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Internet Freaks Over 19th-Century Books Featuring Boy Named ‘Baron Trump’

Internet Freaks Over 19th-Century Books Featuring Boy Named ‘Baron Trump’
President Donald Trump and his son Barron. A series of books written in the late 19th century by Ingersoll Lockwood concerns a character named Baron Trump -- who finds a time portal in Russia thanks to a man named Don.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
President Donald Trump and his son Barron. A series of books written in the late 19th century by Ingersoll Lockwood concerns a character named Baron Trump -- who finds a time portal in Russia thanks to a man named Don.
President Donald Trump and his son Barron. A series of books written in the late 19th century by Ingersoll Lockwood concerns a character named Baron Trump -- who finds a time portal in Russia thanks to a man named Don.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
President Donald Trump and his son Barron. A series of books written in the late 19th century by Ingersoll Lockwood concerns a character named Baron Trump -- who finds a time portal in Russia thanks to a man named Don.

The internet tends to trump things up, but even this boggles the mind: A series of books from the late 1800s depicts a character named Baron Trump.

Oh, and the boy is aided in his quest by a man named Don.

Reddit users have been discussing the books, along with a number of other Trump-related conspiracy theories.

The books are credited to Ingersoll Lockwood, a lawyer who dabbled in fantasy fiction.

Lockwood’s series of 19th-century children’s books includes: Travels and Adventures of Little Baron Trump and His Wonderful Dog Bulger;Extraordinary Experiences of Little Captain Doppelkop on the Shores of Bubbleland;Wonderful Deeds and Doings of Little Giant Boab and His Talking Raven Tabib; and Baron Trump’s Marvellous Underground Journey.

Screenshot of the cover of Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey, featured on the blog
Screenshot of the cover of Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey, featured on the blog

Newsweek also wrote about the books, noting that the coincidences go beyond the lead character’s name ― which is just one letter off from the name of President Donald Trump’s youngest child, Barron.

In Baron Trump’s Marvellous Underground Journey, Baron is a wealthy young man living in a place called Castle Trump, but his real adventures begin when Don, the “Master of all Masters,” inspires him to travel to Russia, where he finds a portal that allows him to travel to other lands.

The man in the book is actually named Don Constantino Bartolomeo Strepholofidgeguaneriusfum, so yes, “Don” is a title, but still...

Lockwood also wrote a pamphlet in 1896 called The Last President, which does not feature the Baron Trump character but has some interesting parallels to modern times. It begins in New York City, which is up in arms over the election of an outsider candidate. The news causes those “in the upper portions” of the city to sit “as if paralyzed with a nameless dread.”

“Mobs of vast size are organizing under the lead of anarchists and socialists, and threaten to plunder and despoil the houses of the rich who have wronged and oppressed them for so many years,” an early passage of the book reads.

The coincidences in the books are getting interest from internet conspiracy theorists, some of whom believe the portal to other worlds in the Baron Trump book supports a theory that the Trump family has had access to time travel for many years ― through the president’s uncle, engineer John Trump.

John Trump reportedly had access to the papers of Nikola Tesla, who, according to the theory, was researching time travel ― and whose knowledge somehow enabled Trump to win the 2016 presidential election.

Some people don’t know what to think, as YouTube clips like this and this demonstrate.

Others simply see opportunity, like filmmaker Leigh Scott, a self-professed Trump supporter who wants to fund a film version of the books via IndieGogo.

Scott specializes in low-budget films that cash in on big-budget movies. Titles include “Transmorphers,” which is about alien robots; “King Of The Lost World,” about a giant ape; and “Dorothy And The Witches Of Oz,” a take on “The Wizard Of Oz.”

He feels Lockwood’s books provide a great opportunity to screw with people’s heads.

I’m a huge fan of trolling, and making this movie is the greatest opportunity we have to troll the entire media,” Scott says in a YouTube clip pitching the concept. “To make something so bizarre, so professional and so unique that they cannot deny its existence.”

“We all know that if someone discovered a book called Little Chelsea Clinton’s Magical Adventures, Hollywood studios would have Tim Burton and Johnny Depp on the line in a matter of seconds,” he adds.

Considering all the hoaxes that appear on sites like Reddit and 4chan, it’s understandable that this all sounds like some elaborate prank.

However, the books are all listed in WorldCat, and some can be found on the Library of Congress website, in addition to Google Books and Amazon.

One blogger discussed Lockwood’s work back in 2009, wondering if “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” author L. Frank Baum “helped himself to some of the ideas here for his Oz books.”

HuffPost reached out to The White House, which did not immediately respond to questions about the books or whether the Trump family has been hiding a secret time machine for decades.

We’re not holding our breath.

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