16th Century Filipino Teleporter Mystery

A painting by Cornelis Veerbeck XVI of a galleon at war. (Wikipedia)

Albrecht Durer illus. (Wiki)

Here is a possible case of “teleportation” recorded in 1593 AD. It’s about Gil Perez, a Filipino guard who, one morning, suddenly found himself at the plaza of the Palace in Mexico City. The night before, Gil was stationed at the Governor’s Palace in Manila in the Philippines.

The story of Spanish Era Filipino soldier Gil Perez has been told and retold time and again, but it has kept its simplicity. As he guard of the Governor’s Palace in Manila, he was doing his duty on that fateful night when, come morning, he found himself in a different place—the plaza in near the Palace in Mexico City! He was wearing a uniform different from the other guards and he must have caught the attention of people. He was brought to the Mexican authorities and was questioned by the Viceroy and his Council.

Gil Perez promptly introduced himself and explained how he was ordered to stand guard at the doors of the Governor’s Palace in Manila and how he later realized he was in a strange place. Being a loyal and obedient soldier, he insisted that he would continue with his duties as he had been told since he was still in a “palace of some kind” even when he had no memory of how he got there. He could not believe his ears when he was told he was in Mexico, at the other side of the world! He mentioned that the Governor of the Philippines, His Excellency Don Gomez Perez Dasmariñas took a blow to the head from an axe and died.

Unbelievable as his story was, Perez was then interrogated by Church authorities but he insisted he somehow traveled from Manila to Mexico in faster than a cock crows. It’s unclear, but Perez may have been accused of desertion or for practicing “the black arts” and was jailed. He languished in prison for two months in Mexico until a galleon arrived from Manila bringing news about the Governor of Manila being murdered. Passengers of the ship also recognized Perez and even remembered seeing him the day before he was arrested in Mexico. Dumbfounded, the Mexican authorities sent Perez home. To this day, what happened to Gil Perez is still a mystery.

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