Post by hi224 on Sept 15, 2019 0:02:41 GMT
Long story short, he travelled to New Guinea and interacted with the primitive tribes there, collecting carvings and totems the natives created (all of which are on display here in NY at the Metropolitan Museum of Art). He seemingly vanished after a catamaran he was sailing on capsized and he attempted to swim to shore (had he simply waited with his companion he would've been rescued the next day). The word was that he had been killed and eaten by cannibals in retaliation for the murders of three tribesmen a few years earlier (an incident in which Rockefeller was not at all involved). The Rockefeller family seems to have gone with the idea that he drowned or was attacked by a croc or shark.
Rumors spread, however, of a bearded white man with badly-healed broken legs* who was being held captive among one of the tribes, as some sort of 'god', perhaps. At least two seperate sightings of Michael Rockefeller were reported, and footage was recorded in 1968 of a nude, bearded white man among a group of natives.
As far as arguments for his survival, I've read that the sharks in the area are not man eaters--okay, I can go with that--and that the saltwater crocs rarely attack humans. Hmmm. I'm no croc expert but I'm not sure a non-attacking saltwater crocodile exists, but...sure, let's say he made it to the coast (two native guides who were with them on the catamaran swam and made it to land so it's not out of the realm of possibility that Michael did, too). There are accounts among the natives of the killing and eating of Michael Rockefeller but could that be a cover up, hiding his fate as a prisoner?
The image in the article I've linked shows the white man with the natives, eight years after Michael's disappearance. Some think it's an albino. Looks like a caucasian male to me, hair and all, but suppose it's NOT the missing Rockefeller? Who is he? some other white male who just decided to go canoeing with the natives, in the same area Rockefeller vanished in eight years prior?
Fascinating story, and there are similar 'tall tales' of the vanished Ambrose Bierce being seen held captive by an Indian tribe long after his last contact. It also horrifies me, the thought of this young man being held for however long (I'd assume he's since passed away), kept from his family, his twin sister, possibly having children himself with some woman in the tribe. I can't imagine the hell he would've experienced, assuming he didn't truly meet his end in the water or at the sharp end of a fishing spear.
*Allegedly Rockefeller was said to have told a smuggler who encountered him that he wandered lost through the jungle after reaching the shore and slept high in the mangrove trees at night. A fall from one such tree resulted in a broken leg (some re-tellings I've read mention both legs) and his capture. Again, this is what was claimed by a smuggler named Donahue, who says he met the missing heir.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ppearance.html
Rumors spread, however, of a bearded white man with badly-healed broken legs* who was being held captive among one of the tribes, as some sort of 'god', perhaps. At least two seperate sightings of Michael Rockefeller were reported, and footage was recorded in 1968 of a nude, bearded white man among a group of natives.
As far as arguments for his survival, I've read that the sharks in the area are not man eaters--okay, I can go with that--and that the saltwater crocs rarely attack humans. Hmmm. I'm no croc expert but I'm not sure a non-attacking saltwater crocodile exists, but...sure, let's say he made it to the coast (two native guides who were with them on the catamaran swam and made it to land so it's not out of the realm of possibility that Michael did, too). There are accounts among the natives of the killing and eating of Michael Rockefeller but could that be a cover up, hiding his fate as a prisoner?
The image in the article I've linked shows the white man with the natives, eight years after Michael's disappearance. Some think it's an albino. Looks like a caucasian male to me, hair and all, but suppose it's NOT the missing Rockefeller? Who is he? some other white male who just decided to go canoeing with the natives, in the same area Rockefeller vanished in eight years prior?
Fascinating story, and there are similar 'tall tales' of the vanished Ambrose Bierce being seen held captive by an Indian tribe long after his last contact. It also horrifies me, the thought of this young man being held for however long (I'd assume he's since passed away), kept from his family, his twin sister, possibly having children himself with some woman in the tribe. I can't imagine the hell he would've experienced, assuming he didn't truly meet his end in the water or at the sharp end of a fishing spear.
*Allegedly Rockefeller was said to have told a smuggler who encountered him that he wandered lost through the jungle after reaching the shore and slept high in the mangrove trees at night. A fall from one such tree resulted in a broken leg (some re-tellings I've read mention both legs) and his capture. Again, this is what was claimed by a smuggler named Donahue, who says he met the missing heir.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ppearance.html
