Taured mystery

The Taured mystery refers to a parallel dimension travelling story about an unidentified Caucasian man who arrived at Tokyo International Airport in 1954, claiming to be from "Taured". No country by that name exist. The man insisted on his origin, presenting a passport, drivers license and a checkbook issued to him by the alleged state of "Taured". He was taken to a nearby hotel and was placed under constant guard, but mysteriously vanished the next morning, never to be seen or heard from again. The Tokyo police launched an investigation, but came up empty-handed. The story has never been publicly verified and is considered by many to be a hoax or urban legend.
Mystery
On what appeared to be a normal day in 1954, a Caucasian-looking man dressed in a business suit arrived at the Tokyo International Airport. When the unidentified man handed over his passport to be stamped, he was immediately taken away for interrogation about his nationality. He spoke French as his native tongue, but was also fluent in Japanese. While his passport appeared to be authentic, it was issued by the non-existing country of "Taured". He further explained he was in Japan on business, something he had been doing the past few years.
Journalistic coverage
To this day, no official documents verifying the details of the story have surfaced.<ref name="weekinweird"/> Very few, if any, newspapers have written about the mystery.<ref name="theghostinmymachine"/> The story, however, has been mention on page 86 in the 1989 book The Directory of Possibilities by Colin Wilson and John Grant (ISBN 0-552-119946), and also on page 64 in the 1999 book Strange But True: Mysterious and Bizarre People by Thomas Sleman (ISBN 0-760-712443).<ref name="weekinweird"/><ref name="theghostinmymachine"/>
Similar occurrences
Similar happenings to the Taured mystery have occurred before. In 1851, a man wandering Frankfurt an der Oder in Germany claimed he was from a country called "Laxaria", a state found on the continent of "Sakria".<ref name="weekinweird"/> Another man, who spoke a completely unrecognizable language, was caught stealing bread in Paris in 1905. He said he was from "Lizbia", and although the man did not speak Portuguese nor recognize Portugal as his homeland on a map, the authorities assumed he meant Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.<ref name="weekinweird"/>

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