In 1996 rumours were swirling around the Brazilian state of Rondônia - a wild man was living in the jungle, alone. Govt tribal officials went to investigate, eventually tracking him down.
The story of the Man-of-the-Hole:
The Brazilian Amazon has long been under threat from illegal logging and mining, much of which is in conflict with the tribes who live on the land.
Sometime during the 1970's some such loggers or ranchers attacked the Akuntsu and Kanoé tribes, attempting to clear them off the land. They likely attacked another group at the same time, a people whose name is unknown to us.
When agents of the FUNAI indigenous protection agency went to investigate claims of this wild man, they found a small group of huts which had recently been bulldozed. The nearby Akuntsu had also been reduced to just six people, the rest killed by men with chainsaws and guns.
FUNAI surmised that this lone survivor was the last of his tribe, and he had disappeared into the forest. They tried to contact him, leaving gifts, tracking him. One agent got an arrow to the chest, the message was clear - leave me alone.
Surveys of his movements revealed that he built temporary huts, grew maize and maniac, hunted with a bow and gathered wild fruits and honey.
He also did something curious, along with building spiked-bottom pit traps, he always dug a deep hole inside every hut he ever built. Similar holes were found in his ancestral bulldozed village. Not knowing his name, he was dubbed the Man-of-the-Hole.
In 2007 FUNAI were concerned that he would be smoked out by continual logging and land intrusions, so they legally demarcated 31 sq miles around him as the Tanaru Indigenous Territory.
In 2009 he was attacked by unknown gunmen, presumably wanting him dead to open up the territory. He survived the attack.
He knew he was being watched, and in 2018 FUNAI made the decision to publicise some video of him, along with other uncontacted tribes, as part of an awareness raising campaign.
Almost exactly a year ago today, agents discovered the man dead in his hammock. He had decorated himself with macaw feathers, as if he knew he was going to die, he planned his own funeral as much as he could.
His identity will remain a mystery, as will his language, his people, his culture, his religion. He spent at least 26 years on his own, digging his holes and trying to escape the world.
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