Louis Le Prince, a brilliant inventor, possessed the potential to become one of the most influential figures in 19th-century France. Despite being far ahead of his time and even credited with creating the world’s first motion picture, his name remains relatively unknown.
This obscurity stems from a mysterious incident that occurred during Le Prince’s journey to America in 1890. After checking his belongings and boarding a train from Dijon to Paris, he seemingly vanished into thin air upon its arrival.
Notably, Le Prince’s cabin windows were securely locked, no disturbance was reported by fellow passengers, and shockingly enough – his luggage mysteriously disappeared as well. Extensive searches conducted throughout the entire train yielded no signs of either him or his belongings.
Various theories have emerged regarding this baffling disappearance. Some suggest that financial troubles within Le Prince’s family might have played a role while others propose an intricate suicide plot despite him planning to showcase significant breakthroughs in his field abroad. There is even speculation about possible involvement from Thomas Edison; an American competitor who actively hindered Le Prince’s patents in the United States while reciprocating by leaking Edison’s camera designs in France before he could secure European patents.
Although Edison and the missing man had a strained relationship, there is no evidence linking Edison to the man’s disappearance. Moreover, we are still completely clueless as to how the man vanished. Intriguingly enigmatic yet undeniably accomplished, Louis Le Prince remains shrouded in mystery – forever lost on that fateful train journey.
