The Strange & Curious Tale of the Last True Hermit

[disparatum]

http://www.gq.com/story/the-last-true-hermit

One of my favorite parts:

Anyone who reveals what he’s learned, Chris told me, is not by his definition a true hermit. Chris had come around on the idea of himself as a hermit, and eventually embraced it. When I mentioned Thoreau, who spent two years at Walden, Chris dismissed him with a single word: "dilettante."

[Gilberto de Piento]

That's a really strange story. On one hand, I admire his commitment. On the other, I don't respect the thefts and don't understand why he didn't go somewhere with very cheap land and become a homesteader so he wouldn't have to steal and suffer the elements.

[fiby41]

Cool. Free at 20.

[fiby41]

Also he is too crude for a person who ate so many sweets- Enough to rot his teeth!

I am always curious to see from these cases how people survive in the wilderness. It appears you just have to be close enough to steal other people's stuff.

@ffj: From the people who live in the wilderness, there are three subsets:

1. Those who depend on the outside world in a way that is not acceptable to it-
stealing, eating roadkill, foraging, pillaging etc.

2. Those who depend on the outside world but only make contact once in a while-
Remote villages which are more or less self-sufficient who hold weekly or monthly markets where all the goods required for rest of the duration are traded, people like Unabomber who come out to collect their check, buy groceries and supplies and then leave, etc.

3. Those who have no reason to make contact as they are self-sufficient.

You are only, if ever, going to hear glossy stories of the 1 who get caught, rarely about 2 (usually as novelty pieces) and never about 3.

[tylerrr]

I read the whole article. The guy comes off as extremely self-centered and cared only about himself. I don't know why anyone would do that to their own family and not even let them know. There is nothing admirable about this guy. A true scumbag if you ask me.

[Ydobon]

That certainly was a strange tale. Strange in giant bold capital letters.

I agree with tylerrr to a certain extent in that there is nothing particularly redeeming about the hermit himself and that what he did to his family was cruel.

The only redeeming moments in the article (for me) were the descriptions of the introspective solitude that Knight found for himself. These, however, will doubtless have been polished by the author for maximum impact. I think the thing that kept me reading was the way in which Knight's existence and his routines to avoid detection became so ingrained that they were a performance of sorts.

Thanks for posting that.