The Man From Taured (Japan; 1959)

[Mythopoeika]

(This thread about The Man From Taured consolidates relevant postings made in multiple other threads, from which material has been excerpted or moved.)

I wonder when Andorra will be renamed as Taured.

http://weekinweird.com/2014/05/20/man-without-country-mystery-man-taured/

 

[Peripart]

I wonder when Andorra will be renamed as Taured.
http://weekinweird.com/2014/05/20/man-without-country-mystery-man-taured/

That's agreat tale, if true. Either an elaborate prank or something far weirder - it seems like a classic dimension slip, something out of Heinlein's Job.

 

[David Plankton]

The Man from Taured. That caught my imagination.

I remember reading about this online a few years ago and yes, it was fascinating. The implication being that maybe he was from another dimension.
After you posted, I had another search but could only come up with what was basically the same story repeated on various mystery/paranormal sites. One thing struck me - they never mentioned his name, even though they had his passport. Also, when he disappeared, the authorities must still have had his passport as he was under investigation and armed guard. What became of it?

Are there any good write-ups about this case? It's one that I can't recall ever reading about pre-internet.

 

[EnolaGaia]

... Are there any good write-ups about this case? It's one that I can't recall ever reading about pre-internet.

No, there aren't any good investigatory write-ups. There's not even any evidence for the story from back in its alleged 1954 timeframe. As far as I've ever been able to tell, the story didn't even surface until mentioned in a single sentence within Colin Wilson and John Grant's 1981 Directory of Possibilities (a compendium of strange and paranormal topics).

 

[Gambeir]

(Copied from: https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/timeslip-at-waterloo-station.17728/)

Yes, seeing and touch are the most significant factors in the type 4 extreme time slips. But regarding trying to bring something back to this time -- WHAT could you bring back to the present that would provide solid evidence?

Well of course you would have to really bring something significant back to prove to others you had gone quote "elsewhere." ...

You probably know more about time slips than I do, but I am aware of some stories which seem to validate that "elsewhere" is out there.

The 1954 incident for example where a man arriving at Toyko Airport was held by customs.

His passport said he was from an unknown country called Taured, which is actually the Principality of Andorra. Andorra is a micostate between France and Spain in the eastern Pyrenees mountains. I'm sure you know of this story.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/1zsyz2

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

... I am aware of some stories which seem to validate that "elsewhere" is out there. The 1954 incident for example where a man arriving at Toyko Airport was held by customs.

His passport said he was from an unknown country called Taured, which is actually the Principality of Andorra. Andorra is a micostate between France and Spain in the eastern Pyrenees mountains. I'm sure you know of this story.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/1zsyz2

It's a great story - but I believe that's all it is, first appearing in Colin Wilson's compilation of urban legends and general Forteana in 1981 "The Directory of Possibilities."

Likely to be an elaboration and updating by Wilson of earlier urban legends of a disappearing man claiming to be from a non-existent place.

 

[Gambeir]

A prolific writer and a good one. I read his book; "A Criminal History Of Mankind." An excellent book. As much as I respect Colin Wilson I demure that it is merely an Urban Legend. Thanks though for bringing this to my attention. I know Wilson was a professional and trustworthy source but I have my reasons.

PS: A legend it may be, a falsification it may be, but that it happened and had a purpose is another matter. A person would have to be very dedicated to back this story with anything I realize.

 

[Gambeir]

(Copied from: https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/timeslip-at-waterloo-station.17728/)

I have read somewhere that it began as a short science fiction story, but haven't tracked it down. It is an interesting tale.
Whether or not it is "true," it raises a question that needs to be addressed, namely how is it that people (mostly) appear to be returned safely to their own time (if not to the same location, given that they might have moved about during the slip)?
http://spacetimeslip.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/a-double-through-the-...

Well, there are those who don't return to wherever it is that Universe has transported them to. The one's that return are there undoubtedly to inform us that elsewhere exists somewhere, and somewhere is where we will find the lost ones. Why Universe operates this way, seemingly randomly sending some to neverland and others back home is a mystery with a design. ...

As to the Tokyo traveler of 1954, stories like this one are either manufactured, or else they are representations of reality put in to a science fiction context in order to communicate a known truth in a cloaked manner. Could be either one, but considering what we think we know about time, such stories are theoretically possible. ...

 

[CuriousIdent]

(Copied from: https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/timeslip-at-waterloo-station.17728/)

... I am aware of some stories which seem to validate that "elsewhere" is out there. The 1954 incident for example where a man arriving at Toyko Airport was held by customs.

His passport said he was from an unknown country called Taured, which is actually the Principality of Andorra. Andorra is a micostate between France and Spain in the eastern Pyrenees mountains. I'm sure you know of this story.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/1zsyz2

I am aware of that story, but as others have said it is believed to be an urban legend. A damned good story, but an UL all the same.

I guess if it were real? You'd expect some evidence of facsimiles of his passport, papers. The name of the company he claimed to be working for. Not to mention an actual name for him.

Though, if it weren't and UL? I guess we'd term it as a dimensional slip, rather than a Timeslip. Because that guy wasn't stumbling in time. Where he came from there was no Andorra. It went under a name which it seemingly never had, here in our world.

Which again is what makes for a captivating story.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

The Man from Taured. That caught my imagination.

Although pretty well debunked as an invention of Colin Wilson for his compilation book back in 1981, the Taured "mystery" still does the rounds occasionally on the likes of Quora and Pinterest and I see it has spawned a rip-off sci-fi novel,:

https://m.ebay.com/itm/The-Man-from...sh-Paperback-Book-Free-Shipping-/391461495113

The author though has moved the action from Japan to Chicago's O'Hare airport.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Although pretty well debunked as an invention of Colin Wilson for his compilation book back in 1981, the Taured "mystery" still does the rounds occasionally on the likes of Quora and Pinterest and I see it has spawned a rip-off sci-fi novel,:

https://m.ebay.com/itm/The-Man-from...sh-Paperback-Book-Free-Shipping-/391461495113

The author though has moved the action from Japan to Chicago's O'Hare airport.

Was it debunked? Awww.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Was it debunked? Awww.

I reckon so.
There is no record of the Taured story appearing anywhere before Colin Wilson put it in his 1981 book The Directory of Possibilities. It is generally accepted that it was a short sci-fi novella written by Wilson himself.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Directory-Possibilities-Colin-Wilson/dp/0831723823

This makes it a bit odd though that author Brian Alaspa could change a few details and blatently rip it off like this.

 

[Mythopoeika]

This makes it a bit odd though that author Brian Alaspa could change a few details and blatently rip it off like this.

And get away with it!

 

[Schrodinger's Zebra]

I wonder when Andorra will be renamed as Taured.
http://weekinweird.com/2014/05/20/man-without-country-mystery-man-taured/

I love the Man From Taured story. I want to believe that there's another reality where his country exists (in place of Andorra, exactly!), and that's where he went back to when he vanished from the hotel room.

Just imagine the terror of knowing that your country exists, and the company you were going to visit, etc, but nobody believes you.

 

[Tempest63]

I love the Man From Taured story.

The Bedtime Stories podcast (S03E10) did a good podcast on the man from Taured. I was surprised that this supposedly occurred in 1954 and the first time I stumbled across it was listening to said podcast.

 

[Schrodinger's Zebra]

The Bedtime Stories podcast (S03E10) did a good podcast on the man from Taured. I was surprised that this supposedly occurred in 1954 and the first time I stumbled across it was listening to said podcast.

Ooh is that the same Bedtime Stories that do the most excellent YouTube series?

These ones: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCD4-G3Aokt2sM7TYQV2HmA/videos

You're right though, it isn't a particularly widely known story, I don't think. Can't remember where I first read about it.

 

[gerhard1]

The Bedtime Stories podcast (S03E10) did a good podcast on the man from Taured. I was surprised that this supposedly occurred in 1954 and the first time I stumbled across it was listening to said podcast.

I forget when I first heard it, but it was a long time ago.

 

[AnonyJ]

Although pretty well debunked as an invention of Colin Wilson for his compilation book back in 1981, the Taured "mystery" still does the rounds occasionally on the likes of Quora and Pinterest and I see it has spawned a rip-off sci-fi novel,:

https://m.ebay.com/itm/The-Man-from...sh-Paperback-Book-Free-Shipping-/391461495113

The author though has moved the action from Japan to Chicago's O'Hare airport.

Was it debunked? Awww.

I reckon so.
There is no record of the Taured story appearing anywhere before Colin Wilson put it in his 1981 book The Directory of Possibilities. It is generally accepted that it was a short sci-fi novella written by Wilson himself.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Directory-Possibilities-Colin-Wilson/dp/0831723823

This makes it a bit odd though that author Brian Alaspa could change a few details and blatently rip it off like this.

I've just been doing a bit of research re. 'The Man From Taured' story and think I've uncovered an earlier source not posted about yet on FMB!

Google searches led me to Wilson & Grant's 1981 book as mentioned above https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=uC5RcH-h7O0C&q=taured&redir_esc=y

Then to a Reddit thread from last year asking for sources:

https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/cdz9kg

It seems that Wilson and Grant didn't invent the story.

A link in the Reddit led to a clipping from a Canadian newspaper The Province dated 15th Aug 1960: which, if genuine, names a happy hoaxer named John Allen Kuchar Zegrus who wanted to travel around the world.

It also mentions his homemade passport:
"The passport was stamped as issued at Tamanrasset, the capital of Tuared 'south of the Sahara'"

What do my fellow Fortean thinkers reckon to my bit of detective work?

From https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33905529/the-province:

EDITED to add: The original source of the clipping above seems to be Hansard 29 (July 1960 vol 627 cc2110-20)!

https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1960/jul/29/frontier-formalities-simplification

Robert Mathew (MP Honiton):

"...My hon. Friend may know the case of John Alan Zegrus, who is at present being prosecuted in Tokio. In evidence, he describes himself as an intelligence agent for Colonel Nasser and a naturalised Ethiopian. This man, according to the evidence, has travelled all over the world with a very impressive looking passport indeed. It is written in a language unknown and it has remained un-identified although it has been studied for a long time by philologists.

The passport is stated to have been issued in Tamanrosset the capital of the independent sovereign State of Tuarid. Neither the country nor the language can be identified, although a great deal of time has been spent in the attempt. When the accused was cross-examined he said that it was a State of 2 million population somewhere south of the Sahara. This man has been round the world on this passport without hindrance, a Passport which as far as we know is written in the invented language of an invented country. I would stress, therefore, that passports are not very good security checks."

 

[GNC]

Bravo! That's worthy of the made-up countries thread, except there doesn't seem to be any territory involved at all.

 

[AnonyJ]

The Man from Taured can't hide

I'm on a roll now! Googling the name of John Zegrus then threw up this result:

Daily Report, Foreign Radio Broadcasts, Issues 249-250 By United States. Central Intelligence Agency
(27 December 1961)

I think I might have genuinely connected the dots and solved a Fortean 'thing'

 

[EnolaGaia]

The Man from Tuared can't hide
I'm on a roll now! Googling the name of John Zegrus then threw up this result:
Daily Report, Foreign Radio Broadcasts, Issues 249-250 By United States. Central Intelligence Agency (27 December 1961) ...

I think I might have genuinely connected the dots and solved a Fortean 'thing'

Out-STAND-ing work, AnonyJoolz!

It turns out that the shift from any mention of Egyptian / Ethiopian affiliation, the insertion of a tidbit about picking Andorra off a map, and the mutation of the alleged country of origin's spelling from "Tuared / Tuarid" to "Taurid" was more than enough to obscure the connections back any earlier than Wilson's book.

I find the spelling mutation especially noteworthy. If the "Tuarid" (as in "Tuareg") spelling had survived I suspect more researchers would have gone looking for an African rather than an Iberian resident.

This illustrates how even the small distortions of overly casual story-passing can dramatically affect the viability and believability of a narrative.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Well done!
A mystery finally solved.

 

[Xanatic*]

Sad that another fortean phenomena turns out to be a hoax. You should contact FT though, do an article on it.

 

[AnonyJ]

Out-STAND-ing work, AnonyJoolz!

It turns out that the shift from any mention of Egyptian / Ethiopian affiliation, the insertion of a tidbit about picking Andorra off a map, and the mutation of the alleged country of origin's spelling from "Tuared / Tuarid" to "Taurid" was more than enough to obscure the connections back any earlier than Wilson's book.

I find the spelling mutation especially noteworthy. If the "Tuarid" (as in "Tuareg") spelling had survived I suspect more researchers would have gone looking for an African rather than an Iberian resident.

This illustrates how even the small distortions of overly casual story-passing can dramatically affect the viability and believability of a narrative.

Well done!
A mystery finally solved.

Thank you for your compliments!

The time frame has also confused would-be researchers, I think. Searching Japanese news archives 1953-55 would yield nothing - it was 1959. I wonder what Mr J. A. K. Zegrus did after his release from jail? And where was he originally from? I find it more interesting than the notion he was a man out-of-dimension

I'm thinking about compiling an article-ette about TMFT now I've got the sources

 

[Mythopoeika]

Thank you for your compliments!

The time frame has also confused would-be researchers, I think. Searching Japanese news archives 1953-55 would yield nothing - it was 1959. I wonder what Mr J. A. K. Zegrus did after his release from jail? And where was he originally from? I find it more interesting than the notion he was a man out-of-dimension

I'm thinking about compiling an article-ette about TMFT now I've got the sources

He probably changed his name yet again.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Thank you for your compliments!

The time frame has also confused would-be researchers, I think. Searching Japanese news archives 1953-55 would yield nothing - it was 1959. I wonder what Mr J. A. K. Zegrus did after his release from jail? And where was he originally from? I find it more interesting than the notion he was a man out-of-dimension

I'm thinking about compiling an article-ette about TMFT now I've got the sources

Great to get some more background to this story!
I am a bit surprised though that Colin Wilson either wasn't aware or didn't wish to disclose the provenance of the story. I guess he sold his books by playing up the woo factor!

 

[Frideswide]

You should contact FT though, do an article on it.

this!

That is really good work @AnonyJoolz !

 

[GNC]

Thank you for your compliments!

The time frame has also confused would-be researchers, I think. Searching Japanese news archives 1953-55 would yield nothing - it was 1959. I wonder what Mr J. A. K. Zegrus did after his release from jail? And where was he originally from? I find it more interesting than the notion he was a man out-of-dimension

I'm thinking about compiling an article-ette about TMFT now I've got the sources

A Forum piece for the mag would be excellent.

 

[AnonyJ]

I know what I'm doing every evening this week then!

Thank you all my Fortean fellow forumites

 

[CuriousIdent]

Nice work. I wonder if John Allan Zegrus was even his real name. The piece above says that he was American and professed to have worked for the FBI and CIA. It would be interesting to find out who he really was. And if those passport stamps from other countries were forgeries or genuine.