Mystery man takes naked stroll on Paris Metro

Everyone who has visited or lived in the French capital will have a story to tell of their experience on the Paris Metro .

The rail system is fabled for its eccentric characters and grimy romance, but you can forget the big rat you once saw scurrying on the tracks, or the Mariachi band moving between carriages that time because commuters at one packed station on Tuesday, had a real once in a lifetime experience. 

At around 7.30pm, travellers at Plaisance Metro in the 14th arrondissement were treated to the eye-watering and surreal sight of an entirely naked man prancing around on the tracks of Line 13, before being hauled off in his birthday suit by security.

Il y a donc en ce moment même un homme nu bloquant les voies à Plaisance… pic.twitter.com/yPRJhIQolH

— Stef Espasa-Tudo (@Fasnao) November 19, 2013

"Our agents intervened straight away," a spokesman for rail provider RATP told Le Parisien. "This only lasted a few minutes."

His identity, as well as his motivations and mental state remain a mystery, for now.

Some of the French capital’s more drole denizens have, however, been ironically suggesting he might be one of the “incredible encounters” referred to by Paris mayoral candidate Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet (NKM), in an interview this week in which she waxed lyrical about the Paris Metro.

“For me the Metro is a charming place, unknown and familiar at the same time,” she told Elle magazine.

“I often take lines 13 and 8, and I have had some incredible encounters,” she added, suggesting a naked track walker might just be par for the course for her when it comes to the Metro.