A TARDIS has mysteriously appeared on Main Street in Historic Ellicott City.
You read that right.
Life-sized. Blue. British-looking. Has the words “POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX” written around its top.
In the fictional universe (or “Whoniverse”) of the Doctor Who television series, the TARDIS — or “Time And Relative Dimension In Space” — is the space- and time-travel machine commandeered by a Time Lord named “The Doctor.” Its exterior is stuck resembling an ordinary 1960s British police call box, but inside is a gigantic control room where most interior TARDIS scenes are shot (as well as a wardrobe, bedrooms, and even a swimming pool).
Seemingly out of nowhere, over a month ago the large blue thing popped up in Tiber Park next to the sidewalk, by the railing and some of the picnic benches placed there, near where the new Ellicott City Farmers Market has been taking place on Saturday mornings.
Sadly, the Ellicott City TARDIS is locked, so this reporter was unable to determine if it was, indeed, bigger on the inside. Unable to locate a sonic screwdriver, she brought her “psychic paper” like her editor instructed, but to no avail.
Baltimore Fishbowl reached out to Howard County Recreation and Parks but received no response. Local shop owners have registered confusion about its origins. It does not impede pedestrians walking on the sidewalk, though it is of enough interest some stop to take its picture.
Donna Sanger, owner of Park Ridge Trading Company, told Baltimore Fishbowl, “I don’t know anything about it.” She thought she recalled seeing it first uphill near E.C. Pops before it was in the Tiber Park location, but she could not be sure.
Doug Yeakey, owner of E.C. Pops, told Baltimore Fishbowl in a phone call that the TARDIS was not ever in front of his store.
“I don’t know if it has to do with Wizarding Weekend,” Yeakey said, mentioning this weekend’s festivities paying tribute to all things Harry Potter.
Next door at Sweet Cascades Chocolatier, owner Sue Whary dispelled that possibility. She is a volunteer with Wizarding Weekend.
“It just magically appeared one day,” Whary said. “It has nothing to do with Wizarding Weekend.”
Even Halima Aquino, interim director of Ellicott City Partnership, could shed no light on when, why, or how the TARDIS flew in.
“So, that is a tightly held secret, apparently, and it’s so tightly held they’re keeping it from us,” Aquino said. “It’s intentionally mysterious.”
“The only authority that I have to answer about this TARDIS is that I tried to find out for myself, because we run the farmers market down there at Tiber Park, and our farmers market director was curious where this thing flew in from,” Aquino said. “I thought that it was the responsible thing for me to do to figure out whether or not Doctor Who was in town.”
Aquino feels assured by Howard County government officials that the TARDIS is safe and not a threat in any way, though she was not able to get any further information herself out of Rec and Parks.
“I did call Rec and Parks, and I was on the verge of calling the police to make sure that we were safe,” Aquino said. “Our director of the farmers market had to ascertain if it was safe or not to have her farmers market there with a time machine on the property. She felt that she had gotten an answer that made her feel confident that it was okay.”
“From where I sit, I would come to Wizarding Weekend and see … if something appears at that point,” Aquino suggested.
When told about Whary’s insistence that there was no connection, Aquino had no other ideas but promised to let this reporter know if the DeLorean car from “Back to the Future” showed up.
About a year and a half ago I moved to Baltimore city and I’m very excited to be here. I’m enjoying the history architecture city, and the people. Your articles fascinate me and I would like to keep in touch with your group and to receive the article articles