How Reddit Solved the 'Man from Taured' Mystery

In 1954, a man appeared at a Tokyo airport, claiming to be from a non-existing country and then vanishing to be never seen again. For years, no one knew whether he came from a parallel universe or whether the story is completely made up. That is until now.

Several Reddit users researched long gone evidence and put the pieces together to successfully solve one of the most notorious unsolved mysteries - the story of the Man from Taured.

Credits:
Reddit users who solved the mystery:

The original Reddit thread, contains links to all other threads and sources mentioned:

Music:
Epidemic Sounds

[koii]

I love how people jumped to use multiple realities as an explanation when the guy was just straight up lying

[weslleyfj]

Natanael (the redditor who found this out) is actually a brazilian youtuber with a channel dedicated to investigate these kinds of internet mysteries, and has done a great job uncovering a lot of these cases (both old and recent ones).

[Azvee]

I hope wherever John is now, he's smiling. I can't think of a bigger con than convincing everyone you're from a different universe.

[teleriferchnyfain]

This is EXACTLY what an urban legend IS! A story based on something real which morphs on retelling

[TheKulu]

The truth is often more interesting than fiction. You made the "Man from Taured" solution an interesting look at how folklore and urban legends can evolve.

[crypticcryptid]

I own a book called “The Directory of Possibilities” which was published in the early/mid 1980’s. It mentions in passing the Man from Taured story. I always thought it was interesting because before this story ended up online, that’s the only time I’ve ever heard it mentioned.

[MrHankHill]

Balance the audio mate. Had to raise the volume when you're on camera and lower it when it cuts to voice over.

[gabbyn]

The Tuareg/Targi are actually a fascinating people, they are famous for the fact that the *men* are wearing veils. The reason of this habit is that they are often traveling through dangerous terrain, under a seething sun, or right through sand storms, so they need this protection. While the women stay at 'home' in their tents, keeping the household and tending the goats, the men traveled on camels to a place where salt was obtained from a specific well, bought it, brought the salt to Timbuktu, sold it there, bought goods, and then returned to their wives. Few besides them would dare to do that, before cars became a staple in that area.

These men are also known to be fierce fighters, and some even robbers, in a fashion similar to the pirates of Somalia. As much clearer salt from mines is by now much easier to obtain, their traditional trade has died down, and the once proud people are now struggling.

[adrianpaul]

When reddit and 4chan are not being the worst sites on the internet they're being Gods at solving mysteries.

[lahuk]

Its ridiculous that peoples' explanation was "well clearly he came from a another dimension and slip through into ours!" Instead of just "he's making stuff up".

[alanar]

Really good video! Please lower the volume of your background music in future videos. It's distracting when listening to a speaking voice with a lot of dense facts and details to digest. Also, some people have a hard time distinguishing spoken words from background noise if the volume is too similar. I can tell you work really hard on your script and I want to hear all of it!

[arcturionblade]

I love how you referenced Bedtime Stories at the end. Im a huge fan of that particular channel but the Man From Taured story always struck me as a simple case of a conman lying his way through life and it turns out that was indeed the case.

[edojap]

Woah! This was incredibly well documented and narrated, it was easy as a breeze to follow and i think it’s impressive considering you’re just starting out! You earned a new subscriber :)

[Ann-jy]

I have tried so hard to find out if this were a true story or not. Of course, I’m not an investigative journalist and my searching was limited to Google. But, even so, I couldn’t find out anything except the story of the man from Taured. This is fantastic to finally know the answer. Thank you so much for covering the story on your channel.

[peteg]

Volkswagen - years back - named one of their vehicles the "Touareg" after the Saharan people in question, it's a wonder nobody made a "Taured" connection at that time.

[Mnemoniforma.]

If a story of this nature could morph so drastically within 60 years, I can only imagine what some Biblical stories started out as.

[solomonrivers]

Of course if we were visited by an inter-dimensional interloper, we would expect their side to plant evidence in an effort to try and cover up what actually happened when the story gained traction 40+ years later

[myragroenewegen]

You've really won the criminal game when people start saying you can teleport. This global roving rascal needs an adventure series. WAS he American? Should the American's stand up for him and repatriate him to justice over there, just in case? Con artists burn their bridges, so they can't even come from anywhere real. But the suicide attempt and what I'm assuming was a dangerous robbery make the whole story a good bit darker. I'd prefer a more comic reimagining.

[cellinimedusa]

I have been baffled by this mystery for years and, whilst l wish he had been from a parallel universe, it’s great to have the mystery solved at last. This is an incredible piece of work, l’m amazed at the tenacity of the investigators involved. Thank you and well done!

[LindysEpiphany]

I love that this is found to have a logical explanation. Once again this proves you can't believe everything thats presented as truth. Always do your own investigating. A little due diligence goes a long way.
I always think of the game 'telephone'. How a simple story can begin but within telling it to several people can lose its original meaning and morph into something barely reminiscent of its beginnings.