1593 transported soldier legend

A folk legend holds that in October 1593 a soldier of the Spanish Empire (named Gil Pérez in a 1908 version) was mysteriously transported from Manila in the Philippines to the Plaza Mayor (now the Zócalo) in Mexico City.

The soldier's claim to have come from the Philippines was disbelieved by the Mexicans until his account of the assassination of Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas was corroborated months later by the passengers of a ship which had crossed the Pacific Ocean with the news.

[2] Washington Irving's 1832 book Tales of the Alhambra includes the story "Governor Manco and the Soldier", which bears similarities to the legend.

[2][3] Janvier's 1908 account was based on a Spanish version by Mexican folklorist Luis González Obregón [es], published in his 1900 collection México viejo: noticias históricas, tradiciones, leyendas y costumbres ("Old Mexico: historical notes, folklore, legends and customs") under the title "Un aparecido" ("An apparition").

[7] A 1936 collection, Historias de vivos y muertos ("Stories of the living and the dead") by Obregón's successor Artemio de Valle Arizpe [es], included a version of the story entitled "Por el aire vino, por la mar se fue" ("He came by air, he left by sea").