May 13, 2025 • 25 mins
In 2009, a dying man methodically erased his identity over three days in Sligo, Ireland. Thirteen trips with purple bags. Tags cut from clothing. Surveillance expertly avoided. When his body washed ashore, investigators found the perfect disappearance that wasn't. Sixteen years later, "Peter Bergmann" remains a ghost with a corpse - his true identity as elusive as his motives.
Links from the video:
Unidentified - The Bizarre Case of Peter Bergmann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sJ3pvhBNrQ
The Last Days of Peter Bergmann: One man’s mysterious, haunting exit - Aeon Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVOZ7YPOakI
https://www.irishtimes.com/podcasts/atlantic/
Sligo Garda (Police) Station at +353 71 915 7000
Locate International at appeals@locate.international or call +44 300 102 1011
Find our videos on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@TheInBetweenTales
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:32):
In June, 2009, a dying man
conducted his final missionwith military precision.
13 mystery drops with a purple bag.
Surveillance evasion. Identity removal.
Though terminal cancer ravaged his body,
something else took him that nighton Rosses Point Beach.
His final act? Becoming Peter Bergmann,
(00:53):
a man who never existeduntil he ceased to exist.
I'm Carol Ann.
Welcome to The InBetween.
I'm not going to lie.
This story hits a little close to home.
June 15th, 2009, just about the exact timeI was heading out to enjoy
(01:19):
an evening out to celebrate my40 years of life, Peter Bergmann
was wading into the waters of Sligo Bayto end his.
While I was surrounded with familyand friends, Peter was not.
This was presumably how
he decided was the best wayhe could leave this mortal plane.
(01:40):
But why?
Well, that is the question, isn't it?
This case is very similar to the caseof the Somerton Man from Australia.
If you guys are familiarwith that one, he's the guy who was found
dead on Somerton Beach in Adelaide,Australia, in 1948.
He had no I.D.
and coronerscould not find an actual cause of death.
(02:02):
That one has been an ongoing mysteryfor 77 years,
but at least that one seems to be onthe brink of being solved.
This one, opened a mirror 16 years
ago, seems to get colder every year.
But the case of Peter Bergmannis so fascinating
because it's a reverse Missing 411.
(02:24):
In a regular missing 411 case,someone goes missing with
few or no clues, never to be seen again.
This case is the opposite in thatPeter is not missing.
We know exactly where he is.
We just don't have any idea who he is.
And this guy went tosome extraordinary lengths
to make sure no one would ever find out.
(02:47):
Again. Why?
But before we get to the details,
let me lay out some of the what,Before we get to the whys.
So here'sthe Reader's Digest version of events.
Friday, June 12th, 2009.
Around 230 in the afternoon,a slender man, about 5’10”
with gray hair, arrives at the Ulster BusDepot in Derry, Northern Ireland.
(03:12):
After asking another driver,which is the bus going to Sligo,
which is in County Sligoin the Republic of Ireland,
he gets on the Sligo buswhich leaves Derry at 4 p.m..
He arrives at the Sligo busstop at 6:28 p.m.
and gets off the buscarrying a black shoulder bag,
kind of like a laptop bag,and a black sort of carry all bag.
(03:35):
I'm thinking, by the looks of it,
it's one of those quasi fabric bagsthat you can get anywhere.
He catches a cab and tells the driverto take him to an inexpensive hotel.
The first onethey try has no room at the inn.
So the second try is the Sligo CityHotel on Quay Street.
Bingo. They have room.
The man checks in paying €65 per night
(03:57):
in cash for a three nightstay, and signs in with the name of Peter
Bergmann,giving his address as Vienna, Austria.
The hotel clerk adds to his descriptionthat he has blue eyes,
and somewhere in thehis late 50s or early 60s,
and speaks with a Germanor Austrian accent.
They assign him room 705 and Mr.
(04:18):
Bergmann goes to his roomwithout talking to anyone else.
The next day, at 10:49 a.m.,Peter leaves the hotel
and goes to the post office and buys eight
82 cent stamps and airmail stickers.
The rest of the day, he made several tripsin and out of the hotel.
The next day,
(04:39):
so Sunday, Peter grabsa taxi sometime between 11-11:30
and asks a taxi driver, who describesPeter as being rather chatty,
“Hey, where would you go if you wanteda nice quiet beach to go swimming?”
The driver says Rosses Point Beach,which is less than a 15 minute drive,
so that's where they go.
(05:01):
The taxi driver stops in the parkinglot on the bluffs overlooking the beach.
Peter gets out of the taxi, takes a lookat the beach, seems satisfied,
gets back into the cab, goes back to Sligoand gets dropped off at the bus station.
The rest of his day is spentmaking several more trips in and out
of the hotel, still not really interactingwith anyone else.
(05:25):
Monday, June 15th,Peter checks out of the hotel at 1:06 p.m.
and makes his way on foot to the Sligobus station.
He hangs out there for a while, grabssome lunch and boards the 2:40
bus to Rosses Point, where he arrivessometime in the late afternoon.
He hangs out at the beachall afternoon and evening, where he is
(05:45):
seen by at least 11 different witnesses,
the last one being at 11:50 p.m..
At 6 a.m.
the next morning, his deadbody is found lying
face down in the sand of Rosses Beach.
Okay, that's the 100mile high view of the story.
Let's zoom in a little closer.
(06:06):
Tuesday morning,at a bright and shiny 6 a.m.,
Arthur Kinsella strollsthe beach in the early morning sun.
Not only is this good exercisefor him, he's not getting any younger,
but it also gives him a great excuseto hang out with his son, Brian.
Brian is training for a triathlon,and Arthur
is more than welcome to keep him company.
(06:29):
As he walks the near section of the beach,which the locals call the first beach,
he sees something ahead of himthat looks like a mannequin.
As it gets closer, his stomach drops
when he realizes that it's not.
He calls Brian over.
Lying infront of them is clearly a dead body.
(06:49):
The two decide to take a quiet moment
to say a prayer for whomeverthis individual is.
Then they call the Gardaior the Irish State Police.
Considering the dead man has zero ID
or any other way to identify who he is,
the Gardai do a pretty quick jobof tracking him back to his hotel.
(07:11):
And this is where the story really starts.
The hotel staff, who had seen Petercome and go several times over
the last few days,are able to confirm him as a guest.
Okay.
At least they have a place to start.
Despite itbeing law to check the ID of anyone
checking into a hotel in Ireland,the hotel staff did not ask Peter for ID.
(07:36):
So all the police haveis the name and address Peter, provided.
They run his name, addressand fingerprints through the computer
and come up with a big fat zero.
No such man with that name fitting that
description is in any of their databases.
And in the Vienna addresshe registered with is a big fake as well,
(07:59):
and they can't find any record of himentering Northern Ireland.
It's like his life only beganwhen he boarded that bus in Derry,
heading to Sligo.
Okay, now what?
Well, the next step is to take a lookat the CCTV footage for any clues.
Now, I am not a fan of CCTVbeing everywhere, but if it weren't
(08:23):
for the cameras, both within the hoteland on the streets of Sligo,
this story would never be a story.
As the Gardai officers combthrough the hours of footage,
a strange tale takes shape that raisesmore questions than it answers.
Remember all of those tripsthat Peter took in and out of the hotel?
(08:45):
Well, turns out that every time he leaves,which turns out to be 13 times
in the less than 72 hours he spent there,
he leaves with a smallish, nondescript
purple plastic bagthat always has something in it.
And every time he returns, there'sno purple bag.
(09:06):
Now, whether that is the same purplebag used over and over again that he just
tucked into his pocket when he came back,or whether it's a new bag each time?
We don't know.
So the police look at more footageto try and figure out
where he's goingand what he's doing with the purple bag.
Finding Peter on CCTVwhile he's out and about in Sligo
(09:27):
turns out to be pretty easy.
However, the police discoverthat whenever Peter is dumping the bag,
he's doing it out of sight of the cameras.
Every time.
He seemed to have no problemswith being seen on CCTV,
but went to great lengths to hidewhatever he seemed to be disposing of.
(09:50):
And the same seems to be trueof any letters that he sent
with the stamps that he bought.
No sign of himputting anything in any mailboxes.
So we know he's making trip after tripto get rid of something
that he most likely doesn'twant anyone to see.
Next step. Search the trash cans.
They search every trash can in the areaand even search the local dump
(10:13):
and come up with exactly nothing.
All right. What else do they have?
Well, when they combed the beachthe morning Peter was found,
they found a pile of neatly folded clothesthat matched the description
of what witnesses say they saw himwearing at the beach the day before.
Mostly.
On the pile were a black leather jacket,navy chino trousers,
(10:37):
a black sleeveless Tommy Hilfiger sweatervest, black leather shoes and dark socks.
Missing was a light blue button down shirtthat he was seen
wearing on the CCTV from the hoteland the bus stop.
On his body was a waterproof watch,
a navy t shirt, striped swim trunks
and a pair of underwear worn over the swimtrunks.
(11:01):
His glasses, which he was seen wearingeverywhere, were never found.
All clothing tags had been cut offand anything else that was identifiable
about any of the clothesall amounted to dead ends.
In his pants pockets were tissues,
small bar of what looked to be hotel soapfrom a different hotel,
(11:23):
with the wrapper writtenin English, €149 in cash and some aspirin.
They tried tracing those things as well,but hit similar dead ends.
Now what?
Well, we have witnesses.
Between the witnesses and the CCTV,we have a pretty good idea
of what happened on Peter'slast day on Earth.
(11:45):
After making one last tripout of the hotel with his purple bag
that morning, Peterset his hotel key on the desk at 1:06 p.m.
and walks out onto Quay Street,carrying his purple bag,
his shoulder bag and his black carry all.
But it's a different carryall than the one that he got off the bus
with on Friday.
(12:07):
He heads to the bus station on foot.
By the time he gets there,he no longer has the black carry all bag.
He buys a one way ticket to Rosses Point,sits down in the small bus
stop cafe and ordersa cappuccino and a sandwich.
While eating his lunch,he takes some papers out of his pocket,
makes some notesand puts them back in his pocket.
(12:28):
Just a bit later,he takes those papers out again,
maybe his final to dolist, rips them up and throws them
in the garbage before boarding the 2:40bus to Rosses Point.
It's about a 20 minute bus ride,so he steps off that bus around 3 p.m.
with his black shoulder bag
and the purple bag, right outside of YatesCountry Hotel.
(12:50):
No restaurants or cafes in the arearemember serving him any food that day.
But a number of people remember himwalking around.
Because most people,when they go to the beach, both their mood
and their attireare usually pretty casual.
Peter stuck out in people's memorybecause he was dressed far from casual.
(13:13):
Business casual, maybe.
But his dress pants, sweater vestand leather jacket made him look more like
he was there for a business meetingthan a day at the beach.
He is seen at 4 p.m.
on the beach with a black shoulderbag, and 5 p.m.
near the yacht club.
Sometime after 9 p.m.
on the beach, carrying something.
(13:36):
He's seen by people at 9:30, 9:45and 10:20.
He's seen at 10:30 on a path
near the beachcarrying the purple plastic bag,
and at 11 p.m., with the plastic bag.
He’s seen again right after 11:00,sitting on one of the benches
overlooking the water,and then 11:10 standing on the beach.
(14:00):
The last person to see PeterBergmann alive saw him at 11:50,
walking along the edge of the water,fully dressed
with the purple plastic bag.
Sometime after that 11:50 sighting, Peter
put the final stages of his planinto action.
He got rid of the plastic bagand its contents,
(14:22):
seemingly alreadyhaving disposed of the black shoulder bag.
Neither of which was ever recovered.
He took off his clothes and neatly foldedthem on the rocks near the shoreline,
presumably with the intent to walkquietly into that dark night.
So what happened to Peter Bergmann?
Well,we know what ultimately happened to him.
(14:43):
But the question is why.
And where was he before June 12th?
There are a couple of theoriesrolling around.
The first,most obvious one is that he decided
he wants to leave this world,and he's going to decide where and when.
Okay, but why Sligo?
It looks like a beautiful city, but it's
(15:04):
certainly notone of Ireland's top destinations.
And why Rosses Beach?
The high tide that night was 12:25 a.m..
It seems pretty clear that he knew thisand was just killing time
until the tide started to go out again,so it would sweep him out with it.
He put so muchplanning into this whole affair,
(15:26):
but didn't put any researchinto where the tide would be the strongest
and the most likely to sweep his body outto sea?
if he had, he would have known that Rossesbeach is a pretty quiet inlet,
with not nearly a strongtidal currents found on other beaches.
Seems a little unlikely.
And just a side question on my part.
(15:46):
Would any of this even have happenedif the hotel clerks had done
what they were supposed to doand ask Peter for ID when he checked in?
Another theoryis that he was a spy on the run,
disposing of state secretsas fast as he could.
He certainly knew how to cover his tracks,stay under the radar,
and stay out of camera viewwhen it mattered.
(16:08):
Witnesses from the beachsay that he looked like
he was dressed for a business meeting,not a day at the beach.
Couldhe have been waiting to meet someone?
No one saw Peter talking to anyone.
But that doesn't mean it didn't happen.
Maybe he met with someone.
And the meeting went south.
Now, obviously,
I don't have any ideahow the spy game works, but it seems like
(16:31):
I keep reading about this person or thatperson dying of a sudden heart attack.
But if some enemy state, or maybe
even his own governmentwas actually after him,
maybe they just had to work withwhat they had - the ocean.
And what about the purple bag?
Some people believe thatthe use of the purple bag was a beacon
(16:52):
yelling, “Hey, over here!”Like he's trying
to leave a breadcrumb trailfor someone to follow.
Think about it.
If you're trying to not be noticedby anyone while you're disposing
of whatever you're disposing of, wouldn'tyou use a totally bland black bag?
Why would you use this purple one?
That actually, as evidencedby our talking about it right
(17:14):
now, doesthe opposite of helping you blend in
and practically ensuresyou can be tracked.
The last theory is that Peterwas some kind of criminal trying to outrun
his dark past, disposingof incriminating evidence along the way.
But they didn't run fast enough.
So basically, all the same arguments
(17:36):
for the spy theory,just different players.
One interesting cluethat could tie into both those last
two theories is the statementfrom one of the hotel managers.
At some point during his stay,housekeeping knocked on Peter's door,
got no response, but couldn't get in.
She called the manager,who also knocked, got no response,
(17:57):
and let herself into the room to see Peterstanding there.
He was certainly startled, but also lookedrelieved to see it was her.
Who else doeshe think is going to show up?
And who did the letters go to?
We have no hard evidencethat he sent any letters,
but those stampsand airmail stickers were never found.
(18:20):
If they were letters to family or friendsletting them know, “Hey,
I decided to go out on my own termsand I don't want you to try and find me,”
would you, as said familyor friend, be okay with that?
A lot of the discussion that surroundsPeter's case is whether or not
someone has a right to disappear,even from family and friends.
(18:43):
I do think you have the right to dowhatever you want with your life,
and this is only a hypothetical,
since we don't know thatthe letters like that were sent.
But if they were, could you keep silent,
knowing that not only are there
most likely peoplethat are carrying the heavy sadness
(19:04):
of not knowing what happened to him,but that there are police departments,
potentially around the world,that could be wasting resources
for years to come to try and solvea mystery that doesn't need solving?
Somebody had to have known this man.
His autopsy reportshowed that he had two gold teeth
(19:25):
and silver fillings,so he has a dental record somewhere.
He had had at least one previousheart attack.
So somewhere there is a hospital recordwith his name on it.
He only had one kidney.
That could be another hospital record.
And most importantly,the autopsy showed he had late stage
prostate cancer that had spreadto his organs and his bones.
(19:49):
So the chances are pretty goodthat there is an oncology office
somewhere wondering why their patientstopped coming to his appointments.
The pathologist estimatedPeter had maybe weeks to live,
and probably would have beenin a lot of pain.
Yet there's no trace of any drugsin his system.
No chemo drugs,no painkillers of any kind.
(20:12):
Maybe that'swhy he took a taxi to his hotel,
which was within easy walking distance.
And maybe that's the same reason
he walked back to the bus stationon that fateful Monday.
Maybe he knew that he was only goingto have to endure the pain
for just a little while longer.
(20:33):
But this would also be the last few hourshe would have to breathe
the fresh airand feel the warm sun on his face.
And maybethat's why he wasn't taking any drugs.
Not even the aspirin in his pocket.
Maybe he wanted to have a clear head
to carry out his final plans.
(20:55):
Dermot and PaulaLahiff were in the car at the beach
that evening, watching the sunset,and saw Peter walking in the water.
Between the beauty of the sunlightand the oddity of seeing this man
in dress clothes wading through the water,Paula captured the experience
in her creative writing classthe very next night.
(21:17):
The Golden Man by Paula Lahiff.
A middle aged man was walking in the waterparallel to the beach.
He appeared to be fully dressedin a black jacket,
with his trousersrolled up above his knees.
He came around from the second beach,around the rocks,
and plodded through the shallow,rippling waves.
(21:39):
The man seemed to walk, somewhat stooped,
hands clasped behind his back.
A man on a mission, perhaps?
He kept walking,
his feet throwing up waterat each step through the shallows.
And when he reached the golden sunbeam,
he stopped and hesitated.
(21:59):
Then took that next fateful step.
And he too turned to gold,
becoming part of this miracle of light.
He stood there, a magnificent golden man,
at one with nature.
So he made his plan
(22:20):
to leave this worldwith the smallest footprint
he could possibly manage,walk out into the cold Atlantic,
and let the water take him,and wash him out with the receding tide.
But have you ever heard the phrase,“Man plans.
God laughs?” Well,that very phrase just may have been
the last thing to go throughPeter's head before his last breath,
(22:44):
because the water did not take himthat day.
A heart attack did.
After all that planning to end his time
here on earth in complete anonymity,all that time contemplating
and studying the water that he had chosento become his final resting place.
Some random conspiracybetween his heart giving out
(23:06):
and the wavesbringing him right back to shore
foiled all of those plans.
Heart attack.
Do we need to rethinkthat espionage theory?
I'm sure in the end,he didn't care one way or the other
whether he drownedor died of a heart attack.
But I am fairlysure he did not intend to be buried
(23:26):
in an unmarked gravein the Sligo City Cemetery,
or to become immortalin the minds of millions of people.
I pray that no onewithin the sound of my voice
ever has to hear the wordsthat they only have weeks to live.
But if you did.
What would you do?
(23:50):
This episode
really did hit me that this guy eitherA) Has no one in his life
that he wants to spend his last dayswith, or B) Feels cutting those
who care about him out of the journeyis the right thing to do.
If Peter does have familyand friends out there, whether they know
about his fate or not, my heartgoes out to them that they may find peace.
(24:14):
And if you have any information about thiscase, please contact the Sligo
Garda Station, which is their police,or Locate International.
I will put contact information for both ofthose places in the description as well.
(24:39):
If you're just a glutton for punishmentand enjoy
a world with more questions than answers,then go watch this one.
It'll leave you with thatsame unscratchable itch.
Be careful out there.
And I will see youhere again on The InBetween.
In June, 2009, a dying man
conducted his final missionwith military precision.
13 mystery drops with a purple bag.
Surveillance evasion. Identity removal.
Though terminal cancer ravaged his body,
something else took him that nighton Rosses Point Beach.
His final act? Becoming Peter Bergmann,
(00:53):
a man who never existeduntil he ceased to exist.
I'm Carol Ann.
Welcome to The InBetween.
I'm not going to lie.
This story hits a little close to home.
June 15th, 2009, just about the exact timeI was heading out to enjoy
(01:19):
an evening out to celebrate my40 years of life, Peter Bergmann
was wading into the waters of Sligo Bayto end his.
While I was surrounded with familyand friends, Peter was not.
This was presumably how
he decided was the best wayhe could leave this mortal plane.
(01:40):
But why?
Well, that is the question, isn't it?
This case is very similar to the caseof the Somerton Man from Australia.
If you guys are familiarwith that one, he's the guy who was found
dead on Somerton Beach in Adelaide,Australia, in 1948.
He had no I.D.
and coronerscould not find an actual cause of death.
(02:02):
That one has been an ongoing mysteryfor 77 years,
but at least that one seems to be onthe brink of being solved.
This one, opened a mirror 16 years
ago, seems to get colder every year.
But the case of Peter Bergmannis so fascinating
because it's a reverse Missing 411.
(02:24):
In a regular missing 411 case,someone goes missing with
few or no clues, never to be seen again.
This case is the opposite in thatPeter is not missing.
We know exactly where he is.
We just don't have any idea who he is.
And this guy went tosome extraordinary lengths
to make sure no one would ever find out.
(02:47):
Again. Why?
But before we get to the details,
let me lay out some of the what,Before we get to the whys.
So here'sthe Reader's Digest version of events.
Friday, June 12th, 2009.
Around 230 in the afternoon,a slender man, about 5’10”
with gray hair, arrives at the Ulster BusDepot in Derry, Northern Ireland.
(03:12):
After asking another driver,which is the bus going to Sligo,
which is in County Sligoin the Republic of Ireland,
he gets on the Sligo buswhich leaves Derry at 4 p.m..
He arrives at the Sligo busstop at 6:28 p.m.
and gets off the buscarrying a black shoulder bag,
kind of like a laptop bag,and a black sort of carry all bag.
(03:35):
I'm thinking, by the looks of it,
it's one of those quasi fabric bagsthat you can get anywhere.
He catches a cab and tells the driverto take him to an inexpensive hotel.
The first onethey try has no room at the inn.
So the second try is the Sligo CityHotel on Quay Street.
Bingo. They have room.
The man checks in paying €65 per night
(03:57):
in cash for a three nightstay, and signs in with the name of Peter
Bergmann,giving his address as Vienna, Austria.
The hotel clerk adds to his descriptionthat he has blue eyes,
and somewhere in thehis late 50s or early 60s,
and speaks with a Germanor Austrian accent.
They assign him room 705 and Mr.
(04:18):
Bergmann goes to his roomwithout talking to anyone else.
The next day, at 10:49 a.m.,Peter leaves the hotel
and goes to the post office and buys eight
82 cent stamps and airmail stickers.
The rest of the day, he made several tripsin and out of the hotel.
The next day,
(04:39):
so Sunday, Peter grabsa taxi sometime between 11-11:30
and asks a taxi driver, who describesPeter as being rather chatty,
“Hey, where would you go if you wanteda nice quiet beach to go swimming?”
The driver says Rosses Point Beach,which is less than a 15 minute drive,
so that's where they go.
(05:01):
The taxi driver stops in the parkinglot on the bluffs overlooking the beach.
Peter gets out of the taxi, takes a lookat the beach, seems satisfied,
gets back into the cab, goes back to Sligoand gets dropped off at the bus station.
The rest of his day is spentmaking several more trips in and out
of the hotel, still not really interactingwith anyone else.
(05:25):
Monday, June 15th,Peter checks out of the hotel at 1:06 p.m.
and makes his way on foot to the Sligobus station.
He hangs out there for a while, grabssome lunch and boards the 2:40
bus to Rosses Point, where he arrivessometime in the late afternoon.
He hangs out at the beachall afternoon and evening, where he is
(05:45):
seen by at least 11 different witnesses,
the last one being at 11:50 p.m..
At 6 a.m.
the next morning, his deadbody is found lying
face down in the sand of Rosses Beach.
Okay, that's the 100mile high view of the story.
Let's zoom in a little closer.
(06:06):
Tuesday morning,at a bright and shiny 6 a.m.,
Arthur Kinsella strollsthe beach in the early morning sun.
Not only is this good exercisefor him, he's not getting any younger,
but it also gives him a great excuseto hang out with his son, Brian.
Brian is training for a triathlon,and Arthur
is more than welcome to keep him company.
(06:29):
As he walks the near section of the beach,which the locals call the first beach,
he sees something ahead of himthat looks like a mannequin.
As it gets closer, his stomach drops
when he realizes that it's not.
He calls Brian over.
Lying infront of them is clearly a dead body.
(06:49):
The two decide to take a quiet moment
to say a prayer for whomeverthis individual is.
Then they call the Gardaior the Irish State Police.
Considering the dead man has zero ID
or any other way to identify who he is,
the Gardai do a pretty quick jobof tracking him back to his hotel.
(07:11):
And this is where the story really starts.
The hotel staff, who had seen Petercome and go several times over
the last few days,are able to confirm him as a guest.
Okay.
At least they have a place to start.
Despite itbeing law to check the ID of anyone
checking into a hotel in Ireland,the hotel staff did not ask Peter for ID.
(07:36):
So all the police haveis the name and address Peter, provided.
They run his name, addressand fingerprints through the computer
and come up with a big fat zero.
No such man with that name fitting that
description is in any of their databases.
And in the Vienna addresshe registered with is a big fake as well,
(07:59):
and they can't find any record of himentering Northern Ireland.
It's like his life only beganwhen he boarded that bus in Derry,
heading to Sligo.
Okay, now what?
Well, the next step is to take a lookat the CCTV footage for any clues.
Now, I am not a fan of CCTVbeing everywhere, but if it weren't
(08:23):
for the cameras, both within the hoteland on the streets of Sligo,
this story would never be a story.
As the Gardai officers combthrough the hours of footage,
a strange tale takes shape that raisesmore questions than it answers.
Remember all of those tripsthat Peter took in and out of the hotel?
(08:45):
Well, turns out that every time he leaves,which turns out to be 13 times
in the less than 72 hours he spent there,
he leaves with a smallish, nondescript
purple plastic bagthat always has something in it.
And every time he returns, there'sno purple bag.
(09:06):
Now, whether that is the same purplebag used over and over again that he just
tucked into his pocket when he came back,or whether it's a new bag each time?
We don't know.
So the police look at more footageto try and figure out
where he's goingand what he's doing with the purple bag.
Finding Peter on CCTVwhile he's out and about in Sligo
(09:27):
turns out to be pretty easy.
However, the police discoverthat whenever Peter is dumping the bag,
he's doing it out of sight of the cameras.
Every time.
He seemed to have no problemswith being seen on CCTV,
but went to great lengths to hidewhatever he seemed to be disposing of.
(09:50):
And the same seems to be trueof any letters that he sent
with the stamps that he bought.
No sign of himputting anything in any mailboxes.
So we know he's making trip after tripto get rid of something
that he most likely doesn'twant anyone to see.
Next step. Search the trash cans.
They search every trash can in the areaand even search the local dump
(10:13):
and come up with exactly nothing.
All right. What else do they have?
Well, when they combed the beachthe morning Peter was found,
they found a pile of neatly folded clothesthat matched the description
of what witnesses say they saw himwearing at the beach the day before.
Mostly.
On the pile were a black leather jacket,navy chino trousers,
(10:37):
a black sleeveless Tommy Hilfiger sweatervest, black leather shoes and dark socks.
Missing was a light blue button down shirtthat he was seen
wearing on the CCTV from the hoteland the bus stop.
On his body was a waterproof watch,
a navy t shirt, striped swim trunks
and a pair of underwear worn over the swimtrunks.
(11:01):
His glasses, which he was seen wearingeverywhere, were never found.
All clothing tags had been cut offand anything else that was identifiable
about any of the clothesall amounted to dead ends.
In his pants pockets were tissues,
small bar of what looked to be hotel soapfrom a different hotel,
(11:23):
with the wrapper writtenin English, €149 in cash and some aspirin.
They tried tracing those things as well,but hit similar dead ends.
Now what?
Well, we have witnesses.
Between the witnesses and the CCTV,we have a pretty good idea
of what happened on Peter'slast day on Earth.
(11:45):
After making one last tripout of the hotel with his purple bag
that morning, Peterset his hotel key on the desk at 1:06 p.m.
and walks out onto Quay Street,carrying his purple bag,
his shoulder bag and his black carry all.
But it's a different carryall than the one that he got off the bus
with on Friday.
(12:07):
He heads to the bus station on foot.
By the time he gets there,he no longer has the black carry all bag.
He buys a one way ticket to Rosses Point,sits down in the small bus
stop cafe and ordersa cappuccino and a sandwich.
While eating his lunch,he takes some papers out of his pocket,
makes some notesand puts them back in his pocket.
(12:28):
Just a bit later,he takes those papers out again,
maybe his final to dolist, rips them up and throws them
in the garbage before boarding the 2:40bus to Rosses Point.
It's about a 20 minute bus ride,so he steps off that bus around 3 p.m.
with his black shoulder bag
and the purple bag, right outside of YatesCountry Hotel.
(12:50):
No restaurants or cafes in the arearemember serving him any food that day.
But a number of people remember himwalking around.
Because most people,when they go to the beach, both their mood
and their attireare usually pretty casual.
Peter stuck out in people's memorybecause he was dressed far from casual.
(13:13):
Business casual, maybe.
But his dress pants, sweater vestand leather jacket made him look more like
he was there for a business meetingthan a day at the beach.
He is seen at 4 p.m.
on the beach with a black shoulderbag, and 5 p.m.
near the yacht club.
Sometime after 9 p.m.
on the beach, carrying something.
(13:36):
He's seen by people at 9:30, 9:45and 10:20.
He's seen at 10:30 on a path
near the beachcarrying the purple plastic bag,
and at 11 p.m., with the plastic bag.
He’s seen again right after 11:00,sitting on one of the benches
overlooking the water,and then 11:10 standing on the beach.
(14:00):
The last person to see PeterBergmann alive saw him at 11:50,
walking along the edge of the water,fully dressed
with the purple plastic bag.
Sometime after that 11:50 sighting, Peter
put the final stages of his planinto action.
He got rid of the plastic bagand its contents,
(14:22):
seemingly alreadyhaving disposed of the black shoulder bag.
Neither of which was ever recovered.
He took off his clothes and neatly foldedthem on the rocks near the shoreline,
presumably with the intent to walkquietly into that dark night.
So what happened to Peter Bergmann?
Well,we know what ultimately happened to him.
(14:43):
But the question is why.
And where was he before June 12th?
There are a couple of theoriesrolling around.
The first,most obvious one is that he decided
he wants to leave this world,and he's going to decide where and when.
Okay, but why Sligo?
It looks like a beautiful city, but it's
(15:04):
certainly notone of Ireland's top destinations.
And why Rosses Beach?
The high tide that night was 12:25 a.m..
It seems pretty clear that he knew thisand was just killing time
until the tide started to go out again,so it would sweep him out with it.
He put so muchplanning into this whole affair,
(15:26):
but didn't put any researchinto where the tide would be the strongest
and the most likely to sweep his body outto sea?
if he had, he would have known that Rossesbeach is a pretty quiet inlet,
with not nearly a strongtidal currents found on other beaches.
Seems a little unlikely.
And just a side question on my part.
(15:46):
Would any of this even have happenedif the hotel clerks had done
what they were supposed to doand ask Peter for ID when he checked in?
Another theoryis that he was a spy on the run,
disposing of state secretsas fast as he could.
He certainly knew how to cover his tracks,stay under the radar,
and stay out of camera viewwhen it mattered.
(16:08):
Witnesses from the beachsay that he looked like
he was dressed for a business meeting,not a day at the beach.
Couldhe have been waiting to meet someone?
No one saw Peter talking to anyone.
But that doesn't mean it didn't happen.
Maybe he met with someone.
And the meeting went south.
Now, obviously,
I don't have any ideahow the spy game works, but it seems like
(16:31):
I keep reading about this person or thatperson dying of a sudden heart attack.
But if some enemy state, or maybe
even his own governmentwas actually after him,
maybe they just had to work withwhat they had - the ocean.
And what about the purple bag?
Some people believe thatthe use of the purple bag was a beacon
(16:52):
yelling, “Hey, over here!”Like he's trying
to leave a breadcrumb trailfor someone to follow.
Think about it.
If you're trying to not be noticedby anyone while you're disposing
of whatever you're disposing of, wouldn'tyou use a totally bland black bag?
Why would you use this purple one?
That actually, as evidencedby our talking about it right
(17:14):
now, doesthe opposite of helping you blend in
and practically ensuresyou can be tracked.
The last theory is that Peterwas some kind of criminal trying to outrun
his dark past, disposingof incriminating evidence along the way.
But they didn't run fast enough.
So basically, all the same arguments
(17:36):
for the spy theory,just different players.
One interesting cluethat could tie into both those last
two theories is the statementfrom one of the hotel managers.
At some point during his stay,housekeeping knocked on Peter's door,
got no response, but couldn't get in.
She called the manager,who also knocked, got no response,
(17:57):
and let herself into the room to see Peterstanding there.
He was certainly startled, but also lookedrelieved to see it was her.
Who else doeshe think is going to show up?
And who did the letters go to?
We have no hard evidencethat he sent any letters,
but those stampsand airmail stickers were never found.
(18:20):
If they were letters to family or friendsletting them know, “Hey,
I decided to go out on my own termsand I don't want you to try and find me,”
would you, as said familyor friend, be okay with that?
A lot of the discussion that surroundsPeter's case is whether or not
someone has a right to disappear,even from family and friends.
(18:43):
I do think you have the right to dowhatever you want with your life,
and this is only a hypothetical,
since we don't know thatthe letters like that were sent.
But if they were, could you keep silent,
knowing that not only are there
most likely peoplethat are carrying the heavy sadness
(19:04):
of not knowing what happened to him,but that there are police departments,
potentially around the world,that could be wasting resources
for years to come to try and solvea mystery that doesn't need solving?
Somebody had to have known this man.
His autopsy reportshowed that he had two gold teeth
(19:25):
and silver fillings,so he has a dental record somewhere.
He had had at least one previousheart attack.
So somewhere there is a hospital recordwith his name on it.
He only had one kidney.
That could be another hospital record.
And most importantly,the autopsy showed he had late stage
prostate cancer that had spreadto his organs and his bones.
(19:49):
So the chances are pretty goodthat there is an oncology office
somewhere wondering why their patientstopped coming to his appointments.
The pathologist estimatedPeter had maybe weeks to live,
and probably would have beenin a lot of pain.
Yet there's no trace of any drugsin his system.
No chemo drugs,no painkillers of any kind.
(20:12):
Maybe that'swhy he took a taxi to his hotel,
which was within easy walking distance.
And maybe that's the same reason
he walked back to the bus stationon that fateful Monday.
Maybe he knew that he was only goingto have to endure the pain
for just a little while longer.
(20:33):
But this would also be the last few hourshe would have to breathe
the fresh airand feel the warm sun on his face.
And maybethat's why he wasn't taking any drugs.
Not even the aspirin in his pocket.
Maybe he wanted to have a clear head
to carry out his final plans.
(20:55):
Dermot and PaulaLahiff were in the car at the beach
that evening, watching the sunset,and saw Peter walking in the water.
Between the beauty of the sunlightand the oddity of seeing this man
in dress clothes wading through the water,Paula captured the experience
in her creative writing classthe very next night.
(21:17):
The Golden Man by Paula Lahiff.
A middle aged man was walking in the waterparallel to the beach.
He appeared to be fully dressedin a black jacket,
with his trousersrolled up above his knees.
He came around from the second beach,around the rocks,
and plodded through the shallow,rippling waves.
(21:39):
The man seemed to walk, somewhat stooped,
hands clasped behind his back.
A man on a mission, perhaps?
He kept walking,
his feet throwing up waterat each step through the shallows.
And when he reached the golden sunbeam,
he stopped and hesitated.
(21:59):
Then took that next fateful step.
And he too turned to gold,
becoming part of this miracle of light.
He stood there, a magnificent golden man,
at one with nature.
So he made his plan
(22:20):
to leave this worldwith the smallest footprint
he could possibly manage,walk out into the cold Atlantic,
and let the water take him,and wash him out with the receding tide.
But have you ever heard the phrase,“Man plans.
God laughs?” Well,that very phrase just may have been
the last thing to go throughPeter's head before his last breath,
(22:44):
because the water did not take himthat day.
A heart attack did.
After all that planning to end his time
here on earth in complete anonymity,all that time contemplating
and studying the water that he had chosento become his final resting place.
Some random conspiracybetween his heart giving out
(23:06):
and the wavesbringing him right back to shore
foiled all of those plans.
Heart attack.
Do we need to rethinkthat espionage theory?
I'm sure in the end,he didn't care one way or the other
whether he drownedor died of a heart attack.
But I am fairlysure he did not intend to be buried
(23:26):
in an unmarked gravein the Sligo City Cemetery,
or to become immortalin the minds of millions of people.
I pray that no onewithin the sound of my voice
ever has to hear the wordsthat they only have weeks to live.
But if you did.
What would you do?
(23:50):
This episode
really did hit me that this guy eitherA) Has no one in his life
that he wants to spend his last dayswith, or B) Feels cutting those
who care about him out of the journeyis the right thing to do.
If Peter does have familyand friends out there, whether they know
about his fate or not, my heartgoes out to them that they may find peace.
(24:14):
And if you have any information about thiscase, please contact the Sligo
Garda Station, which is their police,or Locate International.
I will put contact information for both ofthose places in the description as well.
(24:39):
If you're just a glutton for punishmentand enjoy
a world with more questions than answers,then go watch this one.
It'll leave you with thatsame unscratchable itch.
Be careful out there.
And I will see youhere again on The InBetween.
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