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1898 Yukon gold rush photo featuring Greta Thunberg look-alike sends internet into tailspin

Jokes erupted this week after a 120-year-old photo taken by Eric A. Hegg surfaced from archives
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‘Three children operating rocker at a gold mine on Dominion Creek, Yukon Territory, ca. 1989’ shot by Eric A. Hegg. (University of Washington Archives)

Is teen climate activist Greta Thunberg a time traveller sent from 1898? It’s a question sweeping the internet and welcoming conspiracy theorists far and wide.

The jokes first began this week after a photo taken by Eric A. Hegg, roughly 120 years ago, surfaced from the University of Washington digital archives, showing three children operating a rocker at a gold mine on Dominion Creek during the Klondike gold rush in the Yukon.

On the left side of the photo, a girl bearing an uncanny resemblance to Thunberg – braid and all – is seen kneeling in front of some rocks and dirt.

While some suggest time travel, and have assumed its a low-carbon method of travel, others have suggested immortality.

Either way, it’s safe to say Thunberg’s followers won’t get an answer anytime soon – she’s on a 48-foot catamaran in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on her way to Spain for the United Nations Climate Change Convention in early December.

ALSO READ: Adults must protect kids from climate change, Greta Thunberg says during Vancouver rally

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About the Author: Ashley Wadhwani-Smith

I began my journalistic journey at Black Press Media as a community reporter in my hometown of Maple Ridge, B.C.
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