Futility Closet - 320-John Hornby and the Barren Lands

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the Futility Closet podcast, forgotten stories from the pages of history. Visit us online to sample more than 11,000 quirky curiosities from reverse introductions to prayers for the past. This is episode 320. I'm Greg Ross. And I'm Sharon Ross. John Hornby left a privileged background in England to roam the vast sub-Arctic tundra of northern Canada. There he became known as the Hermit of the North, famous for staying alive in a land with very few resources. In today's show, we'll spend a winter with Hornby, who's been

Starting point is 00:00:43 called one of the most colorful adventurers in modern history. We'll also consider an anthropologist's reputation and puzzle over an unreachable safe. October 1923, a 25-year-old Englishman named James Critchell Bullock was sitting in the cafe of the King Edward Hotel in Edmonton when he heard another man order lunch. The man had a mass of shaggy black hair and wore ill-pressed, untidy clothing, but he had the accent of a British public school boy. Bullock said, you speak remarkably fine English for this country, and the man said, I went to Harrow. Bullock himself had gone to Sherbourne, but apart from their experience in English boarding schools, the two found they had almost nothing in common. Bullock had arrived in the country only a few weeks earlier. He'd served

Starting point is 00:01:33 in the army in India and Palestine, but had had to resign his commission after a bout of malaria. The other man, John Hornby, was a foot shorter, 50 pounds lighter, and 20 years older. Like Bullock, he'd been born to privilege. His father had been a friend of Edward VII, and he'd grown up amid lawn parties, fox hunts, and cricket matches. He'd been destined for a career in the British diplomatic corps, but his indifferent performance in school had left his future uncertain, and in his early 20s he'd set out instead for Canada, where he was drawn to the vast, remote subarctic prairie, where he'd earned a reputation for Canada, where he was drawn to the vast, remote subarctic prairie, where he'd earned a reputation for both hardiness and recklessness. He liked to live off the land

Starting point is 00:02:10 with an absolute minimum of equipment and food. On bush trips, he would set off alone with only a rifle, a net, a bag of flour, and some tea, and then fight to stay alive, disdaining both comfort and planning in order to increase the challenge. Where other men might go north to look for precious minerals, the Northwest Passage, or the Pole, Hornby went to look for adversity itself. He had earned the epithet, the Hermit of the North. Despite these worrying traits, Hornby had an endearing nature and was hard not to like, and Bullock wrote to his brother, For some unearthly reason, he has taken a fancy to me. After a few more luncheons and some long walks, Hornby suggested an exploratory jaunt into the mountains near the border of Alberta and British Columbia. There he impressed Bullock with his strength, tenacity, and resourcefulness, and at

Starting point is 00:02:55 length Hornby broached the idea of a journey together into the barren lands, the vast region of treeless tundra that stretched westward from Hudson Bay to Great Slave Lake in what today is Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. When Bullock asked why, Hornby said, because it's the only place that isn't overrun. They would travel north until the timber ended. Beyond that lay hundreds of miles of plains, broken only by rivers and lakes, many of them unknown and unmapped. Hornby probably knew that land better than any European explorer, and he'd seen only a tiny fraction of it. He described lakes, ice, bitter cold, and springtime flowers, caribou, foxes, and wolverines. He said, you do everything by yourself and for yourself. You eat only when

Starting point is 00:03:36 you're man enough to wrest food from the country. That's what my life has been, eating when there's nothing to eat, finding game when there isn't any. When Bullock asked why he wanted him, Hornby said, because you are a gentleman. Gentleman, he said, had backbone. And, he said, not many men know how to starve properly, but I think you can be taught. Bullock reflected and decided to go. They planned to leave the following summer on a first-class scientific expedition, photographing wildlife, studying caribou, and collecting white fox furs,

Starting point is 00:04:04 which should be worth tens of thousands of dollars. expedition, photographing wildlife, studying caribou, and collecting white fox furs, which should be worth tens of thousands of dollars. Among other things, they might become the first Europeans ever to winter in the Barrens. Hornby went to Ottawa and England to register their plan and see his family, while Bullock organized the equipment. They made an odd partnership. Bullock would need Hornby's knowledge and experience to survive on the Barrens, and Hornby would need Bullock's credibility and financing to get them there. Each was staking everything on a man he'd known only a few months. And even at this early stage, Bullock was getting glimpses of Hornby's eccentric personality. When Bullock told him he'd engaged an assistant to come with them,

Starting point is 00:04:39 Hornby asked the color of the man's eyes. He said, I won't go into the Barrens with any but blue-eyed men. I'll wager his are brown. Bullock said nothing, thinking that Hornby was only inventing an excuse to keep strangers out of his beloved north country. But it occurred to him that his own eyes were blue. They agreed at last that the assistant, Jack Glenn, could bring his wife, and Hornby and Bullock would leave the two of them at the east end of Great Slave Lake to maintain a back camp with some of the equipment. They set off on June 24, 1924, traveling with a party of trappers to Fort Reliance on the east arm of Great Slave Lake, the gateway to the Barrens. They reached it on the last day of August. Glenn and his wife would stay here, with a cash left by

Starting point is 00:05:20 the others like a small log cabin on stilts. At Hornby's suggestion, Bullock left most of his scientific equipment here, planning to return for it once they were settled. Now they proceeded northeast on the Lockhart River to Artillery Lake, where the mist burned away one morning to reveal a dramatic border, trees on the western shore, and emptiness to the east. They had reached the start of the barren lands. They camped here for a time, and despite the primitive conditions, Hornby seemed to feel he had come home. One day in October, after the first snow had fallen, he said, People don't understand what brings me to this country, what holds me here.

Starting point is 00:05:54 But you do, don't you? Bullock, who was bloody from a day of butchering caribou, said, Yes, I think I do. I can wake up in the morning here and know I have no troubles beyond keeping alive. Hornby said, Yes, yes, that's it. If I could only stay in the bar here and know I have no troubles beyond keeping alive. Hornby said, yes, yes, that's it. If I could only stay in the barrens, I should be content. The trappers began building cabins to spend their winter at the lake, but Bullock and Hornby set out now to travel further north, deeper into the prairie.

Starting point is 00:06:16 Out there, they'd be almost beyond reach of the others, who would need dogs to travel once the water froze. As they moved north, they began to consider what sort of winter quarters they might build. Their tent would not last them much longer. The nighttime temperatures were already plunging, and it was not yet November. But what kind of shelter can you build on tundra? The nearest timber was now 50 miles behind them. The snow here was too powdery to make an igloo, and there was no sod in this area, only sand, gravel, and moss. A stone hut was also impossible. All the rocks here were either too large or too small. Hornby had said disquietingly on the way up, at worst we can enlarge a wolf den and live in that. I've done it before. But in the end they decided to dig a cave

Starting point is 00:06:56 in an esker, one of the enormous ridges of gravel and sand that the retreating ice cap had left behind. They climbed atop one of these and dug a pit, ten feet long, seven feet wide, and six and a half feet deep, roofed it with canvas, and cut a trench at one end to serve as an entryway. When it was finished, they held a little dedicatory dinner, and Bullock made a speech. In the name of all adventurous men who have looked upon this esker, and all others who have known the barren lands in its changing moods of snow and sun, storm and quiet, stranger and friend, and particularly in the names of John Hornby and James C. Critchell Bullock, I dedicate this cave. It was an odd dwelling for an odd pair.

Starting point is 00:07:35 In this flat, dark, frigid country, Bullock had expected to find simplicity, but he found complexity in Hornby, whose unusual nature was still revealing itself. Bullock's diary calls him by turns puzzling, disgusting, irresponsible, tireless, superhuman, and profound. He left his dentures in a tin can with some dead mice and ate his food with a single incisor, using a pet spoon that he stuck in the sand by his bed. He cut steaks for dinner with the same knife he used to pare his corns and scrape fox entrails. He disemboweled wolf carcasses over his sleeping bag, indifferent to the blood and entrails.

Starting point is 00:08:10 The first time this happened, Bullock said, Your bed's going to be damp tonight. And Hornby had only answered, Yes, yes, but I've slept on lots damper ones. But beneath all this, he was a scholar and a gentleman. He referred to women only with respect. He never cursed, and he would follow a wounded wolf for miles to give it a quick death. He seemed to relish hardship, but he knew everything about how to stay alive in this empty land. He taught Bullock how to make mittens warmer

Starting point is 00:08:34 by stuffing them with caribou hair, how to store meat beyond the reach of wolves, and how to improvise sunglasses out of matchbox covers. Their shrinking days were filled with activity, visiting traps, skinning foxes, treating furs, Their shrinking days were filled with activity, visiting traps, skinning foxes, treating furs, butchering meat, catching fish, gathering fuel, sewing clothing, mending sleds, and cooking meals. Nights in November brought 16 hours of darkness. They slept well, but still had four or five hours of candlelight to fill each night. Hornby endlessly reread the same few textbooks they'd brought and even the Edmonton newspapers they'd used to wrap their provisions. Bullock kept up his diary and composed letters he would never send.

Starting point is 00:09:10 He wrote, I am afraid Hornby has conceived the idea that I am mad for not being dramatically enthusiastic over this negative form of existence. But also, I should perish without him. As it is, I think I could endure here forever merely in the reflection of his own astounding energy. When the roof supports grew weak, they brought in supporting poles, which made it hard to move about the cave. At night, Bullock would lie listening to the howling of wolves and the rumble and crack of the earth itself. Later that month, Hornby went to Fort Reliance to get provisions and additional traps and to retrieve the cached weather instruments. He returned in mid-December with no equipment, few traps, and little food. He'd given away much of it to some indigenous people

Starting point is 00:09:49 he'd met on the way. Such improvidence amounted almost to self-sabotage, but Bullock was learning that Hornby was happiest living by his wits from day to day, daring the land to kill him and fending it off. Too many aides would spoil the challenge. The cave showed the signs of the struggle. In January, ten poles held up the roof. By February, two more had been added. Outside, the esker was littered with the heads of caribou and the carcasses of foxes and wolves. The snow around the door was darkened with blood and hair. A dozen blizzards had now passed over them, and the sun kept just below the horizon, filling the world with a half-light that cast no shadows.

Starting point is 00:10:29 In this dim world, Hornby bustled away at a life that, it seems, no one else would want. Bullock was proud of keeping up with him, but disappointed that they hadn't achieved more scientifically. In setting traps and disemboweling carcasses, they weren't doing much more than staying alive. At length, he returned to Fort Reliance to replenish their supplies and to release Jack Glenn, who returned to civilization with the trappers, leaving Hornby and Bullock alone deep in the barrens. At the thaw, they abandoned the cave for a tent and laid plans for a very different return to civilization. Rather than follow the others south to Edmonton, they would travel east along the Hanbury and Thalon rivers to Baker Lake and Hudson Bay, more than a thousand miles from their starting point.

Starting point is 00:11:09 They filled the cave with all their detritus and set it aflame. After two hours, nothing remained of their strange winter home. Then they spent a day packing a ton of equipment onto a sled that would be pulled by three dogs and two men and rose at midnight to travel while there was still a hard crust on the snow and ice. But the sun peeped up by 2.45, a warning of the long summer days to come, and it brought a thaw that spoiled the sledding. They'd have to lighten the load, make what progress they could, and then return to retrieve the items they'd dropped. Soon even the nights were not cold enough to freeze the surface, and their progress slowed further still. Even working 18 hours at a stretch, they were advancing only a few miles a day. After a month of backbreaking work, they had traveled only 60 miles from the cave.

Starting point is 00:11:47 When the ice melted, they took to the water, canoeing along the Hanbury River, but this was navigable only in sections, and in the overland segments they had to carry the load on foot, each man making eight trips to transport all the cargo, so that for each mile of progress the men walked 15, and they lost further time loading and unloading the canoes. Through late June and early July they toiled, eating fish and sleeping under mosquito netting, up at 3 a.m. and working without cease well into the evening. Two of the dogs escaped one night and dashed after a caribou.

Starting point is 00:12:19 Hornby fired shots into the sand in their path, but they didn't stop. They never came back. They must have starved to death somewhere in the barrens where dogs can't survive. That left only the old leader, Whitey, who stood as high as a wolf and was too wise to run, even when he was left untied. The weeks that followed were filled with mosquitoes, black flies, packing, and paddling. Bullock's back was killing him. He said nothing, but Hornby noticed and kindly made allowances, carrying most of the loads himself or sending Bullock ahead to make camp and cook. They didn't speak about it so that Bullock could save face, but he wrote in his diary, for all of these things I consider Hornby a Trojan. In July they spotted 11 musk oxen,

Starting point is 00:12:58 which many had thought to be extinct in the subarctic. It had been possibly 25 years since a European had seen one, and they thought no man might ever see one again. At the confluence of the Hanbury River and the Thalon, they rested for two days in an oasis of timber in the heart of the Barons. Bullock remembered these as the most pleasant of the entire expedition. They hunted, spotted more muskoxen, and played chess with pieces improvised from boxwood. They departed at last to avoid being trapped by winter. At this latitude, the first autumn storms and snow flurries would begin in less than a month. On September 26, 1925, the carpenters at the trading post on Baker Lake stopped their work,

Starting point is 00:13:36 confused. No canoes had gone up the Thalon River that summer, but now two were coming down. When they asked the travelers where they'd come from, John Hornby told them Deadpan from Edmonton. They were greeted with congratulations, a feast, and the unthinkable luxury of real iron beds. But Hornby seemed unhappy, and Bullock understood why. They had stopped moving, left the fight, and even this glimmer of civilization could feel dull and routine by comparison. At three in the morning, he awoke to find Hornby sitting up in their room. He said he'd been thinking. Things hadn't gone just the way they'd wanted. Bullock told them they'd done their best, and Hornby said, but suppose we did better next time. He proposed

Starting point is 00:14:13 going into the Barrens again the following year, learning from the mistakes they'd made. Bullock said they had no money left, and Hornby said, no money. What do we care for money? I have a little, and I can always get some dogs and a sled and a canoe and some grub. We don't need anything more. The caribou and the white wolves and the foxes and the fish are free. Free, that is, to men who know how to get them. Men like you and me, Bullock. You're going back to civilization soon. Back to where every man is your enemy because every man is in competition with you. Back where the man with the cleanest shirt is the most respected. And what'll you do? You've built a fine body for yourself up here. You will weigh close to 200 pounds in a couple of weeks, and all of it is solid bone and muscle. Try to sell that in a city.

Starting point is 00:14:53 It may get you a day laborer's job or a third assistant's berth in some gymnasium. That's not for you, is it? Money. It isn't in the barons that you need money, but in the cities. Bullock told him he had to recoup his fortunes first, and they both had to recover from the last 18 months. But Hornby said, I belong up there, Charles. Maybe I'll find someone else. He did. In 1926, he set out with his 18-year-old cousin, Edgar Christian, and another young man, Harold Adler, to find a route from Great Slave Lake eastward to Chesterfield Inlet. Edgar had written home from Canada, I have seen lots of trappers who have been on this trail with Jack, and many won't go again because he is too tough. He ends with, I shall be with someone whose name runs through Canada with highest praise, which makes me feel absolutely satisfied about the future.

Starting point is 00:15:37 No more was heard of them until July 1928, when a geological party traveling down the Thalon River spotted a tiny cabin 30 meters back from the shore in the same oasis of timber where Hornby and Bullock had rested the year before. Outside were two skeletons, and inside was a third. The geologists could not stay, so they left the bodies untouched, but reported what they'd found. Another year would pass before a police patrol from Fort Reliance reached the cabin. They buried the bodies and put up three crosses. In the stove, they found a diary where Edgar Christian had left it to protect it from the wind and rain. The three men had built the cabin in October 1926, planning to spend the winter there. But for once, Hornby's luck had failed. They had missed the southward migration of the

Starting point is 00:16:18 caribou and could find no game. They starved through a cold winter, reduced to eating hides and their spare boots. Hornby had died on April 16th, followed by Adler on May 4th. Christian had held on into June, game to the last. He called Hornby the finest man I have ever known and one who has made a foundation to build my life upon. In the stove he had also left letters for his parents. To his mother he'd written, Feeling weak now, can only write little. Sorry I left it so late, but al written, To this day, John Hornby lies on the bank of the Thalon River in the heart of the largest wilderness in North America. His own actions have helped to preserve it. After his expedition with Bullock, he'd recommended that the areas near the Thalon and Hanbury Rivers be created as a wildlife sanctuary,

Starting point is 00:17:04 and this was established in the year of his death. He had once told a friend, in civilization there is no peace. Here in the north, in my country, there is peace. No past, no future, no regret, no anticipation, just doing. That is peace. In episode 312, Greg told the story of Ishi, an emaciated and exhausted man who showed up outside of Oroville, California in 1911. He was discovered to be the last of the Yahi people, and with nowhere for him to go, two anthropologists at the University of California, T.T. Waterman and Alfred L. Kroeber, arranged for Ishii to live at the university's Anthropology Museum in San Francisco, where Kroeber was the museum's director. John Sneeden wrote, Dear Sharon and Greg, I just listened to your podcast on Ishii, the last of the museum's director. John Sneeden wrote, Dear Sharon and Greg,

Starting point is 00:18:07 I just listened to your podcast on Ishi, The Last of the Yahi People. I am writing because I actually have a family connection to the circle of people around Ishi in his last days. My great-grandfather, Ned Kelsey, was living in the Bay Area of California at the time of Ishi's emergence. Ned had been a special agent for the lands and titles of the Indians of California earlier in the century. While I do not know how he became involved with

Starting point is 00:18:30 Ishii, I do know that he met with Alfred Kroeber and Ishii many times. Ned's daughter, my grandmother, Mary Electa Kelsey, was a girl of five or six when she first met Ishii. He came to the Kelsey home. My grandmother remembered him clearly. She said that he was a kind and pleasant person. He dressed in the American style of the day, but he never wore shoes. Apparently, he never felt comfortable in them. My grandmother recalls him singing a song for her. She never found out what it was about, but she always told the story with obvious pleasure. Thanks for giving me this chance to remember. While researching Ishi's story, Greg had come across a Charles Kelsey, who was a special agent for the Bureau of Indian

Starting point is 00:19:12 Affairs and who had been involved in Ishi's case. I asked John if he knew whether Ned Kelsey and Charles Kelsey were related, and he said that his great-grandfather's first name was actually Charles, and he just went by the nickname Ned. That's an amazing connection. I know. I can't believe that. So we have a listener whose grandmother and great-grandfather knew Ishii. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:19:34 Adam Orford wrote, I'm a longtime listener writing for the first time. Thank you for all the work you do to bring interesting episodes from the past to life. interesting episodes from the past to life. In your recent episode, The Last of the Yahi, you told the story of the man called Ishi and the anthropologist A.L. Kroeber, and near the close made the comment that, today the headquarters building at the University of California is called Kroeber Hall. You may be interested to learn that this may not be true for much longer, or at least that the name of the building is the subject of ongoing debate at UC Berkeley. longer, or at least that the name of the building is the subject of ongoing debate at UC Berkeley. Briefly, UC Berkeley has an administrative committee that receives proposals to remove campus building names. In July, a group of faculty and students proposed removing Kroeber's name from

Starting point is 00:20:16 the building. The thrust of the argument is that Kroeber was involved in what is now understood to be theft of Native American remains and burial items, a practice that is now illegal. They frame the story told in your episode as follows, that Kroeber also mistreated a Native American survivor of genocide whom Kroeber placed as a living exhibit in the university's museum. This proposal has generated some controversy within Berkeley anthropology, with anthropologist Nancy Shepard Hughes, who spoke at the Ishii Reburial Ceremony at Lassen, in particular speaking up for Kroeber. Although this proposal has been represented as an example of cancel culture, I see it more as a positive example of the necessary ongoing debate over the present meaning of the symbols of the

Starting point is 00:21:00 past and the power of honorific names in the present. Our school has a robust process for making, commenting on, reviewing, and ultimately deciding on proposals like this. If Kroeber's name is removed, the next step is to decide on a replacement, and Dr. Shepard Hughes has also made a great suggestion on that score, Ishi Hall. The formal Proposal to Unname Kroeber Hall, the headquarters building of the Anthropology Department, does fairly acknowledge that Alfred Crober is a pivotal figure in the history of anthropology, and they note his many accomplishments, including that he was the first faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at UC Berkeley and director of what was then the University of California Museum of Anthropology, and director of what was then the University of California Museum of Anthropology, received numerous awards and honors, including serving as president of the American Anthropological Association,

Starting point is 00:21:55 and Kroeber's sweeping book, 1925 Handbook of the Indians of California, was the result of decades of multidisciplinary fieldwork that blended cultural anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, and history. On the other hand, they argue that Alfred Kroeber is a hostile symbol to many Native Americans, and celebrating his legacy with the honorific naming of Kroeber Hall sends a harmful message to Native American students, faculty, and staff at UC Berkeley, and hinders repair of a damaged relationship with Native Californians and all indigenous people. They say, Alfred Kroeber engaged in research practices that were always objectionable to many Native Americans and that society now recognizes as reprehensible and has made illegal. This includes the collection of remains and sacred funerary objects of Native American

Starting point is 00:22:40 ancestors and other indigenous people from their graves without consent from tribes or individual descendants of indigenous people. And Kroeber personally engaged in excavating grave sites, directed the work of others in this regard, and built a repository for human remains exhumed by academic researchers and government agencies. This led to one of the largest curated collections of remains of Native American ancestors in the United States. As part of their evidence for Kroeber's mistreatment of Ishi, they say that the record clearly shows that Kroeber knew what final arrangements Ishi wanted, and that after he became aware of Ishi's death, Kroeber tried to stop his colleagues from conducting an autopsy of his friend with a strongly worded message.

Starting point is 00:23:24 stop his colleagues from conducting an autopsy of his friend with a strongly worded message. Kroeber's words were too late. The telegram arrived after Ishi's brain had been removed from the body. Reversing course, Kroeber then sent a letter offering Ishi's brain to the Smithsonian, where it was curated discreetly for decades. I can't really speak knowledgeably about the charges about Kroeber's excavation and collection of the remains of indigenous people, this is clearly seen as morally wrong today, and I can certainly see how honoring someone responsible for such actions on a wide scale could be rather offensive to Native Americans. With regard to their charges about Ishi being mistreated and a living exhibit, I feel like I can say more. There is evidence that Kroeber did make attempts

Starting point is 00:24:05 to shield Ishii from, for example, questions that reporters wouldn't realize would seem rude to Ishii, and that Kroeber refused others who wanted to exhibit Ishii or create a vaudeville act of Ishii and Kroeber or put Ishii in a traveling carnival. Kroeber and Ishii were available at the museum on Sunday afternoons from 2 to 4 30 for those who wanted to meet them. Ishii would be introduced and Kroeber would answer questions or translate Ishii's replies. Ishii would often demonstrate some of his skills such as stringing a bow or making arrowheads and then he would give the arrowheads to audience members or to schools or other museums. Otherwise Ishii's time was mostly his own to do with as he chose. I don't think we know how Ishii felt specifically about these exhibitions, but we do have evidence that he did, for example, enjoy

Starting point is 00:24:50 sessions with linguist Edward Sapir, teaching him Yahi, or teaching and practicing archery with the Dr. Saxton Pope. Charles Kelsey, who we now know was John's great-grandfather, visited Ishii in his role as a special agent for California Indians with the Bureau of Indian Affairs at the museum after Ishii had been there for some time to see how he was doing and to ask if he wanted to live elsewhere. He offered that Ishii could return to where he'd been living previously, or he could be taken to a reservation to be with other Native Americans. Ishii declined his offers and is reported to have said, I will grow old in this

Starting point is 00:25:25 house and it is here I will die, which does seem to suggest his personal desire to stay at the museum. Kelsey said of the situation, it is rather a puzzle to know what to do with him, which really was the case. Ishii had no people to return to and hadn't been doing well on his own. As for the autopsy, as the proposal acknowledges, Kroger had wanted Ishii's wishes to be respected. Kroger wrote from New York, as to the disposal of the body, I must ask you as my personal representative to yield nothing at all under any circumstances. If there is any talk about the interests of science, say for me that science can go to hell. We propose to stand by our friends. But the autopsy did happen

Starting point is 00:26:06 in Kroeber's absence, and Ishii's brain was preserved, which Waterman called a compromise between science and sentiment with myself on the side of sentiment. The rest of Ishii was cremated with one of his bows, some arrows, and some acorn meal beads, tobacco, and obsidian flakes, but his brain was given to the Smithsonian. Overall, it's hard not to agree with one of the conclusions made in the unnaming proposal, that Alfred Kroeber was a complex human being who sought to create and share knowledge. I can't say whether the name of the building should be changed or not, but if it is, I do like the suggestion that maybe it should be renamed Ishi Hall.

Starting point is 00:26:46 Tucker Drake wrote, Hi folks, in listening to your latest episode, I was reminded of a news article I read a couple of years ago about the last member of an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon. You can read about the last time he was apparently sighted here. An older article with more information on the man can be found here. One hopes, in the wake of the fires in the Amazon, as well as the spread of the coronavirus to the various tribes in the region, that he's still alive. But who knows? Tucker sent a link to a 2018 BBC News article about a 50-something-year-old man that has apparently been living alone in the Brazilian Amazon for about 25 years. At the time of the article, a shaky video of the semi-naked man vigorously chopping down a tree with an axe, filmed from a distance, had been released by the FUNAI agency of the Brazilian government, the first known video of the man.

Starting point is 00:27:36 Previously, there had been only a single blurred photo of him. FUNAI has been monitoring the man since 1996 and needs to prove that he is still living in the area in order to keep in place a restriction order on the 31 square miles he's living in, prohibiting any kind of development of the land and anyone from interacting with him. Very little is known about the man, and he is classified as uncontacted, meaning that as far as anyone knows, no outsider has ever spoken with him. He's thought to be the only survivor from a group of six people that were attacked by farmers in 1995. A 2010 Slate article that

Starting point is 00:28:10 Tucker sent a link to says that the government field agent specializing in isolated tribes began searching for the man in 1996 when loggers began talking about a lone man in the forest. The agent soon found a hut he had built of palm thatch, with a rectangular hole, more than five feet deep, that he dug in the center of the floor. As they continued to search for him, they found that he seemed to move around, abandoning similar huts as loggers or the agents got close to him. None of the other tribes in the area was known to dig holes like this in their huts, but the agents did find the bulldozed remains of 14 such huts, all with

Starting point is 00:28:45 the same kind of hole, in a clearing in the jungle, and concluded that it had been the site of the man's village and that had been destroyed by settlers in early 1996. The agents eventually found the man himself, referred to by nicknames such as the man in the hole or the man of the hole. He appeared to be in his mid-30s at the time and was always armed with a bow and arrow, which he would use against the agents if they pushed an attempt at contact, which they finally stopped doing. A 2018 article in The Guardian says that axes, machetes, and seeds have been left for the man, but that he clearly wants nothing to do with others. I wasn't able to find any recent information on the man of the hole, so as Tucker said,

Starting point is 00:29:23 it may not be known right now if he is still alive or not. The Guardian article also reports that Funai believes that there are 113 uncontacted tribes in the Brazilian Amazon, as well as 15 in Peru and others in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Colombia. So I guess it's entirely possible that there are even more lone survivors of other tribes or that there will be in the future. That's a sad story. It is kind of a sad story. You have to wonder what a person thinks when they're like the last one left. Especially if he feels that like everyone around him could be dangerous.

Starting point is 00:29:58 Yeah. And he has good reason to feel that way. Yeah. Thanks so much to everyone who writes to us. We always appreciate your follow-ups and comments. So please send any that you have to podcast at futilitycloset.com. It's my turn to try to solve a lateral thinking puzzle. Greg is going to give me a strange sounding situation,

Starting point is 00:30:27 and I have to try to work out what's going on, asking yes or no questions. In 1971, the European bank, Femis Bank, was suspected of illegal activity, but investigating authorities were stymied because they could not reach the bank's safe. Why not? They could not reach the bank's safe. Why not? They could not reach the banks safe. Was it underwater? I don't know why I'm thinking it's underwater. Was it not inaccessible? No, it wasn't. Hmm.

Starting point is 00:31:16 Was it protected or would you say it was like protected or guarded, not guarded, but protected by something that made it dangerous or difficult to get to? No. Ah, not surrounded by radioactive waste or something. They could not reach the safe. Do you mean physically they couldn't reach it? No, I don't mean that. Okay. But they couldn't get to it, you would say.

Starting point is 00:31:35 That's right. They couldn't physically touch it. Right. Right. He said carefully. Okay, 1971. So that cuts out some answers. Does it matter what country this is in?

Starting point is 00:31:51 Yes. It matters what country this is in. Oh, was it someplace that you're not allowed to go? Like there are taboos or regulations about who's allowed to enter that place. Like it's like in a holy site and only certain people are allowed to go there or that sort of thing. The way you've worded that, I'm going to say yes. Yes. Does this have anything to do with political or legal jurisdictions? Yes.

Starting point is 00:32:25 So the police weren't allowed to enter because they're from the wrong geopolitical state or something, or the wrong nation, or the wrong nationality. Yes, that's true. I'm trying to think. Is this like in Vatican City, for example? No. But something like that? Like it's in something that's governed by a different set of laws than like the surrounding area? Something like that?

Starting point is 00:32:58 Yes and no. That's the first time I've ever said that. You're on the right track. Okay. Should I try to guess what country this is? No, because that'll take forever. So what country is it? You said it's European. Yes. I'm trying to think what I can tell you. The safe is in Belgium. The safe is in Belgium, but the police are from a different nationality? The police are not Belgian? Basically, yes. I'll just give it to you. You're never going to guess the actual truth. The municipality of Barla Nassau lies in the Netherlands, but contains nearly 30 Belgian exclaves, known collectively as Barla Hertog.

Starting point is 00:33:35 Famous Bank occupied a building that fell on the border of one of these exclaves so that its counters lay in the Netherlands, but the safe lay in Belgium. Legally, the Belgian tax department could not pass the counters to reach the safe, and the Dutch authorities could pass the counters, but were not allowed to touch the safe. So the border, at least as I'm picturing this, goes right through the middle of the room. What did they do? They finally solved this by making a joint effort, investigators from each country searching their respective parts of the premises. Femis Bank was declared bankrupt in May 1992 after investigations into the laundering of drug money. But it took 20 years.

Starting point is 00:34:09 Yeah. And I don't know this, but it sounds as if it's at least possible that they chose this place specifically for that reason, that there's a line through the middle. Oh, really? I don't know that part. Oh, oh, oh, oh.

Starting point is 00:34:19 But it sounds like it couldn't be a coincidence. That would make law enforcement confused. We are always on the lookout for more lateral thinking puzzles. So if anyone has a puzzle they'd like to send in for us to try, please send that to podcast at futilitycloset.com. Futility Closet would not still be here if it weren't for the generous support of our listeners. If you'd like to become one of the awesome supporters of our show, please check out our Patreon page at patreon.com slash futilitycloset or see the support us section of the website at futilitycloset.com.

Starting point is 00:34:55 While you're at the site, you can also graze through Greg's collection of over 11,000 compendious amusements. Check out the Futility Closet store, learn about the two Futility Closet books, and see the show notes for the podcast with links and references for the topics we've covered. If you have any questions or comments for us, you can email us at podcast at futilitycloset.com. The music in our show was written and performed by my very talented brother-in-law, Doug Ross. Thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you next week.

Futility Closet - 320-John Hornby and the Barren Lands

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