This is a very interesting legend, suggesting that nearly 500 years ago, a man transported himself instantaneously over 9000 nautical miles.The story goes like this. Gil Perez was a member of the Filipino Guardia Civil and worked as a guard at the palace of the Governor General in Manila, Philippines. He was a typical soldier, doing his duty for the government regardless of any circumstances that arose during this time — even spontaneous teleportation to another country.
On October 24, 1593, Gil Perez was guarding the Governor’s palace in Manila. Chinese pirates had assassinated the governor, Gomez Perez Dasmarinas, the night before, but the guards still guarded the palace awaiting the appointment of a new governor. Gil Perez felt tired and decided to lean against a wall and rest his eyes for a moment. When he woke up, he was in a completely unfamiliar place. He didn’t have any idea what was going on, so he continued to do his guard duties until he was approached by other guards who started asking him questions and telling him that he was in Mexico City’s Plaza Mayor.
Gil Perez told them about his supposed teleportation and assassination of his country’s governor. Nobody in Mexico City knew about the assassination yet, but Gil Perez was reportedly wearing the uniform of the palace guards in Manila and because of that he was placed in jail since authorities thought he might be a deserter or a servant of the devil. Two months later, a ship arrived from the Philippines, bringing news of the governor’s death. The crew said that they knew Gil Perez, though they did not have any idea he was in Mexico City. The last time they had seen him was on October 23 at the palace, the last day before his supposed teleportation.
The authorities in Mexico City decided to release Gil Perez and send him home. Gil Perez returned to Manila and continued his service as a palace guard. He was fortunate that he did not end up in a country where Spanish was not spoken or worse, in a harsh terrain like the ocean, desert or arctic tundra. Some sources say that the story was not told until 100 years after it reportedly occurred. Other sources say that authorities documented the occurrence immediately. Unfortunately, it is impossible to prove or disprove Gil’s case of teleportation.
Nevertheless, it is an intriguing legend that goes to show that human fascination with spontaneous transporting from one place to another is not something created by modern science fiction movies. Legends of this supposed phenomenon were told hundreds of years ago.
