Tennessee travelers were shocked on Sunday night when a naked man entered the terminal, but they may have been more surprised if they knew the reason for his nudity. A hint: it had nothing to do with the security check.
Airport spokeswoman Shannon Sumrall said he was taken into custody by airport security and then booked by Nashville police for public indecency. She told the Tennessean that this was not the first time he had been arrested for baring it all. He has been stopped several times while wandering around the parking area naked, but this was the first time he had succeeded in entering the terminal.
Onlookers seemed unflustered by the sight of a naked man waiting in line for his airline ticket, despite the chilly weather. The most startling part of the story, however, is the revelation of the man’s motives: An airport representative told Breaking Israel News that the Nashville Streaker wanted to “go as purely as possible to the Holy Land to greet the Messiah”.
Forget Something? Naked Man Stands Out At Airport Check-In#NakedMan at #Nashville #Airport https://t.co/gSrk5dmAep via @HuffPostCrime
— DONNA MARIE (@DonnaMarieA) February 24, 2016
Though it is unclear what his biblical sources were, there have been no reports of frustrated naked messiahs waiting to greet him at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
This type of mental illness, referred to as Jerusalem Syndrome, is not unheard of, but it usually afflicts visitors after they arrive in Israel. Typified by religious ecstasy or zealousness, there are an average of 100 cases per year in Israel, with over 40 percent requiring hospitalization.
