TAURED is the name of an unmapped country that has perplexed the minds of paranormal investigators and mystery sleuths since that hot day in July 1954 when officials at Tokyo International Airport were confronted with a strange traveller, who came to be known as ‘The man from Taured’.

Tom Begg author of the book ‘Into Thin Air’ said: “In 1954 a passport check in Japan is alleged to have produced a man with papers issued by the nation of Taured.”

He looked European, this frustrated man, who became more and more frustrated with Japanese border control as he presented his official-looking passport from Taured, his country of origin.

The puzzled immigration staff searched in vain for this unknown country but could not find it and thus accused the man of fraudulent activity and pulled him into an adjoining room for further investigation.

The Man from Taured arrives at Haneda Airport

The Japanese investigators at Haneda Airport, known also as Tokyo International Airport, were meant with anger from the traveller who said he’d travelled from Taured to Japan at least three times in the last five years, on business trips.

On every other occasion, his ‘Taured’ passport worked fine at the checkpoint and he could not understand why this time it was a problem.

So the immigration staff contacted the company whom he claimed to be visiting, but they claimed to not know who the man was.

The hotel that he had reserved for his business trip also did not know who he was.

The officials investigating this strange case presented the man with a map of the world and asked him to point out the location of his country on a world map, the man was astounded that Taured did not appear on any of the world maps presented to him.

He spoke native French

To add to the mystery, he spoke fluent Japanese and spoke French like a native.

The fact that he spoke French like a native strengthened the case for the location of were he said Taured was manet to be, as when asked for the location of the country he pointed directly at the present-day location of the small Principality of Andorra.

The Andorra connection

He claimed that Taured was centred in Andorra, but also took in parts of Spain and France on either side of the Pyrenees.

The man from Taured claimed his country had existed for over one thousand years.

Tom Sleman, author of the book ‘Strange but True, Mysterious and Bizarre People’ said: “There have been many reports of visitors from other planets dropping in on Earth.

“In 1954, the Japanese authorities detained a man trying to enter the country with a passport that revealed he was from an unheard-of country named ‘Taured.’

“A thorough check was made by the customs officials to see if there was such a place anywhere on Earth, but they drew a blank.

Landlocked Andorra (Credit: Diego Delso)

He vanishes

“The stranger refused to throw light on the whereabouts of the mysterious nation of Taured and quickly left Japan.”

It was then decided that this strange traveller should speak to a senior government official to decide what to do.

The authorities housed him in the mean time in a nearby hotel room.

The room was guarded by two immigration officials and the man was not allowed to exit, his food was brought to him.

The guards last saw the man asleep in the hotel bed.

But, when they opened the door to check the room the next morning they were shocked to find that he had vanished.

The only way out of the room was through a ledge-less window high above the busy street below, there was no chance that he could have escaped through this window.

But, after a thorough search of the room, then the hotel, then the surrounding streets it was confirmed that he was gone.

He has never been seen since.

Further reading

Books have been written about the mystery, such as Colin Wilson’s, The Directory of Possibilities and Tom Sleman’s Strange but True.

The event was also studied in Paul Begg’s book, Into Thin Air.

Mystery travelers from an unknown location that appear out of thin air then vanish is a known phenomenon.

In 1851, a man was found lurking around the streets of Frankfurt an der Oder in northeast Germany.

When he was apprehended he claimed to be from a country called Laxaria on the continent of Sakria.

Another incident describes a man who spoke a language unknown to linguists, he was arrested after stealing a loaf of bread in Paris.

The man said he was from an unknown country called Lizbia.

The vanishing island of Hy-Brasil

There is also the ancient Irish mythological country that appears at irregular intervals off the western coasts in the middle of the Atlantic.

This country is called Hy Brazil and strange visitors have arrived on Ireland’s western beaches claiming to have come from Hy Brazil.

Hy Brasil off Ireland’s west coast as depicted on the 1572 map of Europe by Abraham Ortelius (credit: Euriskodata Cdrom)

In Ireland, a common saying is, ‘are you searching for Hy Brazil?’.

This refers to people who absent-mindedly zone out and stare into the middle distance.

There is more to old sayings than meets the eye, or ear…

Article by Brian McGleenon administrator brianpatrickmcgleenon@gmail.com Editor at The Humanoid. Reporter @Daily Express. NCTJ accredited. Video Journalist @pearvideo and @FujiTeIevision. Concept/ Storyboard Artist http://picturewell.co.uk See author's posts