Time-travel conspiracy theorists and internet jokesters are losing their minds over a Greta Thunberg lookalike from 1898.
A photo taken by late photographer Eric A. Hegg from the University of Washington archives has been circulating on social media because a female subject in the foreground bears an uncanny, striking resemblance to the 16-year-old environmental activist.
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The girl, hair fashioned in braided pigtails similar to what Thunberg often sports, is kneeling on the ground during the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon Territory.
Her facial features make her nearly indistinguishable from Thunberg.
As often happens on the internet, people are running with a variety of joke theories that could explain this incredible occurrence.
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Perhaps, some say, the Swedish girl was actually in Canada 120 years ago and has done the impossible: time-travelled to the modern day to save the world from the climate crisis.
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Imaginations are running wild, with many taking to Twitter with their theories.
“So ‘Greta Thunberg’ is in a photo from 120 years ago, and it’s my new favorite conspiracy,” a Twitter user wrote. “Greta’s a time-traveler, from the future, and she’s here to save us.”
Another person tweeted: “Maybe she is from the future who was sent back in time to key moments in history to stop climate change.”
An account called Meme Finder Chick is even using Thunberg’s own quotes to make fun, yet unlikely, connections to her possible side hustle as a time bender.
“‘You stole my childhood,'” they wrote, referring to one of Thunberg’s most famous quotes.
“Possibly referring to the past? Maybe not. ‘The world is waking up, and change is coming whether you like it or not,’ sure sounds like something a time traveler would say.”
According to the Independent, the photo first began to circulate online when it was posted to a paranormal Facebook community group.
The International Children’s Peace Prize winner, in a bid to bring awareness to the climate crisis, started a protest outside the Swedish parliament in 2018. These protests later became her movement, Fridays for Future.
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By September, she was skipping school every Friday to protest and was promptly joined by fellow students, teachers and activists.
People from more than 30 other countries joined in the protests, leading to Thunberg being invited to speak in front of the UN a year later.
She’s been hailed as a climate champion for her work in bringing awareness to the cause and is currently on her second cross-Atlantic trip on a low-carbon boat.
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