Advertisements for time travelling and clown dating are popping up around town.

Michael Williamson created the ads to promote his new apparel and accessories brand.

People have called him to explain why they want to time travel and to describe their ideal clown.

Michael Williamson has a lot of missed calls — roughly 150 from complete strangers — as of last week. About a third of those callers waited for his lengthy answering machine message to end before leaving voicemails that have shocked, amused and amazed the Knoxville artist.

"I'm very, very interested," said a recorded voice in one of the messages. "I understand these are two separate services — the time travel and the clown dating. But if possible, I have a friend that is really interested in like the old-timey clowns. ... I really need you to call him."

Williamson can have a hard time distinguishing which callers are just having fun and which are being serious. But that doesn't matter. Either way, he is getting the attention he sought.

Yellow lawn signs that have popped up around town advertising for clown dating and time travel are actually marketing materials Williamson made for his new apparel and accessories brand called Dismembers Only, inspired by VHS tapes and other forms of "dead media."

"I have actually only put out about 15 signs," Williamson said last week. "I have plenty more to put out. But I kind of just wanted to test the waters. And I've been shocked on how many phone calls I receive a day. ... I’m hearing amazing stories about why people are wanting to travel in time.”

'I wanted people to smile'

The clown dating advertisements posted around town encourage people to "stop playing games" and "start clowning around," while the time travel ads promise "secret society secrets" and an "80% chance of return."

"There are two main reasons for it," Williamson said. "One, I wanted people to smile. I wanted people to see the sign and realize it just wasn't quite right and then to talk about it and laugh about it. The other one is to start a marketing campaign."

Both ads have the same phone number posted, and those who have the courage to call the number are met with a friendly message from Gordy Shumway — Williamson's alias and the "real" name of TV alien ALF.

Dial 865-214-6028 to hear the message. The phone never rings on Williamson's end — he just gets notifications someone called.

"I think I was really afraid I was going to get a lot of prank calls or a lot of people not being nice, and that really never happened," Williamson said. "Everyone's been either really having fun with it and then a few that you can tell that — you're not sure if they're joking or not."

For example, there's a guy who claimed to be the only choice in the Knoxville area for a time traveling experiment. His reasoning? He can bench press more than 95 pounds, has no health concerns and has several thousand dollars stowed away.

Williamson is still trying to figure out how to connect in a valuable way with the callers. He is considering a return robocall that thanks them and explains the business, which he plans on launching in about a week.

About the Dismembers Only brand

Prior to moving to Knoxville just over a year ago, Williamson started collecting VHS tapes with his friends in Florida.

"We really decided that it was something we wanted to take for a social media presence, and we weren't really sure how to do that," he said. "I built my Instagram and just started collecting and posting."

Williamson is taking the concept a step further by building a print shop in the basement of his Knoxville home, which already is decked out with a wall of VHS tapes and various pop culture toys and memorabilia.

Dismembers Only is a play on the Members Only jackets he and his friends used to wear. His brand name has been incorporated into the firsts two T-shirt designs — one of which advertises for time travel.

“(Art) has been a hobby of mine that I decided I needed to take full time," Williamson said. "I’ve always been an artist, I would say. I always enjoyed making art and being involved with the art community and wanted to use this as a way to get more involved with the art community here.”

Williamson worked with Knoxville's Riot Printing to create the T-shirt designs. He also has Dismembers Only sunglasses, stickers and koozies.

Williamson currently is building a dismembersonly.com website where his items will be available for sale. He plans on fully launching the website in about a week.

In the meantime, you can keep up with the brand and Williamson's collections by following his borderline NSFW Instagram account @dismembersonly.

Williamson plans to partner with Central Cinema to host a VHS exchange as part of the new brand.