Mystery of the American amnesiac who woke up speaking only Swedish

An American man has woken up speaking only Swedish. Michael Boatwright was found unconscious in a motel room in Palm Springs with several tennis racquets. He was taken to a medical centre, and he woke up with amnesia and with the thought that his name is Johan Ek. Boatwright had with him a passport, a Californian identification card, and other forms of identification which indicated his name is Michael Thomas Boatwright. It is thought he was attending a tennis tournament nearby.

Earlier this year, doctors diagnosed Boatwright with transient global amnesia, a condition triggered by physical or emotional trauma that can last for several months. Symptoms of this rare disorder include memory loss, “sudden and unplanned travel”, and possible adoption of a new identity.

Swedish public records show that Boatwright actually lived in Sweden between 1981 and 2003, so it’s not unreasonable to think that he may have acquired fluency in Swedish during this time.

“Sometimes it makes me really sad and sometimes it just makes me furious about the whole situation and the fact that I don’t know anybody, I don’t recognise anybody,” Boatwright told local newspaper the Desert Sun.