The Man from Taured is a story about a mysterious individual who arrived in Japan from a country named Taured, which does not actually exist.
The Arrival of the Man from Taured
According to Ancient Origins, the story begins on a sweltering day in July 1954 at Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan. The airport security team was busy at work when an unusual incident disrupted their routine.
The image of the mysterious man from Taured. (Photo: Yahoonews).
According to eyewitness accounts from passengers at the airport, the mysterious white man spoke French, had a basic understanding of Japanese, and a few other languages.
The story took an unexpected turn when the man presented his passport for stamping. The passport looked quite authentic but bore the name of the country Taured, which does not exist.
The next part of the story involves the man trying to convince customs officials that Taured is a real country. According to his account, Taured is located between France and Spain, and has existed for the past 1,000 years.
Haneda Airport, Japan in the 1950s.
When the customs staff confirmed that the location he was referring to was actually Andorra, the visitor became angry and questioned why that was the case.
To prove the existence of Taured, the man also presented a driver’s license issued by the Taured government, as well as related business documents.
As investigators attempted to gather more information about Taured, the mysterious guest grew impatient. He claimed this was his third trip to Japan this year and that he had visited the country many times over the past five years.
Evidence of this was his ability to speak a little Japanese. Therefore, he could not accept the Japanese authorities delaying his schedule.
Ultimately, the man was detained by Japanese police due to potential involvement in criminal activities. He was taken to a hotel to spend the night before the interrogation process began.
The place the man claimed to hail from, the non-existent country of Taured.
To ensure that the man did not escape, two security personnel were stationed outside. By the next morning, the man had vanished without a trace.
Everyone was surprised, as the room had been guarded all night, and the only exit was a window overlooking a busy street below.
All of the man’s identification papers, which were considered evidence, also mysteriously disappeared.
Experts suggest that the incident may have indeed happened, but it is not as mysterious as the story that has been woven over the years. After decades of word-of-mouth, the story of the mysterious disappearance has become a legend.
There are also alternative opinions that claim this story is fictional and merely a product of someone’s imagination.
Evidence of Time-Space Travel?
Many have sought to explain this bizarre occurrence by delving into possibilities often associated with science fiction. Among them are Bryan Alaspa and Jeremy Bates, both of whom have written books inspired by the story of the man from Taured. In fact, many people online have copied this story and used it as evidence.
One of the most notable explanations for this incident is that the man from Taured somehow accidentally crossed over into a parallel dimension, stopping at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. According to this line of reasoning, the hypothesis is that there is a parallel Earth, similar to our own, except that the location known as Andorra here is called Taured there. Another proposal suggests that the man is a time traveler from the future, although this explanation is considered more problematic than the speculative explanation of space-time travel.
While it is entirely possible that the story of the man from Taured is a product of someone’s imagination that eventually became a legend, there are also opinions suggesting that a similar event actually took place.
Is There Any Truth to the Story of the Man from Taured?
The passport of the self-proclaimed man from Taured. (Photo: Twitter).
According to snopes.com, the famous story of the man from Taured is actually a fictional version inspired by a true story that is much less sensational. The origin of this bizarre story seems to be inspired by the real-life account of John Allen Kuchar Zegrus, also known as “The Mysterious Man.”
The fraudster John Allen Kuchar Zegrus, 36, attempted to fabricate a country, its capital, the language of that country, and even created a fake passport. He then used it to travel throughout the Middle East, successfully deceiving customs officials in these countries.
Unfortunately for him, his scam was uncovered in Japan, where he was convicted of illegal entry and fraud in April 1960.
Zegrus had arrived in Japan with his Korean wife from Taipei (Taiwan, China). He was not arrested until he attempted to cash a fake check to cover their expenses during their stay in Japan.
A Tokyo judge sentenced Zegrus to one year in prison. After hearing the sentence through an interpreter, Zegrus stood up and used a shard of glass hidden in his mouth to cut his hand, then declared, “I will commit suicide!”
Zegrus was taken to a nearby hospital, and the story ends there. It is believed that he served his sentence. Zegrus’s wife, then 30, returned to Korea. What happened to her remains unclear.
Some suggest that Zegrus was from Algeria. This is due to his mention of Tamanrasset, which he claimed was the capital of Taured located south of the Sahara Desert. The name Tuared is an alternative spelling of Taured—it could be a misspelling of Tuareg. Tamanrasset is the name of a province in Algeria, while the Tuareg are a Muslim ethnic group primarily living in the Sahara Desert, including southern Algeria.
The entire incident was raised during a debate in the 1960s in the House of Commons in the UK regarding border procedures, to exemplify how easily passports could be forged.
However, no one knows who Zegrus truly was or where he actually came from, remaining a mystery.
