Mystery of FL man who awoke speaking Swedish, claims no memory of documented past

[fred&edna]

Not that it helps, but from what I gather (through google translate) is tornerspel = jousting.

Jousting was a military exercise activities for medieval knights, in which they organized forms fought against each other with honor and financial gain that goal.

Tornerspel - Wikipedia

 

[especiallyheather]

From his facebook on May 18th of this year:

"Jag svarar på din fråga. Vi ses snart, Veronica och tack för hjälpen."

Translated means:

"I will respond to your question. We seen soon, Veronica and thank you for your help."

He has a fb friend named Veronica. I didn't sleuth her, but wonder if she knows anything about him?

 

[Mahouston69]

Information from a Swedish forum where he's being discussed (I'm not taking credit for any of it):

http://korstemplar.cgarena.com/: He has given an adress and claimed to have studied at the University of Stockholm

There's a company registered under his name from 1987, in Nyköping.

One user claims that, according to sources, this man has been involved in medival time events (you know, roleplays and stuff like that, I don't really know what the word is for it), and apparently his alias during these events was, in fact, Johan Ek.

This makes complete sense. They have that "society" role playing, mid evil thing here too. Seems to me, whatever the stressor, traumatic event.....even possible stroke or brain tumor (but I'm sure he was checked out medically by now) could be the cause. My late husband suffered from psychogenic amnesia in 1990, disappeared for home in Nebraska, was assaulted at a bus stop and ended up in San Francisco with no memory of who he was and didn't until 3 months later after hypnosis, and psychtherapy. He had no identification on him, like this man. He thought his name was Eric Green. I was pregnant and we had picked out the name Derick. My husband was Swedish. His Dad was born in Sweden. I find this man and his similar situation very intriguing.

 

[Donjeta]

From his facebook on May 18th of this year:


Translated means:


He has a fb friend named Veronica. I didn't sleuth her, but wonder if she knows anything about him?

May this year? I suppose it's a good sign that even though he may have forgotten his name and his life he didn't forget about Facebook...

 

[Donjeta]

http://hem.passagen.se/fantasy/sm.htm

In 1998 he took part in a jousting tournament and his pseudonym was Holger Mickelson Ek.

 

[21merc7]

Wonder if Veronica is one of the 2 Swedish sisters?


Thank goodness this man how so much identification with him and that the internet can help to make contact to see if he has any family alive. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for him, and for the hospital trying to help him.

 

[Donjeta]

It's just a little odd to me that if he's got a FB in Michael Boatwright's name and he remembers the passwords and has access to it - couldn't any of his Facebook friends tell him who he is and help in their research?

 

[wfgodot]

Hinky-Arrow™ pointing to "faking it."

 

[songline]

It's just a little odd to me that if he's got a FB in Michael Boatwright's name and he remembers the passwords and has access to it - couldn't any of his Facebook friends tell him who he is and help in their research?

My FB opens automatically with no pass code.
(unless I try to access it from another computer).

 

[Donjeta]

http://mobil.dn.se/nyheter/varlden/jag-vet-vem-michael-boatwright-ar/

Anther former friend/landlady who knew him for a couple of years in Österlen, Skåne in the nineties says he used to borrow her horses for the tournaments and describes him as a globetrotter who came and went as he pleased. He worked in the home services for the elderly needing care. He had told her he'd been in England before coming to Sweden and according to her recollection he had worked as a diving instructor and done underwater welding. (It's not clear if this is just what he told her or if she knew it from somewhere else.) She doesn't seem too sure but thinks that Johan Ek was one of his alteregoes for the medieval thing. She doesn't believe he's faking it, he was too kind and not a good enough liar to fool the doctors for so long. (Although maybe he was just a good enough liar to fool her too?)

I don't believe it's anything neurological. There is no neurological syndrome that properly explains why he lost one of the languages he was fluent in but has retained a near perfect command of another language he may have learned in his adulthood. His amnesia symptoms don't really fit anything neurological either. Most of the time your name and your identity is so deeply ingrained that even if you don't remember what happened two minutes ago you recognize your own name. In severe dementia that may go as well but if it was as bad as that I wouldn't expect him to know his Swedish and to be able to facebook anymore. And nothing that I can think of that explains how someone who has lived in several countries in his adulthood remembers just one of them selectively when it's not in any logical temporal connection (forgetting events immediately before an injury or lesion or remembering one's youth but not the later events).

A dissociative state is a possibility although I think it is quite rare to forget a language you were fluent in even in dissociative states.

Or else he's faking it.
The way the people who knew him seem to remember him telling something different about what he's been doing for living points that way imo. The navy thing is apparently documented but it doesn't come up in his Chinese bio for the prize and his Swedish friends don't seem to know a thing about it or the graphic design experience. Depending on who you believe he's a diving instructor and an archaeologist and an underwater welder and an English teacher and an assistant in elderly care... Okay so he may have been a jack of all trades but it could be that some of those aren't quite true and he just didn't want his friends to know what he did for a living

 

[Donjeta]

My FB opens automatically with no pass code.
(unless I try to access it from another computer).

Yeah but the list of his belongings didn't contain a computer, IIRC. He might have had it set up on his cell phone I suppose.

 

[especiallyheather]

May this year? I suppose it's a good sign that even though he may have forgotten his name and his life he didn't forget about Facebook...

yep.. it is the first and only post he made other than uploading his profile pic on May 28th. He also has 3 friends all of which seem to be active and 1 is in swedish.

 

[especiallyheather]

Michael Boatwright was found unconscious in a Palm Springs Motel 6 in February. When he woke up later in a hospital, he had no idea who he was and had lost the ability to speak English. 'He's a blank slate,' his social worker says.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...aking-swedish-article-1.1399049#ixzz2Z8UpS9tQ

when did he wake up?

 

[Donjeta]

yep.. it is the first and only post he made other than uploading his profile pic on May 28th. He also has 3 friends all of which seem to be active and 1 is in swedish.

Can you see when the profile was created? If it was after he was found someone could have set up the profile for him I suppose

 

[Donjeta]

when did he wake up?

I haven't seen that anywhere but it is said he woke up in the emergency room so I presume it was shortly afterwards.
http://www.wtsp.com/news/watercoole...wakens-in-hospital-with-no-memory-of-his-past

 

[mysteriew]

http://mobil.dn.se/nyheter/varlden/jag-vet-vem-michael-boatwright-ar/

Anther former friend/landlady who knew him for a couple of years in Österlen, Skåne in the nineties says he used to borrow her horses for the tournaments and describes him as a globetrotter who came and went as he pleased. He worked in the home services for the elderly needing care. He had told her he'd been in England before coming to Sweden and according to her recollection he had worked as a diving instructor and done underwater welding. (It's not clear if this is just what he told her or if she knew it from somewhere else.) She doesn't seem too sure but thinks that Johan Ek was one of his alteregoes for the medieval thing. She doesn't believe he's faking it, he was too kind and not a good enough liar to fool the doctors for so long. (Although maybe he was just a good enough liar to fool her too?)

I don't believe it's anything neurological. There is no neurological syndrome that properly explains why he lost one of the languages he was fluent in but has retained a near perfect command of another language he may have learned in his adulthood. His amnesia symptoms don't really fit anything neurological either. Most of the time your name and your identity is so deeply ingrained that even if you don't remember what happened two minutes ago you recognize your own name. In severe dementia that may go as well but if it was as bad as that I wouldn't expect him to know his Swedish and to be able to facebook anymore. And nothing that I can think of that explains how someone who has lived in several countries in his adulthood remembers just one of them selectively when it's not in any logical temporal connection (forgetting events immediately before an injury or lesion or remembering one's youth but not the later events).

A dissociative state is a possibility although I think it is quite rare to forget a language you were fluent in even in dissociative states.

Or else he's faking it.
The way the people who knew him seem to remember him telling something different about what he's been doing for living points that way imo. The navy thing is apparently documented but it doesn't come up in his Chinese bio for the prize and his Swedish friends don't seem to know a thing about it or the graphic design experience. Depending on who you believe he's a diving instructor and an archaeologist and an underwater welder and an English teacher and an assistant in elderly care... Okay so he may have been a jack of all trades but it could be that some of those aren't quite true and he just didn't want his friends to know what he did for a living

BBM


Sounds like a con man. Is this a part of another scam?

 

[Donjeta]

http://www.sn.se/nyheter/nykoping/1.1844485

Another woman who was a teenager when she met MB in 1987 says she remembers him being very interested in horses and the medieval stuff. He had an American accent and was very social but somewhat odd and flighty and talked about astral bodies and things like that. He told her he had done all manner of things in his life and she found some of the stories a little difficult to believe. She believes he didn't have much money but lived happily as a traveling knight. She does not remember the name Johan Ek.

The name of his company was Kultur Konsult Nyköping (=Culture Consult NameOfTown). It was taken off the register in 2008.

There are also a couple of quotes from a man that was also interviewed in one of the other articles I posted earlier. He says he met MB in the jousting and LARP circles in the mid-eighties and for the last time around the millennium and while it wasn't clear what he did for a living some thought that MB was employed in the construction of Globen
Ericsson Globe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[SophieRose]

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20130706/LIFESTYLES03/307060025/

Still, the dissociative fugue state is recognized in the diagnostic psychological manual and occurs occasionally.

Medical staff on his case at Desert Regional determined that with this diagnosis, and unable to speak the language or remember anything about his past, it would be unsafe to release Boatwright into the community. He was moved to the hospital’s skilled nursing facility, where he remains until the medical team decides how to safely discharge him.

 

[Donjeta]

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20130715/NEWS01/307150001/PS-amnesia-story-makes-Swedish-tabloids

Palm Springs police have documented his information in case anyone lists Boatwright as missing or wanted, Sgt. Harvey Reed told The Desert Sun on Monday.

Officers helped paramedics on Feb. 28 when they were called to assist with an unconscious man. The social worker working with Boatwright contacted police on March 6 and asked for an incident report to be taken so that Boatwright’s name and date of birth would be on record if anyone was searching for him, Reed said.

“That’s it, as far as our involvement as of now,” Reed said.

 

[txsvicki]

People on VA or social security disability barely get enough to live on, so I don't see why he'd lie or fake unless maybe for more immediate help. If he turns out to have told tall tales in the past then he probably does have true problems going on.