Man finds photograph of great-great-grandfather – shocked by what it reveals

A man surprised social media users by showing the striking resemblance he shares with his great-great-grandfather, despite living 120 years apart.

While going through old family photos, Fox Ryker, 26, came across a photo of Antonio Valls, his maternal great-great-grandfather. The photograph – taken in 1900, when Valls was 22 – instantly caught Ryker’s attention because of the resemblance he bears to his ancestor.

Ryker, from Philadelphia, found a photo of himself at age 22 and was struck by the resemblance. He said News week that before encountering the 20th century photograph, he was “not aware of any similarity.” But after seeing them with his own eyes, there was no denying them.

“As soon as I saw the old photo, I thought, Wow, I look like him,” Ryker said. “I was really surprised at how similar we are, given that we are four generations apart and share very little similar DNA.”

Ryker, interested to see if other people noticed the similarity, shared both images on Reddit. Her post quickly went viral, receiving more than 38,000 votes and 750 comments in just a few days.

Some Redditors joked that Ryker was a reincarnated version of his great-great-grandfather.

Although Ryker was fascinated by the similarities between his face and Valls’, he was also intrigued by the contrasts in the images. After all, a lot has changed between 1900 and 2020.

“The two photos are proof of how much has changed over time because we both have different hairstyles, mustaches, clothes, and the composition of the photos is very different. Not to mention I’m holding a smartphone in my photo,” he said.

Alexander Graham Bell was granted the first US patent for the telephone in 1876 – 24 years before Valls’ photo was taken and more than a century before phones were used to take selfies and watch TikTok videos.

Since the Reddit post went viral, Ryker has been surprised by the overwhelming response. He said it has been “very polarizing” so far as reactions continue to emerge.

“Some people think I’m him reincarnated, while others think we look nothing alike. Some even hurled insults, but that’s the internet for you,” he added.

Among the hundreds of comments, many Redditors pointed out the similarities between the relatives, but not everyone was convinced.

“Apart from your eyes, you look completely different to me. Chin, nose, lips etc.,” one user commented, while another said: “OK where is your time machine?”

“Welcome back, OP’s maternal great-great-grandfather!” added one commenter, suggesting that Ryker, the original poster, was his reincarnated ancestor.

Another user wrote: “Imagine if he knew people would see his photo 120 years after it was taken.”

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