Featured Image Credit: YouTube/AeonVideo
Topics: Weird, Ireland, Crime, True Crime
Olivia Burke
Social media users have been spooked after watching chilling CCTV footage depicting the final movements of an unidentified man before his mysterious death.
Video taken from inside the Sligo City Hotel in Ireland captured the comings and goings of a bloke known only as Peter Bergmann - which is the alias he checked in under.
It recently resurfaced on social media, 16 years after the mystery man's body was discovered at Rosses Point beach.
The clip was shared to TikTok alongside the description: "A man with no past is quietly erasing himself."
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The footage sheds light on Bergmann's unusual activities before his remains were discovered on June 16, 2009.
Take a look at it here:
Four days before locals made the tragic find at Rosses Point beach, Bergmann arrived at Ulster Bus Depot in the Irish city of Derry before boarding a bus to Sligo.
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He eventually made his way to the Sligo City Hotel, paying for a room in cash. He gave the receptionist a fake name, as well as a non-existent home address in Vienna, Austria.
The hotel guest was carrying a worn-looking bag, while he was described as being of slender build and 5ft 10in in height.
Bergmann had short grey hair, blue eyes and a slight tan, was believed to be in his late 50s or early 60s, and spoke with a thick German accent.
Staff at the Sligo City Hotel presumed he was a professional worker. They also noted that he was frequently spotted heading outside to smoke in surveillance videos.
During his stay, further CCTV footage also captured Bergmann repeatedly leaving the hotel with a purple plastic bag full of items - but each time he returned, the bag was empty.
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Police believe he discarded the contents in various spots throughout Sligo, out of the view of surveillance cameras in the coastal town.
According to authorities, his movements appeared to be calculated and methodical, as though he purposely disposed of items in places he knew were blind spots.
Three days before his body was found, Bergmann was seen buying eight international stamps from the post office with airmail stickers.
The next day, he left the hotel and asked a taxi driver for a nice quiet beach location where he could swim and was informed that Rosses Point was a good spot.
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Bergmann made the journey there with the driver, took a brief look around and headed back to the car, which then dropped him off at the bus station in Sligo.
On 15 June, Bergmann checked out of the hotel at around 1pm - still without an ID or passport - and departed the establishment with an array of luggage.
He was carrying a black shoulder bag, a purple plastic bag, and another black bag; however, the worn one he had arrived with was nowhere to be seen.
Bergmann made a brief stop at Quayside Shopping Centre, before heading to a nearby cafe and consuming a toasted ham and cheese sandwich.
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He was seen writing something on a piece of paper, staring at it for a few minutes and then tearing it up and throwing it away.
In the afternoon, Bergmann headed back to Rosses Point Beach, where reports said he was seen by 16 people as he stood on the sand - fully dressed - with his shoes in hand.
He was spotted at 10:50pm, still pacing, and even had a brief encounter with a local on the beach, who said hello to him.
Less than 24 hours later, Bergmann's body was discovered at the beach by a father and son.
His clothes, only a t-shirt and underwear, were found on the shore nearby.
After the discovery of Bergmann's corpse, police in Ireland launched an investigation into the bizarre case, which spanned across five months.
A post-mortem revealed that the man had advanced stages of prostate cancer and bone tumours, while his heart had signs of previous ischaemic heart disease.
Despite all of these conditions, there was no trace of medication in his system.
The official cause of death was determined to be acute cardiac arrest, as there was no water in his lungs, with no signs of struggle or injury. It is thought that his heart failed just moments before he went into the sea.
Strangely, the labels of each item of clothing found on Bergmann's body had been removed.
Cops scoured databases, desperate to find a photograph, fingerprint or DNA match for the man - but it was futile.
The Gardaí then called time on the five-month investigation, having been unable to get to the bottom of Bergmann's true identity.
More than 15 years on, questions regarding the unusual circumstance surrounding Bergmann's passing largely remain unanswered.
No relatives or friends have come forward, despite numerous public appeals in Austrian and German publications, as well as in Ireland.
Bergmann's body was laid to rest in Sligo, following a funeral service which was attended by four Gardaí officers.