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Learned man appears in Seattle, doesn't know who he is -- but a Times reader does

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August 21, 2009 12:48 am
By Sheila Lennon

A mystery man awakes in Discovery Park. Seattle Times reported yesterday at 12:14 a.m.,

A man in his 50s says he woke up in Discovery Park three weeks ago with no memory of who he is or how he got to Seattle. Doctors know he is intelligent, well-educated and fluent in three languages, but they don't know how to help him. For now, he's known as Jon Doe.
The blond-haired man with the walrus mustache wandered out of Seattle's Discovery Park three weeks ago, with pressed khakis, an expensive dress shirt, a blue blazer and $600 hidden in his sock. He was uninjured -- but said he was confused, lost and frightened.

This much is clear: He is fluent in English, French and German. He possesses a professorial knowledge of European cultural history. He seems to have traveled the world. And he says he is a widower.

But he said he doesn't know who he is or when he was born. Or how he got here and why. Or whether he even wants to know.

And, at at 9:36 a.m., Readers recognize man with apparent amnesia

The details are fascinating. I won't spoil it for you. But despite now knowing who he is, his name is unfamiliar to him, and nobody knows how he got to Seattle.

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