“Jerome”

Locals at Sandy Cove saw a man in his 20s hoisting himself down the beach one day in 1863 while he was missing both legs. He wanted to die, so he was walking toward the Fundy Bay tide. And when assistance arrived, he was only five feet from the water. He was adopted by the people and slowly restored to health.

Jerome was the name he gave, though it wasn't entirely apparent that it was his.

He just stated Colombo, which may have been the name of a ship, when asked where he had come from. As the days turned into weeks, months, years, and even decades, he said very little else. Although his hosts were financially sponsored by the Nova Scotian government, nothing else was discovered during this time. Jerome grumbled more than he spoke and preferred to write when he could or would.

In the meantime, word of his tale traveled far and wide, and the guy gained popularity. He was a wounded naval officer to some, and a nobleman who had been dismembered as payback to others. Yet some believed he was an unauthorized immigrant. For a while, it was believed that one of the more plausible theories—that he was a lumberjack whose legs had frozen in the winter—was accurate. But the complete narrative is still unknown.