• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.
After thinking a bit about the names... doing a web search for Taured might give a hit for Tauredes, but not for Taurèdes. The winery page I came to because the URL is spelled Tauredes even though the actual name is Taurèdes.

The French name for Crimea though? Might be something so old it's not used enough in modern society. Trying to search the French Wikipedia for "Taurèdes" directs me to https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurides That's not even something on Earth. Looking up the French Wikipedia page for "Crimée" lists "Tauride" as a former name but not Taurèdes or Taurédes. I'm not actually sure the two different accent marks are treated as separate letters in French, but I tried both searches just to be sure. They gave the same results.
 
Well, it took a little while to re-do said article (found another mention of TMFT in another US declassified document online which I had to merge in) but I've done it and sent it off to Fortean Times! Fingers crossed! Thanks everyone for your encouragement :oldm:
 
heh, that's basically the same things were were talking about here on the previous thread page :p
 
Just as with the Cumberland Spaceman, The Ourang Medan, The Ghost of Flight 401, Santiago Flight 513, the Rendlesham Forest incident, Roswell and 99% of UFO, ghost, OOPARTS, timeslip and cryptozoological reports, plain old reality ultimately seems to win out over the woo factor every time.
 
Someone on reddit has a compelling theory. Basically a known con-artist called John Allen Kuchar Zegrus was known to travel the world on a self-made passport for the fictional nation of 'Tuarid'. He was caught and prosecuted in Japan in 1960.

Aww man, I wrote a longish article with sources and citations almost a year ago and submitted it to @Dr_David_Sutton at FT, I did a lot of original research and got the story about 'Mr Zegrus' up until he was jailed but drew a blank on any further online trails (please see pages 1-2 of this thread). I sent it off to FT in April 2020 and am still waiting, despite several assurances it would be read and looked at.

I wonder whether someone has also been writing it up and has probably come across my postings on this thread from a year or more ago and has managed to progress the story further. I am disappointed that FT still hasn't advised me whether they've accepted/rejected my article.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi @AnonyJoolz

This is Nalkarj. I wrote the Reddit post linked above.

I just want you to know I didn't nick your research. I found the u/taraiochi Reddit post a few days ago, which led me back to the u/NatanaelAntonioli post. I found your research earlier today and immediately edited my post to give you credit for putting the pieces together a year before I did and finding new information. (I did no original research myself, as I pointed out in my post. I just linked to the previous posts and summarized the information.) As someone who has been plagiarized word-for-word before, I understand why you would be pissed off. I assure you, however, that I did not steal your research.

All the best,

"Nalkarj"
 
Last edited:
Definitely. As I said, I once had someone steal something I wrote online, and I’d just never do that to anyone.

This is a great board—I’ve come across it a few times in the past but haven’t searched it in depth. I’m planning to stick around and contribute here.
 
Hi @AnonyJoolz

This is Nalkarj. I wrote the Reddit post linked above.

I just want you to know I didn't nick your research. I actually found the u/taraiochi Reddit post first, which led me back to the u/NatanaelAntonioli post. I found your research earlier today and immediately edited my post to give you credit for putting the pieces together a year before I did and finding new information. (I did no original research myself, as I pointed out in my post. I just linked to the previous posts and summarized the information.) As someone who has been plagiarized word-for-word before, I understand why you would be pissed off. I assure you, however, that I did not steal your research.

All the best,

"Nalkarj"

Thank you so much for your contribution.

It looks like we diverged in research at the point of the Vancouver & London leads! I found CIA declassified documents, you found a Japanese newspaper story with similar information.

Good news is .... watch out for FT issue 404 or 405 :hapdan:
 
Last edited:
Thank you so much for your contribution. I was a bit hasty above **[I hope the mods can maybe alter my post to be more polite, pretty please?]** so I apologise to you for being rude.

It looks like we diverged in research at the point of the Vancouver & London leads! I found CIA declassified documents, you found a Japanese newspaper story with similar information.

Good news is .... watch out for FT issue 404 or 405 :hapdan:
Hey, don’t even mention it—as I said, I know what you were feeling! On the CIA lead, this morning (when I found this thread) I updated my post to include the CIA docs (and gave you credit).

So happy that your article is getting published! I can note that in the Reddit post if you’d like.
 
Thank you so much for your contribution. I was a bit hasty above **[I hope the mods can maybe alter my post to be more polite, pretty please?]** so I apologise to you for being rude.

I've edited your earlier comments to remove any indication of anger. Check the post to see if it's now 'sanitized' to your satisfaction.

Good news is .... watch out for FT issue 404 or 405 :hapdan:

Great news! Glad to learn your long wait for feedback is now over and the result was positive ...
 
Hey, don’t even mention it—as I said, I know what you were feeling! On the CIA lead, this morning (when I found this thread) I updated my post to include the CIA docs (and gave you credit).

So happy that your article is getting published! I can note that in the Reddit post if you’d like.
Well one thing you found that I hadn't seen previously was a source that fingers him as using a fully counterfeit passport. that was an angle that I had been a bit puzzled about when looking at the case.
 
Just as with the Cumberland Spaceman, The Ourang Medan, The Ghost of Flight 401, Santiago Flight 513, the Rendlesham Forest incident, Roswell and 99% of UFO, ghost, OOPARTS, timeslip and cryptozoological reports, plain old reality ultimately seems to win out over the woo factor every time.

The 'man from Taured' mystery still goes on, though!

As in - who exactly was he, where was he really from and what happened to him after he left jail in Japan? Not woo, but who, what, why? More mystery!
 
Excellent work on solving this mystery, and for the publication heads-up! Back on the first page, I was drawing parallels in my head with Michael Moorcock's "Gloriana", where voyagers from other dimensions make it to Albion and bring stories of their own version of the world. Like that well-known King of the Germans, Adolf Hiddler.
 
Seems like Snopes has picked up on some of the discussion here or on reddit and has done a write-up.
 
heh, it has direct reference to reddit. So definitely that one. It doesn't have any direct reference here, but a few bits of data that may have gotten copied over to reddit.

Although... did the Reddit version mention his wife was Korean, or that he seemingly attempted suicide?
 
Hi, I just noticed that there are additional Japanese language details which have not yet been discussed in English. I've written it up here :

In November 2020, the Japanese researcher made a more detailed study in Japanese which no English speaker has mentioned up until now. (His source is this 1999 book written by a Tokyo prosecutor who handled Zegrus' case and various spy cases.) According to this very interesting post, Zegrus' actual origin was never uncovered. Zegrus maintained that Negussi Habessi was a real place and that Japan had stolen their nuclear technology. It was found that his Tuared/Negussi Habessi passport contained many legitimate visa stamps from across Southeast Asia. After he served his year in prison Japan did not know what to do with him. They saw on his passport that he entered the country from Hong Kong, so he was deported back to there. It is not known what happened to him after that.

In a sense, this story is more true than it is false because Zegrus really did stick to his guns and claim that he was from a nonexistent country, and as far as the existing sources say, his true nationality was never ascertained. He was simply deported to get rid of him, and he vanishes from known records thereafter.
 
The more information about this story i see the stranger it gets, his 'blatently fake' passport was the size of a magazine! It had numerous legitamate entry stamps from many South Asian countries, including a previous visit to Japan, after he is released from prison he is deported back to his last port of departure (Hong Kong) and still nobody knows who he really is or where he is really from, and nobody has seen or heard from him since.
Curiouser and curiouser :oops:
 
The more information about this story i see the stranger it gets, his 'blatently fake' passport was the size of a magazine! It had numerous legitamate entry stamps from many South Asian countries, including a previous visit to Japan, after he is released from prison he is deported back to his last port of departure (Hong Kong) and still nobody knows who he really is or where he is really from, and nobody has seen or heard from him since.
Curiouser and curiouser :oops:

This case seems a good example of truth being stranger than fiction... Bravo to those who cracked it!
 
This case seems a good example of truth being stranger than fiction... Bravo to those who cracked it!
I dont think anyone did, Japan just deported him and washed their hands of the whole thing as soon as he had served his time in prison.
 
Back
Top