The Government Claimed This Man Did Not Exist (They Were Right) | Tales From the Bottle 

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I remember reading about this case several years ago and at the time his identity was still unknown. It's a shame that he lost twenty years of his life, but I'm glad that he was able to find someone from his family and get his name back.

Him recalling having a first name that started with 'B', perfectly lining up with the initials given to him as a nickname due to where he was found, is certainly an interesting coincidence. And that's not even mentioning the fact that he was found at a Burger King, and his real middle name was "Burgess". If that happened in a book, I probably would've called the writer a hack.

The 20-year gap in his memory is frightening. During the Summer of 2010, I suffered an attack of Transient Global Amnesia. My brain disconnected from my memory center and I stopped making new memories. During this attack, I finished hanging up the laundry to dry, helped friends launch their sailboat, and rowed a tender out to my sailboat to pump out the previous night's rain. Sometime after that, I encountered my wife who recognized something was very wrong. I returned to my body around 10 pm in a hospital bed. I hadn't recorded about 12 hours of memories. After being discharged from the hospital, I taped a sign on the refrigerator that read, "If you don't remember why this sign is here, dial 9-1-1!"

A judge once told me that "technically" I didn't legally exist until he declared it in that exact moment because my parents "forgot" to put a name on my birth certificate. He had a grin across his face the whole time like he was just tickled pink by the whole case.

It's crazy to think how this happened and how 20 years of his life are still a mystery.

Counter-theory to the burger prince one: His name "Benjaman" was actually Banjo Man, and he had spent the missing 20 years being a wandering homeless bard, playing his banjo for money. One day, someone took offense at his music, seized his banjo, and beat him over the head with it, leaving him in burger king dumpster.

Oh man, this is one my biggest fears. To wake up clueless some day and then find out that I'm old

I feel like they should take the knives away from Two Knife Man. It just seems negligent to let him run around like that.

Hey Qxir, I’ve got a guy for you: in 1993, the Mississippi River was flooding catastrophically, and a man named James Scott was on a bender. James’s wife Suzie was at work, on the far side of the river. Not wanting the wife to end his night of fun, James removed sandbags from the top of the levee in hopes that the floodwaters would strand her at work. His plan was successful. A little too successful. James got to keep partying, but in the process, flooded 14,000 acres of land, destroying structures, bridges, and farms. All so he could make a wild night out last a little bit longer.

If assuming the fact that he's a homeless drunk initially, then him naked at that dumpster with amnesia is a blessing in disguise. He got treated, chose to turn his life around and have a decent living situation given the circumstances.

Honestly scary how easily this could happen

One of my favorite things about this story is the fact that he didn’t seem too interested in finding his old self. According to him, it wasn’t his life… he didn’t remember it, why should he care. Being told stories about yourself isn’t the same as remembering stories about yourself.

This story is absolutely insane, great work as always!

This makes me wonder if getting amnesia could actually cure addiction. Like by the time you remember your addiction, the habit is broken and there's no reason to pick it back up again.

It's likely the memory loss was related to the head injuries. Concussions, especially repeated ones, can do that. I'm missing a few months because of a particularly bad whack on the head myself.

Getting some Disco Elysium vibes out of that story. Searching for your identity is such an interesting game mechanic, but in real life it must be really depressing.

This is an amazing story. My mother didn't register me at the hospital when I was born, because she assumed my dad did the paper work. But my dad showed up late, and had assumed she did the paper work already. The government of Canada only knew I existed once I graduated High School. I only managed to get legal identification because the principle of my high school pleaded to my local MP to help us out. My best friends mother, who was a police officer at the time, and my family doctor both had to write vouches for my existing, as I needed written proof from people in public offices that I lived within the country for the amount of time claimed. Whole process from start to finish took almost 3 years from the day the request was put in, until the day I finally got my birth certificate and social insurance number in the mail. Tbh, in hindsight its remarkable the amount of effort that has to be gone through just to get ID, all because of a simple paperwork mistake in the hospital. I can't imagine how much harder the process would've been if I had no idea what I did the entire 19 years of my life leading up to getting my ID, let alone not being remembered by anyone else as proof of having existed in that time.

This makes me think of how you should do a video about the triplets who didn’t know each other existed and accidentally found one another.

The most shocking thing I learned from this is that there was once a Jeff Probst show.

Legendary. With our own homeless crisis I shuddered when you mentioned that "they might not be there anymore" and we pay no attention.

Retrograde Amnesia is more common than you think in heavy drinkers, mainly Korsakoff syndrome. I’m not a doctor but i recommend reading about it, i learned about similar case in a book „The man who mistook his wife for a hat”. Basically his memories were there (in his brain) before, but were „erased” due to damage the drinking did to his neuron bodies. There are so many people living like that, in perpetual state of waking up and realising they are 20 years older and in a place they can’t remember, they can forget their children, loved ones, and more, so much more. Horror.

Makes sense. If you've ever met someone with retrograde memory loss, they act almost like a computer that's looking for programming. They often have a sense of themselves but no access to the details that would make that possible. So their brain unconsciously tries to sponge up context clues from the people and world around them to fill in that big old blank. You can literally suggest an identity to them and unless something they do remember contradicts it, they'll invent a new back story on the spot.

It’s honesty terrifying your brain can just suddenly forget everything that makes you who you are

My Ex GFs uncle was involved in two motorcycle accidents, one when he was around 20 years old, and another one when he was around 40. After the second accident he laid in a coma for a couple of years. After he woke up, he couldn't remember anything between these two incidents, leading to him honestly believing he is still twenty-something years old (he also suffers from some mental disabilities meaning he isn't really "there" anymore). He lives in kind of a daycare and goes around flirting with all the nurses as if he was actually still an a young adonis. The blunt force trauma that has happened to "Benjamin" seems to indicate that perhaps somerhing like that has happened to him as well. Fascinating stuff really.

Burgess? Sounds a lot like Burgers. Burger prince theory confirmed

*Story Time!* In 1943, a man's body swashed up on the Spanish coast. With him was a satchel full of papers, love letters, a ring, correspondence with his officers. His identity was that of Major William Martin, Royal Marines. The papers included official plans for the next Allied operations in the Mediterranean in places like Greece. Also with him was a photo of his fiancé, Pam, a couple love letters and an engagement ring. After a lot of back and forth between Spain and Germany, the documents were discretely opened and copied before being put back into place. Eventually the information worked its way up through the chain. Alarmed the next Allied invasion was Greece, Germany rushed reinforcements there. Problem was, it was an elaborate trap. There was no Major William Martin of the Royal Marines. Nor did he have a fiancé named Pam. Everything he carried, and everything he was-was a lie. His real name was Glyndwr Michael, a homeless man found dead after eating rat poison. In need of a body discretely for Operation Mincemeat, Glyndwr's body was perfect. He had no known family. No one really knew who he was. It made it easy to build a fake life around him. Some claim that the reason Glyndwr died was he failed to enter military service. The Brits built Major Martin's life. Pam was really Jean Leslie, an MI5 clerk. Technically Spain was neutral during World War II. However, they had ties with Germany and shared information. It was hoped that Spain would return the body and paperwork but not before giving the intel to the Germans. The correspondence was marked to know if the briefcase was returned that it had been opened or not. How? A simple eyelash on the papers. If the eyelash was missing, they'd been opened. They were. The captured plans lured the Germans away from the real target, Sicily. The campaign was thought to take 90 days was over in 38 days with far fewer losses than predicted. Could it be due to Major Martin? Probably so. Major William Martin was buried in Spain with full military honors. It was only after the war that his real identity was revealed. His headstone was changed to "Glyndwr Michael served as Major Martin." Whether he intended to serve the Crown beforehand or not, Michael became "The Man Who Never Was." An unknown hero of World War II. A homeless tramp who served his country more than he ever could have dreamed.

Father has posted another most precious video for our pleasure

his middle name being "burges" confirms your theory of him being the burger prince. its literally in his name, burgerking is his birthright

Honestly, the weirdest part of the story for me was that he was naked. Like how does that even happen? A normal human can't survive for long naked outside and who the hell strips a random hobo. Edit: yeah looking at it he could've survied naked, that assumption came from a guy who lives in a place alot colder then georgia

4:35 What's even more impressive than the story is that he found a manual, right-hand drive car in the US.

I was in a detoxification program with Benjaman back in 2005 in Savannah Georgia. They had him in there because they just didn’t know what to do with him because they couldn’t figure out who he was. They kept shuffling him back and forth between shelters and places like this even though he wasn’t a drug user. I remembered the man and then left the program not knowing what happened to him. Years later, I searched his name to see if I could find out anything about him. Much to my surprise, he was on a bunch of different talk shows but I found out that for years after, this poor man fell through the cracks and ended up homeless. I’m so thankful that he finally found out who his family was and what his name was. He was such a nice guy when I met him years back. I’m glad his story came with a happy ending.

Brilliant story telling. I laughed at the doctors...who is gonna pay? reaction. So true.

The ending at 8:20 really hit hard, it's sad to think that some people on the street will never have their story known by anyone but themselves...

What a crazy story. And to think that many people could be in a similar situation is heart breaking. Nice work as always!

- Found behind a Burger King - Knew how to work at Burger King - Middle name Burgess This dude was definitely the Burger Prince

Love how the alien abduction angle was just thrown in last second there. 10/10

I'm so used to these crazy story's having a huge time me gap but this being recent enough for Reddit to be used as a resource. Man just makes you think how many others like him there are.

Due to childhood trauma, I woke up one day with my memories gone. I knew a handful of people were safe individuals, I knew their names, I knew my name, and that's it. Whenever something too stressful would happen, my brain would blank out that day. To call it terrifying would be an understatement -- to this day the thought of it happening again can throw me into a panic attack. But I had active support (even if I couldn't explain what was going on due to being too young) of people who knew and loved me. Waking up like he did sounds like an absolute nightmare.

I could imagine taking a random job and learning that I actually already knew how to do it. Then finding a family I thought I'd lost over 20 years ago. It's crazy

Well, it’s not often these stories end with a happy(ish?) ending - sure, he still doesn’t have his memory back, nor does he know what the heck happened to him for the past two decades, but at very least not only did he found himself, but also one of the only people he could remember, also being part of his family. He left his home very early in his life, so there isn’t much his brother can share with him, though it’s safe to assume not only he never established family elsewhere, but also at this point, he’d otherwise wish to reconnect with his family anyways.

"blunt force trauma" sounds like a good strain of marijuana

Okay... I feel the fire ants has something to do with. Seriously, a man is sunburned and bitten by fire ants and they never come up again. "Oh yeah, all homeless amnesiacs found behind fast fooderies are bitten by fire ants. Don't you know." "Burger Prince" was a good theory. He should write a fictional biography of his missing years called THE BURGER PRINCE BATTLES THE FIRE ANTS AND MY MANY OTHER FORGOTTEN ADVENTURES.

Government: "This man doesn't exist" The man, clearly existing: "Bruh"

"had the hospital employees terrified as they wondered who would pay the bill" 🤣😂🤣😂 too true

I still think he might be THE Burger Prince. Firstly he has a striking resemblence to the King himself and secondly his middle name is not that far off from the word "burger". The King must've recognised his struggles drifting from grill to grill and when he hit the rock bottom, the King allowed him to reincarnate as his rightful heir.

I'm also a loner and a heavy drinker (in Australia, I'm just a drinker... and if I was in England, I'd be considered a teetotaler)... that's why I'm subscribed to this channel.

I am so happy at how far your channel has grown I have been here sence the very first tales from the bottle.

He did a reverse Amelia Earhart. Travel as missing around an entire country, and discovered 20 years later.

There was a really bad recession around the time his social went dark. It's apparently considered the most severe recession since World War II. It wouldn't be completely out of left field to guess that he most likely lost his job and the recession cost him pretty dearly. Probably ended up homeless and lived a paperless life until he got 'rolled' one night and left outside the BK.

I hope Two Knife Man makes appearances in future episodes. I'm captivated by him.

as a policeman in Georgia you are correct.

the moment he saw the bill, he forgot his past life for good

I'd pretend to have lost my memory too just to not have to pay for medical bills...

the outro reminded me of something, when you said "one day we will stop walking by them and not even notice they are gone". there was this homeless man i would drive by when i went into the big town, not often but i would always drive past him. he even helped when my car broke down. i always looked forward to that man and i even gave him food and water during the hot months. one day i stopped seeing him and got confused and asked around but nobody even noticed he was there. just really sad.

@Qxir The outro you did for this made me think of people falling through the cracks. A few years ago there was a chap that used to wander around Dublin. He was a rough sleeper and used to live in the city centre, he also had mental health issues. While completely harmless, when not medicated you'd find him wandering the city centre screaming at clouds etc. Every now and then he'd **Ahem** go on a 'little holiday' to get a little 'rest' and when he returned - heavily medicated, he'd wander the streets singing to himself or playing the penny whistle for a couple of cent's with a mona lisa-esque smile on his face. Obviously, this was down to the metric shit-ton of medication to take between his hospital visits... but mental health problems and rough sleeping mean that keeping to any medication regimen is neigh on impossible and he would soon relapse. (add to the fact there would be predatory folk that would gather around him like flies around shit when he was released from hospital, and would 'look after his pills for him'...). Then one day he vanished. I did ask around a few of the other more benign members of the rough sleeping community, but they were at a loss too. I checked out his favoured sleeping spots, but nothing. I occasionally wonder what happened to him - I'm fairly sure he didn't die... I hope he had family that were able to get him the help he really needed (because 'care in the community' wasn't working - because the community doesn't care.) I still think of him as I pass his favoured patch - and I don't even know his name (I used to know him as 'Reg') Anyhow, just thought I'd mention this so if anything happens to me - the folk that read this hopefully will remember 'Reg'.

Dude literally hit the reset button on his hardcore life speedrun

Didn't expect this to end on such a somber note.! Thank you

3:00 rest in peace Kurt we still miss ya! I actually remember my moms birthday because of Kurt’s estimated time of dying and her age because she was born a month and half after he was lmao

You find the wildest stories. I love it!

Coincidentally, Homer’s lost brother from the Simpsons is also named Powell.

I bet the hospital was thrilled they finally had someone to bill.

Benjaman and Richard Dreyfuss are the same person! Thank you kindly for another entertaining and educational video!

This channel helped me out of my depression ty man. I don't know why but series of simple drawings combined with such bizarre stories told at the backgrou are somehow very calming and peaceful.

Thank you for your words on unhoused and abandoned people at the end.

“Wait where did i put my phone” nah more like “where did i put 20 years of my life”

It’s weird how people can remember weird things like some people who can’t remember who they are might automatically know a single phone number or their pin code for a previously owned phone

Wow. I’ve heard about this before, but I never knew his identity was found. I know this kind of thing has happened a few times in America in the last 150 years, but this is the most recent one I’m aware of.

Moral of the story was is to never do drugs.

Did Guiness give him the record, for Longest Bender in history? a 20 year black out that ended in a naked fire ant dumpster dive is quite impressive

That Cobain/Doom connection is interesting to think about. My theory is that he became obsessed with the game and was planning to rename one of their greatest hits “In Doom.” This would not stand and he was subsequently assassinated.

This was a crazy story. Great video. Cheers ✌️

You are a great historian and tale teller… keep up the good work duder!

7:48 Benjaman is sometimes a nickname of sorts for the name William. My cousin is named Benjamin but his actual name is William.

What an interesting story, love this video! Poor Benjawilliam!

I 😍.Qxir's hand drawn videos! Another great one. Glad B.K. found out who he was....I was thinking aliens too, or perhaps some undercover government experiment.

Great story. I am never disappointed with any of your stories. Keep them coming. Erin go bragh!

Here is my theory: he remembers his alias from when he was homeless because they felt the longest to him. In algebra, when i work, the class period seems to go faster to when i do nothing. Maybe he doesn’t remember anything else because there WAS nothing else

Sounds like me after a bad acid trip

Funny how he looks like the FBI agent who was at the capital escorting people and asking them to go inside

The ad for this video is an NBA ad for the nets for something called “10 years in BK” and I think that’s perfect.

Voted. Your videos are always interesting and funny. Love your animation and your sense of humor. I've been watching since the kill dozer. Good Luck dude!

My grandmother's brother after he came back from fighting in Europe during WW2 became a drunk to the point their dad who was a long time moonshiner fired him as a still hand and kicked him out. He went riding the rails, bumming and working odd jobs to to support his booze habit for years until some dummy he was hanging out with let him ride his Indian and of course he got drunk and T-boned a cow with it. He was almost killed and ended up in a coma for weeks, had to have plate put in his head and several surgeries to repair his leg and back. When he came around he didn't know who he was anymore. He had ID on him and his family were around him but he could not remember hardly anything other than scattered memories mostly about the war and some childhood ones. It took a couple years but he finally regained all his marbles and another good thing was that he had forgot he was an alcoholic and once he did remember it he stayed off the sauce for the rest of his life.

How the hell... I'm terrified at the fact a man could become both an amnesiac... and a ghost.

Yup, and the best thing is that we're all just constantly trying to find someone to blame for all the problems

I'm 5:03 in and I am convinced he was indeed summoned from the 5th realm by the burger gods, he is the son of the burger king and he will know his birth right.

...."And his credit card number" ... Only in America. Nasty.

Another Great Story Qxir. Thanks

I guess in some senses he lucked out finally being able to find out who he was, but at the same time considering everything else that happened he was definitely due a little bit of good luck at that point.

The state of Virginia DMV changes my birthday every time I go in to renew my license. My name always stays the same but they change my birthday even though I have brought in my birth certificate. The state of Pennsylvania always has the correct birth certificate on file. But in Virginia I have had at least 5 different birthdays (the original driver's license as a teenager was correct)

This reminds me of two stories about men who died, who still have never been identified. The Somerton man and “Peter Bergman”, the latter of which died mysteriously in Ireland.

Every time I hear about this story I'm sickened by the lack of support given by the government to him. Forced him to live in limbo for another decade. Horrific.

If you'd shown me that bill, I'd have forgotten everything too.

Would love to see you sell some artwork. Would love to see your cartoon spin on scenes and landscapes 😊

Great video as always

Excellent video! Thank you

Bro def got wiped from existence by the CIA 💀

I used to work with a young guy (17) whose family was newly ex-JW. He told me his first couple days there were a favour from management, because he didn't have his social insurance number (Canada) and couldn't legally work. He wasn't given the runaround this guy went through, it was only the government who didn't know who he was, but it's still wild to me that that stuff happens.

Brother, I just want to say you're narration script and animations make any case you cover tons of fun. You truly created your own way👍

Thanks you for doing those videos.