The Secret Orville Wright Lab Experiments

Orville Wright liked to "tinker" at his Lab at 15 North Broadway, Dayton Ohio. This is what has been written of Orville's activities there, by a vast number of historians. But the truth of what really went on has been hidden away, until now......

Photographic evidence of Orville Wright using a cell phone in 1946!

Twice you have visited the Wright home "Hawthorn Hill" in Oakwood and twice you have stumbled into the basement vault only to find yourself inexplicably transported back in time; to Orville Wright's Lab building in Dayton February 1942, and later to witness Wilbur Wright's flights at Governor's Island NY during the 1909 Hudson Fulton Celebration. (For these accounts, see "A Journey Back in Time- An Interview with Orville Wright" and "Great Scott!- It's Wilbur Wright back in 1909!")

Today, you are visiting the Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center at West Third and South Williams Streets in West Dayton. Leaving the Center, you head west on West Third Street to the former location of the Wright Cycle Shop. Further west, to 15 North Broadway, you reach the former location of Orville Wright's Aeronautical Lab.

15 North Broadway, Dayton, Ohio. Former location of Wright's Aeronautical Lab, now with a replica of the building facade.

Orville's Last Workshop, the sign reads "Here, in the years following Wilbur's death, Orville perfected the split-wing flap and the automatic stabilizer. In 1976, Standard Oil of Ohio knocked down the former Wright Aeronautical Laboratory to use the property to sell gasoline- a gas station that was never built." In defense of Standard Oil, they offered the building to anyone who would remove the structure for relocation, and no one stepped forward.

Walking through the building facade, you turn to read the informational sign as pictured above, when the scene before you suddenly transforms into a swirl of grass and pavement, bricks and furniture, and with a flash, you find yourself standing in the vestibule of a building. A woman enters the room, scowls at you, tells you to take a seat, that Mr. Wright would be in shortly. Gaining your senses, you realize you have once again been pulled back through time to the early 1940's, now sitting in the small waiting room of the Wright Aeronautical Lab Building!

Orville Wright enters the room. "So I see you found your way back", he said. "Interested in my work at the Lab?"
You reply, "Yes, Mr. Wright, quite interested. Though your secretary didn't seem very pleased to see me again...".
"Oh, don't concern yourself about her" Orville explains, "She treats everyone that way, even my brother Lorin. But she serves her purpose. You know how ALF's can be."
You obviously look confused, and so Orville explains further.

"ALF's, Artificial life forms"

"Artificial.......you mean your secretary is an android??", you exclaim, "Mabel Beck?!"

Orville responds "Yes, I named her after the acronyms....the Multi-fiber Android Biochemical Ethernet Lattice cable connects the logic center to the....."

"The Multi-fiber android what?", you ask dumbfounded.

"The MABEL cable....please keep up with me," Orville explains, "And unfortunately there's the BECK Effect. The Bionic Entity Crabby Kinetics Effect...the unfortunate effect of the flow of the bio-genetic fluids through the android lattice personality circuits resulting in a rather unpleasant demeanor. Probably shouldn't have used the bicycle chains in her joints; seemed like a good idea at the time."
You look at Orville in disbelief. 

He continues, "Some kid peeking in the window caught me one day adjusting her brain stem Mabel cable. Thought I was kissing her. You should have seen the shocked look on his face! He took off running down the alley. Funniest thing ever!"

"It works fairly efficiently, but just never got that personality right. No one likes her much," Orville says with a chuckle, and then leads you back to the workshop area of the building. You notice what appears to be a nice cabinet record player with various broken LP's laying about in pieces, and ask Orville about it.

Orville Wright's record changer in basement of Hawthorn Hill.

"Record changer, yes, that's what I've been telling everyone it is. It does much more than that, I'll explain one day. Actually already did, but you haven't experienced that portion of the time line yet," Orville explains.

Not able to contain your curiosity any longer, you ask Orville "I hope I'm not out of line, but I really am amazed that I'm standing here talking to you, and I haven't a clue how it is possible. You say we've talked about the record changer before, but that I haven't experienced that time line...I'm really confused." Orville nods his head, and offers you a seat on one of the crates in the Lab. At this moment, Mabel Beck enters, stares at you, looks at her watch, rolls her eyes, and exits. Orville just sighs.
Orville explains "Wilbur and I were not just working on flight. We also delved into the possibility of time travel. Attempted the first experiments at Kitty Hawk in 1911, but too many reporters showed up. They thought I was there to test our automatic stabilizer," Orville chuckles again, "The flux capacitor was mounted right there in plain site, and.....".
Your jaw drops. "I'm sorry.... but did you just say the flux capacitor???"
At that you hear a phone ring. Orville reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a cell phone. "Excuse me, I know that is rude", he says as he silences the device. "I forgot to deactivate the worm hole connecting me to a cell tower in 2023. Anyway, you were asking me something?"
"You invented the flux capacitor?" you ask, thinking he must be pulling your leg. You've read of Orville's sense of humor, and practical jokes.

Orville replies "Come now, you haven't seen the Back to the Future movies?" Orville reaches into the desk drawer, and withdrew a sheet of paper and hands it to you.

Plain as day, the flux capacitor is depicted in the center of this sketch from 1910, hand drawn by Wilbur Wright!

You can't believe your eyes as you compare the sketch on the 1910 sheet of paper to the device as depicted in the Back to the Future Movies.

The flux capacitor is real, Great Scott!

"I'm really confused now", you tell Orville, "How did your invention get into a movie trilogy from 1985...."

Orville interrupts, " Well, you're not the only one I've pulled back in time...have always been a Christopher Lloyd fan."

"Ok, right there, this is something that has also been confusing me....aren't you afraid of changing the time line, tearing the fabric of the space time continuum, creating a time paradox that will destroy the known universe...." you stumble over various scenarios.

Orville sighs again, and explains....."There is only one time line. What has been, has been. There is no changing the past."

You again look at Orville in disbelief, "Wait, but if I change an event in the past, it will alter the future....."

Orville shakes his head, "You've been watching too many Star Trek episodes. The time line is the time line. What happened, happened. If you go back to the past, it is only because you were there when the past occurred."

"Yes, but in Back to the Future II, Older Biff brings the sports magazine back in time and gives it to the younger Biff, and that changes the time line, and......" you attempt to explain.

"Those are just movies! I'm talking about reality here...."Orville interrupts.

"Ok, how about this scenario", you challenge Orville, "I travel back to 1912, January, and warn your brother not to eat shellfish. He takes my advice, doesn't eat the tainted meal, and doesn't come down with typhoid fever as a result, and therefore is alive yet today." You think you have Orville on this one.

Orville is shaking his head again, and responds, "I appreciate your concern for my brother Wilbur. But the fact remains is that you did not go to the past to warn Wilbur. If you had, he may be alive today, but he is not. The past has already occurred, and what you describe did not occur, so therefore, you will never go into the past and warn Wilbur to not eat shellfish."

You can't help but raise your voice a bit, "But if I wanted to, I could! This makes no sense!"

"Tis so", Orville replies.

"Tis not!", you respond.

Orville looks at you, and says, "I like a good scrapper. It's been a long time since I've had a good scrap".

The lab door swings open, Orville's secretary stomps in, stares at Orville, stares at you, reaches into the record changer cabinet, grabs something, and dashes out, slamming the door behind her.

"She's been acting rather odd today. Sometimes I wonder if she isn't a bit jealous of my having visitors from the future," Orville explains. 

The interior of the record cabinet, stripped of its electronics.

"But what did she just take?", you ask. 

"Oh, the flux capacitor", Orville says calmly.

"The flux capacitor?! You keep it in the record cabinet??", you asked amazed. You're standing up now, and run to the door only to find it locked. "She locked the door! She has the flux capacitor! This is bad isn't it??"

Orville shrugs, and agrees perhaps he'd better check things out. "I'll be right back", he says as he reaches into his pocket, pulls out a key to unlock the door, and exits the room. From your time perspective, he immediately returns to the room, but is dressed in different clothing, and appears a bit frantic. "Oh my, this is not good, this is not good..." he repeats.

"What's going on?", you ask as you're surprised to see Orville's mood change. 

"She traveled in time, she did some very disturbing things...." Orville says as he rushes about the Lab picking up various items and loading them into a wooden box.

"Ok, but you said that no one can change the time line, so what could she have done that was so bad?", you ask of Orville. 

"I said no one can change the time line by traveling into the past. What has been has been. I'll bet this is all because I disassembled her IBM electric typewriter. She never did forgive me for that one." Orville yells as he digs through a tool chest. 

"Ok........then....so if she can't change the past.........", you're not sure what to ask.

"She didn't go to the past....she went to the future!! The future isn't written yet, so she can do anything she wants!", Orville explains, as he runs to his office and grabs a number of worn notebooks from his desk drawer.

"And that would be......" you ask preparing for the worst.

"She activated the Beck Organic Reorganizing Gene sequencer! She must have read my notebooks.....", Orville says, as he heads for the front door.

"The Beck organic....what?", you ask of Orville as he runs down the front steps.

"The BORG sequencer!", Orville yells back, as he climbs into his Roadster, and peels away, heading east on West Third Street, leaving you standing there on North Broadway. 

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