Henry Stoker, The Escaped Prisoner Of War Aided By A Mysterious Figure
Royal Australian NavyHenry Stoker, right, experienced third man syndrome while a prisoner of war during WWI.
Henry Stoker’s cousin, Bram Stoker, was known for the book he wrote: Dracula. But Henry had a fantastic story too — and his happened in real life.
Henry Stoker, a Royal Navy officer, was captured during World War I. He spent three years as a prisoner of war in the Ottoman Empire, during which he was often subjected to solitary confinement. “I was confined in a cell, 10ft. square, to which practically no daylight could penetrate,” he later wrote, “and in which bugs, fleas, and rats abounded.”
Australian War MemorialHenry Stoker’s submarine crew.
Eventually, Stoker decided to try to escape. He and two others managed to flee the prison, during which time Stoker and his companions began to feel that there was a “fourth” man among them. The figure’s friendly presence was especially strong when they found themselves in a tight spot, but seemed to vanish when the immediate “danger” passed.
Though Stoker and his companions were recaptured after 18 days on the run — he was repatriated to England in December 1918 — his encounter with “third man syndrome” left a strong impression.
He later recalled that he and the two others agreed on the figure’s presence, noting that he instilled in them a sense of great comfort.
“He never spoke, nor did he go ahead to lead us,” Stoker wrote in his 1925 book Straws in the Wind. “His attitude seemed just that of the true and loyal friend who says: ‘I cannot help, but when danger is at hand remember always that I am here, to stand — or fall — with you.”
Interestingly — as with Shackleton — Stoker and his companions all sensed the presence of another person. Unlike the mountaineers, 9/11 survivors, or cave-divers, who had individual experiences, Stoker and the two other men agreed on what they’d experienced: the third man factor.
