LOST Time Travel Theory

I've mentioned on here before that i'm obsessed with the ABC show LOST. I frequent the message boards and lately theory discussion has been a little stale. So I started looking at little details of the last few episodes and sorta got an idea for a theory. Although early on the writers said it wasnt supernatural and could be explained with pseudo science, I think my theory still holds water because I believe the only reason they said that was because everyone was saying "theyre dead.. its purgatory" when the show started. My theory has to do with Time Travel, which is scientificly plausable. before you say "Time Travel? LAME!" let me explain.

first off if you havent been watching the show this may be confusing for you. If you think you can handle it, there is a pretty good run-down of the show and characters on this website.

In a few episodes back Charlie and Hurley are thumbing through the vinyl records in the hatch and they make note of never hearing of some of the bands and records found in the hatch. Same with the unfamiliar Appolo Candy bar found in the hatch. the writers also make note of the out of place "new" washer and dryer that was heavily discussed on the message boards when we first saw them in the background of the Season 2 premier a while back. Then in last weeks episode Hurley makes a vauge reference to time travel in the last episode when he and Sayid tune in what sounds like an old WWII USO music broadcast on the radio Bernard gave them. Also when Jack sees Desmond in the Stadium running, Desmond says "see you in another life". which may just be a figure of speach, but could also be another clue to the alternate future, time travel theory.

The records, the candy bar and the new washer and dryer are relics from the past and future. Or even alternate pasts. The original plan was to use time travel to alter history either for the good of mankind or a personal more sinister agenda.

They are all in present time. since the show started, no time travel has occured. the timer was originally used to keep the time travelers double from seeing himself coming and going during the 108 minute overlap (check out the movie PRIMER). the "Quarantine" printed on the hatch door isnt to keep out a disease its original purpose was to keep the doubles from communicating and altering thier own history thus jeopardising the project. The timer controlled the portal (see STARGATE SG-1) and also the timer was there to tell them it was safe to come out. there was an incident, the incident Dr. Candle mentions in the Orientation film, and now they have to keep resetting the timer so that whatever happened in the past or future, that was bad, can't come through to the present. whatever or whoever it is, is just stuck in limbo. keeping the island, and potentially the world safe.

The make-shift cement wall they found in the hatch blocks the portal door as a last resort security measure incase the buttons dont get pressed. the injections may have been originally for a disease that was thought might be brought back from another time. maybe the person who came back through had it, and made the innoculations a requirement for the button pusher teams just in case the timer ran out.

There is a electromagnetic generator located in or near the hatch, and has a monthly or semi annual power-up cycle. the surge of magnetic energy created in this cycle is what caused the tides to shift so radically their first week on the island. this generator is the power source for the hatch and more importantly the time device. This electromagnetic surge may have even caused the plane crash.


the plane crash may have been just a plane crash but everything thats wierd on that island has to do with people coming and going in and out of the past and future using that island as a docking station for their trips. for example the polar bear may have been brought back from another time in the future or dimension that Polar Bears evolved to live in a tropical climate. the scientists brought things like this back for study and since the incident the bears have gotten lose. The Black Rock (old wooden shipwreck miles on shore) may have been brought back somehow but more likely washed far onto the island by the radical tide shifts. The dynamite may have been hidden there a long time after the ship settled where it is.

an extended part of my theory might suggest that dharma influenced who was on oceanic 815 and maybe the crash itself using time travel. the losties may even be decendents of original Dharma team members that went back in time or be the past selves of future dharma team members. but that would require more info to further speculate. also, the "Sickness" Danielle refers to might be a result of the electromagnetic pulse. at close range under uncontrolled circumstances the pulses could cause severe mental illness and cause halucinations and make one appear mad. This also might be what the injections in the hatch are for. but again that would require more information.


but with time travel anything is possible.