the world has ever of thorns put on your head." seen. We ended up agreeing to dis- They were thus obliged to go a mantle our machine" (Brune and few days further back in time, to Chauvin 1993). the last supper of Christ. "We saw What to make, then, of such everything" said Father Ernetti Supposed photograph of Jesus by Father Pellegrino Ernetti. an incredible tale? "As a matter of simply. "The agony in the garden, fact," says Peter Krassa in a recent the betrayal of Judas, the trial—Calvary." Ernetti's reply was very disingenu- interview in Fortean Times, "there is no The Chronovisor team brought back a ous: "He explained that he was aware of reliable witness to Ernetti s claims. No one record of this experience: "We filmed it— the other photo, aware that it was the ever saw the Chronovisor, not even Brune losing the fine details, of course, but film- work of a Spanish sculptor. He also said or Senkowski, who were both in close ing it was the only way to preserve it." he knew that the Spanish sculptor had contact with him. Ernetti never named No trace of this film, however, ever carved his Christ according to the the scientists who were cooperating with came to light. The only objective proof instructions of a certain Spanish nun. him because he wanted, he claimed, to that came out of this story was that pic- that this Spanish nun had been a mystic protect them from public harassment. ture. A few months after its publication, who carried the stigmata of Christ on The exceptions were Wernher von Braun however, the mystery was solved: in the her body and was consumed by ecstatic and Enrico Fermi, who were already August 1972 issue of the Giornale dei visions of Christ's Passion." dead" (Heinzerling 2002). Misteri (Journal of Mysteries) a letter Ernetti seemed to have assumed that Aside from the photograph of Christ, and a photo were published. A reader, Father Brune would understand the rest. which turned out to be a fake, the only Alfonso De Silva, explained that he had The Parisian priest does not dwell on this other "proof" of the existence of the purchased the photo for 100 lire in the in his article but Peter Krassa, author of Chronovisor was the transcript of the gift shop of the Santuario dell'Amore Father Ernetti's Chronovisor, does and Thyestcs, the lost tragedy. Actually, this Miscricordioso (Sanctuary of Merciful assumes that Father Ernetti is tendering one as well, after close scrutiny by Love) in the town of Collevalenza, neat the following explanation: The ecstatic Katherine Owen Eldred, who holds a Todi and Perugia. It was a photograph vision of Christ's Passion which the mys- Ph.D. in Classics from Princeton of the face of Christ on a woodcarving tical nun had enjoyed was a vision of University, provides reasons to doubt. For

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER May/June 2003 23 one thing, a number of words in the text expect (Krassa 2000). He was an alchemist and a physicist. do not appear in the Latin language Near the end of die Chronovisor saga, He, too, experimented with a until at least 250 years later. Also, says as in a classic mystery tale, comes an unex- Chronovisor. It was he who taught me that it might be possible." Was Ernetti the culprit of a pious fraud, wishing that his tales could lend Was Ernetti the culprit of a pious fraud, credibility to Christianity? Or was he the victim of a monster that he created wishing that his tales could lend credibility and could not kill, like the Fox sisters to Christianity? Or was he the victim of who started out by playing a joke on their parents and ended up inventing a monster that he created and could not kill? Spiritualism? We will never know . . . unless, of course, someday, someone will come forward with a time machine and will let us go back in time and ask Eldred, there are certain words which pected surprise: a confession. In his book, Ernetti for the truth. are reused in this text too often, clear Krassa reproduced a letter from an sign of a limited Latin vocabulary— unidentified "distant relative" of Father References which was certainly not the case with Ernetti who claimed he had met him on Conti, Sergio. 1980. "Leitera," Giornale dei misieri. author Quinto Ennio. his deathbed. Ernetti wished to leave this Firenze: Cormdo Tedeschi Editore, 114. Onobrc. De Silva, Alfonso. 1972. "Lettera," Giornale dei mis- world with a clear conscience, and so he Furthermore, of the twenty-four frag- teri. Firenzr. Cormdo Tedesdii I'dinar, 17. Agpsto. ments of Ennio's Thyestes which have admitted that "he had not really brought Gandi, Annunziato. 1980. "Lcttera," Giornale been preserved for us by later commenta- that play back on the Chronovisor. He dei misieri, Firenze: Cormdo Tedeschi Ediiore. tors such as Cicero, Nonius, and Statius, said that he thought he had composed the 114. Otiobre. Brune. Francois, and Remy Chauvin. 1993. En more dian half show up in the Ernetti play himself, using many fragments that Direct de TAu-DeU Paris: Robert Laffon. Thyestes piece. Since the Ernetti Thyestes were preserved in the writings of other . 1999. A VEcoute de TAu-DeU. Paris: playlet is only one-tenth the probable authors—but he could only very Kiron/Philippe lxbaud. Krassa, Peter. 2000. Father Ernetti) Chronovisor. length of die complete tragedy by Ennius, obscurely remember doing that." Boca Raton. Florida: New ["aradigm Books. it might have been expected that, on the However, before taking this as a true con- Maddaloni, Vincenzo. 1972. Inventata la macchina average, about ten percent of the frag- fession one must know that a few sen- die fotografa il passaro. La Domenica del ments would show up. Here 65 percent of tences later Father Ernetti tells about Corriere, Milano. N. 18, 2 maggio. Mancini. Lorenzo. 1980. "Letiera," Giornale the fragments show up—about seven another lifetime in which he was a con- dei misteri. Firenze: Cormdo Tedeschi Editore. times as many as you might reasonably temporary of Nostradamus. "I knew him. Ill.Ortobre. D

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