What Probably Really Happened
If there’s any truth to the legend of Gil Perez, there’s a very simple explanation. Like everything else regarding mental health, it was hilariously un-understood back then, but incidents of people entering fugue states in which they can wake up months later with no idea how they got where they are have been extensively documented. It’s a symptom of dissociative disorders, which are brought on by high-stress and/or traumatic experiences like, oh, fighting a war. But then how was it possible that he traveled so far in one day? Well…
Related: 5 Unrealistic Movie Plot Twists That Really Happened
They Probably Mixed Up the Dates
In 1609 — that is, only 16 years after the alleged incident — a prominent Spanish judge in Mexico whose writings were one source drawn upon in the 1698 account technically only wrote that officials in Mexico knew about Dasmarinas’s assassination the day it happened, though he didn’t know how that was possible. It seems fairly likely, taking that into account, that Perez entered a fugue state, got on a ship, landed in Mexico two months later, thought it was still the same day, and told everyone the assassination just happened, and people conflated the dates later. This was 1593 — the Gregorian calendar wasn’t even old enough to drive yet, so the concept of dates was somewhat theoretical to begin with. Or it’s all made up. Or it was aliens. Choose your own adventure.
Top image: Alan Labisch/Unsplash