During the reign of dictator Oliver Cromwell in England (1599-1658), in his intelligence service, which is mainly engaged in uncovering conspiracies against power by the hereditary King Charles II and his royalist supporters, a mysterious man in black appeared, about whom in the archives Scotland Yard still has an authentic document.
The background to the appearance of the mysterious man in black
Cromwell's secret intelligence reached its peak under the talented Secretary of State John Thurlo, who managed to create the famous "Black Room" for checking correspondence, thanks to which the dictator knew about the plans of his enemies and the information he needed about the monarchs of Europe. All intercepted mail was talentedly inspected with the help of special machines of the inventor Samuel Morland, capable of accurately opening and also re-sealing envelopes with jewelry, and Oxford professor John Wallis could easily unravel even the most ingenious encryptions.
However, the work in the “Black Room” was very intense, since the main guarantee of the success of the correspondence was promptness, so that the enemies of the dictator could not suspect anything that their letters had fallen into the wrong hands. But this efficiency was sometimes not enough, because in the 17th century neither photographic nor copying equipment existed yet.
And then one day a stranger in black came to John Thurlo and said that he knew about the problems of Cromwell's secret intelligence and (for a decent fee, of course) could create copies of letters and other documents almost instantly with one condition: no one would ever ask him, who he is, and also try to spy on, find out in other ways how he works. The secretary of state immediately tested the stranger, and he did in a minute return a test sheet, covered with illegible handwriting, and an exact copy of it, even with a secret mark in the corner, which Thurlo made for the reliability of the experiment. At the same time, the stranger had absolutely no tools with him, not even a pen and an inkwell, with which one could at least try to rewrite the letter. Fantastic, and nothing more. Moreover, the man in black immediately warned the official,that the copy will become a blank sheet of paper again in a few hours, but this is enough for you to work slowly with it.
Promotional video:
The mysterious man worked conscientiously in the Black Room during the reign of Cromwell and his son, but in 1660 Charles II Stuart returned the royal power in the country to his own hands. True, he offered Turlo to work for him in the same state secret intelligence, highly appreciating the professionalism of a secretary of state of this level. However, John, who by that time had already become an elderly man, preferred to retire.
The man in black also disappeared. Even when Thurlo, at parting with him, asked him to reveal the secret of the mysterious copying, the stranger refused to do so, saying that Thurlo, despite all his talent and vast knowledge, would still not understand anything.
Most likely a time traveler
So this mysterious episode in the history of England would have sunk into oblivion, but many years later, restoration was started in Cromwell's office, during which a cache of Thurlo's notes was found, including the story of the man in black with his amazing ability to instantly copy documents … First, the lion's share of the papers found went to the Oxford University library, but later the document about the mysterious stranger ended up in Scotland Yard and found its refuge on one of the archival shelves of this institution.
Note that at one time British experts tried to unravel the secret of copying, which was used by the man in black, but all these were just guesses, and the truth remained a mystery behind seven seals, which, for sure, will never be solved. It seems very strange in this matter why the stranger offered his services only to the secret intelligence of Cromwell, and then disappeared without a trace, although such an invention could provide him with a comfortable life and even make his heirs rich.
From the standpoint of today, it can be assumed that this could be far from a talented inventor, as the English experts wanted to present him, but, say, a magician or even a time traveler who needed to somehow exist at that period. Obviously from the perspective of the future, he knew that you can only trust John Thurlo, an honest man and firmly keeping his word. Working as a copyist under Charles II could threaten, for example, some troubles for history as a whole, or serious troubles for the time traveler himself. Or maybe he just had to go back already - that's the whole mystery. And we, too, will hardly ever solve it …
Daniil Myslinsky