The Man From Taured - A Real Time Traveler?

Quick question; have you ever heard of a country called Taured? Well, no such country actually exists. However, a man in summer of 1954 arrived at Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan, and claimed to be a citizen of that country. 

During the summer of 1954, a routine European flight arrives at Tokyo's Haneda Airport. As the passengers disembark, they inevitably make their way to customs point. It's pretty much an ordinary day for the custom officials, until a smartly dressed Caucasian man appears at the front of the queue. He presents them with his passport which has been issued by the country of Taured. Of course, they have never heard of such a country. When asked where Taures is, he casually tells them that Tuared is situated on the border between France and Spain. 

When further questioned, he informs the officials that he is on business trip to Japan, and that this is one of three trips he's planning on making this year. His first language is French, but he is able to speak fluent Japanese along with multiple other languages. His wallet contains several different European currencies, indicating that he must be a very frequent traveler. 

At this point, the man is taken into a private room to be interrogated further. Looking slightly confused, the officials tell the man that no such country exists. When they ask the man for further proof of his identity, he presents the officials with his driver’s license. This too is issued by the unknown country of Taured. He also provides them with multiple bank statements and business documents all from the country of Taured. 

His passport includes dozens of visa stamps from his previous travels including Japan which he tells them he has traveled to numerous times without any difficulty. On closer inspection of his passport, it doesn't seem to be a forgery. The layout and theme is correct, and is made from the correct materials. The images on the paper inside are also typical of any official passport. 

In order to prove their point that no such country exists, the custom officials show the unknown man a world map and ask him to locate the so called country of Taured. The man points to the Principality of Andorra, but then becomes disturbed to find out that this is not his homeland. If you are not familiar with Andorra, it is a very small European country which is indeed situated between France and Spain. Today it has a population of around 85,458 people, but back in 1954 it only had a population of approximately 5,500 people. 

The Flag of Andorra

He then tells the officials that Taured should be exactly where Andorra is and he has never heard of Andorra. He says that his country of Taured has existed for over 1000 years. An awkward silence engulfs the room. The man now starts to become confused and frustrated.

In order to get back on track, the officials ask more about his business ventures in Japan and if he can provide any proof of the company he is associated with. He provides them with paperwork for the company along with a phone number. They then find out that no such company exists.

Not sure what to do with the mystery man, the officials decide to detain the man at a local hotel, several floors up, which will be guarded immigration officials throughout the entire night until they decide what to do with him. The room has no balcony or outside area in order to make the chance of escape pretty much impossible.    

A Map of Andorra

The next morning, when the officials enter the hotel room, the man from Taured is gone. He has simply vanished, along with all his personal belongings and documentation. The hotel room is several floors from the ground and the only way he could have escaped is through the window which would have led to near certain death and would sure have caused a scene. 

The guards report that they didn't see nor hear him after he entered the room. They didn't hear any suspicious activities or anything which would indicate he was trying to escape or gain contact with anyone.  

Both the police and immigration officials send a search for the mystery man but no trace of him is ever found. As mysterious as he appeared, he vanished. It's as if the event never actually took place. 

Right, so did this story actually take place? Well, as of now, no documentation has been brought into the public light. No police reports were published or there was no mention of the story in local newspapers. Then again, if this story did really happen, I doubt any official would write a report on this story. 

However, it has been mentioned in numerous different books. The two most famous being The Directory of Possibilities by Colin Wilson and John Grant (1981, p.86) (ISBN: 0-552-119946) and Strange but True: Mysterious and Bizarre People by Thomas Sleman (1999, p.64) (ISBN: 0-760-712443).

I am actually kind of surprised that this story hasn't been featured on any mystery/investigation TV shows. I think it would be great if somebody would look more into this story to see if this story is nothing more than an urban legend.

Okay, so, as I see it, there are three main possibilities for this story. Firstly, this story is nothing more than a hoax/urban legend. Secondly, the man featured in this story had somehow entered our reality from an alternate universe. And finally, this man suffered from a mental illness or this is some sort of joke. 

Let's look at the first one. I guess this is the easiest to wrap your head around. This story could just be a hoax... sorry, I mean urban legend. Right off the bat, there are a few problems I see with story. Firstly, there is no mention of his name or age. Surely, if he was being interrogated they would have note of some of his personal details. Also, they do not mention the name of the hotel he stayed at. Probably the biggest thing I see is that this story varies a lot! Search this story on the internet, and each one will vary slightly. 

Now, the second option, the time traveler. I suppose this is everybody’s favourite (including mine!). In some way, this man entered our universe from a parallel universe (or multiverse if you want to get all scientific). There are many theories out there about time travel and how you would connect our universe to another. 

Realistically, is time travel even possible? Scientists believe that time travel into the future is definitely possible. However, time travel into the past is a whole different animal, and the science behind that is not understood very well at this time. Obviously, there is loads of material available about the principals involved with time travel, but I found this ONE summarised it excellently. 

Another theory is of course the theory of wormholes. In a nut shell, it's a passage from a black hole to another universe. Like I said, this is just a theory, and most scientists and astronomers don't think they exist. Anyway, even if they did exist, it would be impossible to find them as they are in black holes. 

Finally, the idea that the man was mentally ill or playing a joke. Well, the idea of the man being mentally ill on the surface sounds realistic. However, how do you explain the forms of I.D. he had and other documentation? Again, this is 1954. There is no Photoshop, or computers. I mean creating forged documents back then wouldn't have been impossible, but extremely difficult for an ordinary person. 

If he was playing a joke, why take it that far? Why go all that trouble? Okay, customs back then aren't like they are today, so it's plausible that you could get around on a professionally done forged passport for a trip or two, but I doubt you could do it for dozens or trips abroad. 

Whatever happened that day, we may never know. Either this story is nothing more than a story or somehow, the man from Taured was a real time traveler. 

Thanks for reading.

Catch you later,

Giordano