1.Stay away from humans as much as possible. One word out of your mouth and they'd label you a foreigner at best and "possessed of the devil" at worst...result, death by fire, after some horrific torture that is.

2.Get real dirty as soon as possible. A coating of mud ought to do the trick. Make sure your clothes are almost unrecognizable. Your clothes would be cause enough to label you as "WYERD" and a "fraternizer with witches"...result, death by fire, after some horrific torture.

3. Pretend to be dumb and mute. Learn the language by listening only. Practice pronunciation in your lean-to that you've built in a forest. Get really good at begging for scraps, especially tomatoes, since they'll think they're poisonous. (Steal the rest if you can) Work on developing some tools. Now's when you wish you EDC'ed good stuff! If a noble doesn't like the way you look, he'll take your stuff, arrest you...result, death by fire, you know the rest.

4. After years of acclimatization, rescue some VIP with a Heimlich or CPR and say: "An angel came and told me to raise up this dead maid/noble". You will be labeled a hero and paraded around villages as an holy artifact. Lots of food will come this way.

My guess at your chances of survival...1%.

A little different than A Yankee in King Arthur's court!

Hi Red,



The last person convicted for Witchcraft in Scotland was in 1944, her name was Helen Duncan. They didn't burn her though.

1632 is addicting.

A lot depends on how you "arrive." If I popped up with a bunch of people, I'm pretty much SOL. My survival is limited to how fast I can run and avoid pitchforks/arrows/horses/etc. Also depends when you arrive, since being in the wrong clothes could kill you quick just from the weather.

Assuming I survive the first 15 minutes, I think Red has the right idea. Thank goodness I have a knife with me right now, so I could at least fashion a bow/arrow or spear for hunting/fishing. I'm right now in olive shorts and a tank top, so fortunately I'm not in outrageous clothes - I could lose the top real quick, and maybe tear the shorts a bit to look like falling apart pants. Get out of public view unless absolutely necessary. Get something to blend in with (steal if I have to). Deaf/mute works well, beg/steal food (tomatoes, potatoes, any wildlife in the forest).

For me, if I could survive the first month, I'd start working on language. I've taken, at various points in my life, Spanish, French and Latin. Hopefully I'd be understand the occasional word initially; if not, body language probably hasn't changed much in 1000 years. I'm assuming by a year I could probably understand quite a bit. Hopefully in that time I'd be able to get some glasses, since my contacts won't be much good after a few days there, and I'm pretty blind without them. Once I got the language down, it'd be time to hit the road.

Get a few miles away, so that I'd be "new" to the area, and start fresh. Maybe get in with a barber or set up shop as a physician/surgeon. Not the most prestigious job at the time, but it'll bring in some money. Fortunately, I know how to wash my hands, which will keep me from killing as many patients as my competition. If I could be accepted into the society, perhaps gently push some public health measures, start smallpox vaccines (just like Jenner did back in the day, using cowpox or smallpox scrapings), stress the importance of clean water.

I'd also thank the sweet lord and my parents that I'm up to date on my shots, so all I'd really worry about would be smallpox and TB. I'd also thank my Mom that I'm only 5'7", so I should be about the right height.

Some good ideas all around. One critique, most responses seem to be assuming we end up in Europe. What happens when you end up someplace else.



If you ended up in Europe, no tomatoes would be there. Tomatoes came from the Americas, so they would not arrive for another 500 years.

Why is everyone assuming that folks from the middle ages were short. William Wallace was apparently 6 feet 7inches tall. I've seen his sword at the Wallace National Monument at Abbey Craig just outside Stirling. Its huge, being 5 feet 4 inches (162 cm) long. Thats why most folks over here have a little laugh at Mel Gibson playing the part in the film Braveheart. Mel Gibson would be about the same height as his sword!!

Haha!!! I had no idea that William Wallace was so short!

"...I go down in history as the single greatest scientist the world will ever know..."

Man oh man, you must be one smart dude, if you surpass all of those guys...

Because that's where the OP says we are.

And, oh yeah, tomatoes might be hard to find. At least I wasn't looking for corn or coffee in western europe.

No potatoes either, and 500 years until the Germans come up with their beer purity law. And the point of surviving is . . .?????

actually, if i could just get past the language issue and find some clothes, i could probably fit in with royalty or clergy quite easily. think about it: the only people back then who were anywhere close to our modern level of health, education, etc were high nobility. noone else would even likely know how to read, let alone have anything close to a basic high-school education by today's standards. The first thing i'd do is make a b-line for a wooded area, IOW get out of sight. i'd then seek out the nearest monastery to seek sanctuary and clothing. i show that i can write and start copying scripture. i leave with a Bible and get the heck out of Europe. while traveling, vow of silence means i don't have to speak to anyone, thus reducing the risk of giving myself away as a weirdo; monk's garb and possession of holy scripture means i can seek shelter and sustenance at most churches i pass by without too many questions(also might get me that most important second chance if i happen to slip up and do something overtly modern in public).
i beg/steal enough clothes to appear as a member of the upper crust and find a blacksmith. I pay him a few pieces of gold i made by melting the band of my wrist-watch for an axe, bowie, and sword. these are useful anywhere and also much more valuable as barter goods than is gold.
if i manage to reach a port town I set myself up as a merchant. All sorts pass through port cities, so my strange accent would likely seem less unusual. First chance i get i join a ship's crew, a task made easier by my build and knowledge of seaman's knots. i travel the world, live to a ripe old age, and eventually die.