Page 7 - IAV Digital Magazine #601

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Man Missing For 30 years Reappears Wearing The Same Clothes He Left In And With No Idea of What Happened To Him
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjIfKCk1V-s
Story by Harriet Brewis
Vasile Gorgos was 63 years old when he left his home in
eastern Romania to go on a short business trip.
As a cattle farmer and trad- er, Vasile often made such excursions and, this time, had bought his train ticket in advance.
The difference here was that on this fateful day in 1991, he didn’t return home.
Knowing that he was due to come back the same day, his family immediately called the police who launched a search effort.
But after days turned into weeks, then months, then years, with neither sight or sign of Vasile, his loved ones were forced to assume the worst.
With no leads or traces to follow, they suspected foul
play, but endless questions were left unanswered.
But then, on 29 August, 2021, three decades after Vasile’s disappearance, his family was faced with the ultimate plot twist.
A car stopped in front of their home – the same one they’d had for the past 30 years – and out stepped an old man, looking confused.
That man was none other than 93-year-old Vasile, wearing the same clothes he left in all those years ago. His pocket even con- tained the same train ticket he was due to travel with.
The car allegedly raced off before anyone had a chance to question the driver, but when asked where he’d been, a baffled Vasile replied that he’d been “at
home”, Medium reports.
He subsequently under- went a thorough medical examination but doctors
concluded that he was in remarkably good health.
Admittedly, he had some neurological issues, but these were nothing unusu- al in a man of Vasile’s age, as the podcast Gone, But Never Forgotten notes.
Indeed, the 93-year-old’s memory of his home, his family, and his life 30 years ago was near-perfect.
The issue was, the past three decades were a black hole in his mind: he couldn’t remember a thing about what had befallen him.
This left his loved ones with arguably even more questions than before and, of course, once the story hit the headlines, numer- ous theories as to his whereabouts soon flooded social media.
The first theory, as set out by Gone, But Never Forgotten, was that Vasile had simply decided to
“ditch his life and his fami- ly”, possibly having taken a lover with whom he had run away.
In this case, it is possible that he “wanted to make amends with his former family before he passed away.”
And yet, how can you make amends when you offer no explanation as to where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing?
Another theory is that he may have been dumped by the person he ran away with who, accepting that he was getting older and not wanting to take care of him, simply returned him to his family.
A third theory, which would explain how he retained his clothing, is that he had spent the past 30 years in jail but hadn’t wanted to admit this to his family.
And, of course, even more outlandish theories also abound, including that he was a spy who had his mind “wiped” after his serv- ice came to an end, or that he was abducted by aliens.
Ultimately, neither we, nor Vasile’s family, may ever learn the truth of what hap- pened to him. But at least this is one missing per- son’s case that has a happy, albeit flawed, end- ing.
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