The Man Who Was Stuck in Paris Airport for 18 Years
Two decades in Hell
The term “stuck” at the airport took on new meaning for me recently.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri, or “Sir Alfred” as he’s known, has been living at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris since 1988. That’s right — 18 years.
For nearly two decades Sir Alfred never so much as took a step outside the airport terminal to breathe fresh air. Can you imagine? You only get one life — unless you believe in reincarnation — and this man essentially threw away 18 years of it.
It’s inspiring in a weird way.
Alfred has been living on handouts, uses the airport bathrooms to brush his teeth, eats at airport fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s, and spends most of his time reading and people-watching.
The question is, how, and more importantly, why did all this happen?
Two Decades in Hell
Let’s dial the clock back to 1979.
Sir Alfred is a wealthy 27-year-old Iranian national who, like so many others, is caught up in the political turmoil of the Iranian Revolution. This wasn’t like protesting against the Vietnam War — people were being killed in the streets.
Alfred escaped unscathed, but not unpunished: he was exiled and his citizenship revoked.
If you ever find yourself exiled from your homeland with no citizenship, no money, and no way to get home, you’re pretty much fucked. And that’s exactly where Alfred found himself.
He drifted from country to country for a while — living in Holland, Belgium and even the U.K. — but he was never welcome anywhere for very long. However, on one of his trips to Britain Sir Alfred lost his paperwork and identity documents. This was a bad idea. Like, “Stuck at the airport for 18 years” kind of bad.
The British denied his entry sending him back to France.
With no paperwork and no citizenship, the French had no choice. They couldn’t admit Sir Alfred into their country or let him travel anywhere else. He was stranded.
The Airport Drove Him Mad
Sir Alfred made the best of a very bad situation.
If it were me, I would have gone insane within days — maybe even hours.
Not Sir Alfred. He set up shop almost immediately at the CDG airport.
Alfred lived by doing small jobs for money. He received occasional donations through the mail and even begged for change. Without knowing a single word of French he got by for ten years.
It was around this time that a French human rights lawyer caught onto Alfred’s situation.
After years of court battles and legalities, that lawyer actually won. Alfred had his freedom. He was mailed replacement papers in 1999 and the French provided him a permit to stay in the country.
Then something crazier happened. Sir Alfred rejected the paperwork because he thought it was fake and elected instead to remain in the airport.
You can’t make this shit up.
So, this is a good time to point out that many people were beginning to think Alfred was mentally insane (if staying in an airport for 18 years didn’t give that away). Some postulate he even lost that initial paperwork purposefully.
I doubt it — but who knows with this guy? Certainly, some made the argument he wasn’t all there.
“The truth was that no one knew the whole truth about Alfred, not even Alfred himself. He was born in either 1945 or 1947 or 1953 and claimed to be Iranian, British or Swedish,” wrote Michael Paterniti in GQ in 2003.
Alfred has told multiple versions of his story and continues to do so with revisionist history.
God bless him.
Where is Alfred Today?
In 2003, Nasseri was contacted by Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks production and paid $250,000 for the rights to his story.
The result was the 2004 film “The Terminal,” starring Tom Hanks. Spielberg did an admirable job in telling Alfred’s story (though Alfred was apparently not a fan of the film).
“I am famous now,” Alfred told The Guardian in regards to his story being featured in the film.
Shortly after in 2006, Alfred was hospitalized due to illness making it the first time he had ever left the airport since 1988. I’m sure the fresh air felt like trying acid for the first time. A little overwhelming, kind of scary, and really awesome all at the same time.
He was then transferred to a psychiatric hospital before being released in 2007 and has been living in a homeless shelter in Paris ever since.
(who the heck knows what happened to that $250,000)
Alfred did something that no human being will ever do again. I’m not sure if that’s to be lauded or criticized — but it will be remembered.
He’s the perpetual man — a true nomad in every sense of the word.
How do you think you would fare if stranded in an airport for 18 years?
Let me know in the comments and have a great Saturday :)
Odd as this might sound aren't we all stuck in our own existential airport? None of us get out of here alive, yet we act as if its forever. And whose to say if he's a victim or victor? Maybe he's reached his own personal Shangri-La situated right between his ears.
I will read this later today however the idea linked in with a guy I met this week ... September 12 ... I popped out this evening to get some groceries and bumped into this gentleman I did not know. We all have a story and a tale to tell. We chatted for a good 20 minutes. We also spoke on our current dilemmas playing out in the world. His tip was to become invincible through knowing your body, mind and ultimately your spirt. I asked him what spirit meant to him and he explained it’s the part of you that is the real you that leaves our bodies when we die. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/10/it-felt-like-intentional-torture-the-windrush-victims-who-are-still-homeless-two-years-on?fbclid=IwAR0oa0CFhQaI_MZWF3iQp944JREZpdx5P1yy--tJ6BmoeFOBjgdWe4LQJfc