September 10, 2026. The internet has once again become convinced: there is something wrong with chronology.
It all started when social media users noticed something completely impossible in a painting nearly a century old. Among the characters depicted on the canvas from 1937, one Native American is holding an object that suspiciously — even too suspiciously! — resembles a modern smartphone.
Meet Mr. Pynchon and... the iPhone?
We are talking about the fresco "Mr. Pynchon and the Settling of Springfield" by Italian artist Umberto Romano. The painting depicts a scene from the 17th century in Massachusetts, when European settlers met with the indigenous peoples of America.
But all attention is focused not on the historical plot, but on one of the Native Americans who, like a seasoned millennial, is holding a dark rectangular object. And this object... well, you get it. It looks as if someone forgot their smartphone 89 years ahead of time.
The internet delivers its verdict: time travelers exist!
Social media, of course, exploded. Users immediately split into several camps:
The "Conspiracy Theorists" camp:
- "It's obviously a time traveler!"
- "Apple invented the iPhone in 1937, they just erased it from history!"
- "They hadn't invented the charger yet, so the phone died immediately, and they threw it away right then" 😄
The "Common Sense" camp:
Historians and art critics are much more prosaic. Most likely, it is an ordinary object of its era — perhaps a book, a pocket mirror, or some ritual object — that just happens to look very conveniently (or inconveniently?) like a 21st-century gadget.
But who cares about dry facts when there is such a wonderful conspiracy theory?
This is not the first time
Interestingly, Umberto Romano's painting has already gone viral in the past. In 2017, 2023, and 2025, people also enthusiastically "found" a smartphone in it. But now it has entered the orbit of virality again, proving that a good meme is truly eternal.
The internet immediately conducted an investigation and delivered a verdict: it is the iPhone, and the man is simply trying to catch a signal between the years 1636 and 1937. Perhaps he is reading the news, checking the exchange rate for fur pelts, or texting: "I'll be late, the colonists have shown up again."
Historians, as usual, ruined the fun with a sensible explanation. Most likely, the man is holding a small mirror — Europeans really did bring such things to America and used them in trade with the indigenous peoples. Among other versions are a book or a religious object.
But internet users can no longer be convinced otherwise. If it is a mirror, why is the man holding it exactly as if he is about to like a post, scroll through his feed, and send someone a photo of a bison?
In short, the iPhone may well have already existed in the seventeenth century. It is just that there was no internet yet, the charger took three centuries to arrive, and the system update was installing roughly until the Industrial Revolution. 😄
So what is really there?
If we set aside the jokes about time machines, the most likely explanation is banal: the artist depicted an object typical of that era or culture. It is simply that our brain, trained to recognize modern gadgets, immediately draws a parallel with the rectangular shape of a phone.
Pareidolia — that is the true culprit of this story. It is the same effect as when we see faces in clouds, sockets in walls, or the image of a famous character toasted onto a slice of bread.
But let us be honest: the time-traveler version is far more interesting.
The internet has already reached its final verdict: the iPhone has always existed, it is just that the power outlet was invented later. 🔋📱
What do you think: a glitch in the matrix or just a funny coincidence? 😉
