Identified! FL - Big Cypress Natl Preserve, Male Hiker, Denim & “Mostly Harmless” Jul'18 - Vance Rodriguez #5

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I honestly don’t think any documentary/short film about MH would be successful. I believe the large majority of people who followed this case wanted to know who he was, now that he’s been identified, they are done with this story. The mystery is over. That’s kind of where I am.

I have mainly followed this case on WS. I attempted to venture beyond here and literally could not handle the odd way people were acting with this case. I don’t think the madness with these groups really started until last year. The outlandish way some believed they “owned” this guy. “Team Mostly Harmless”. That was a hard stop for me. I’m happy for our discussions here. IMO
 
K9Enzo said:
I honestly don’t think any documentary/short film about MH would be successful. I believe the large majority of people who followed this case wanted to know who he was, now that he’s been identified, they are done with this story. The mystery is over. That’s kind of where I am.

I have mainly followed this case on WS. I attempted to venture beyond here and literally could not handle the odd way people were acting with this case. I don’t think the madness with these groups really started until last year. The outlandish way some believed they “owned” this guy. “Team Mostly Harmless”. That was a hard stop for me. I’m happy for our discussions here. IMO
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It's definitely the mystery that draws people in here on WS. I'm amazed on how many sleuths here find unsolved murders and missing persons going back over sixty years that have been filed away and forgotten by the general population other than the sensational ones.
 
Yeah, basically echoing the sentiments of most here, but his life really should not be sensationalized in any capacity. Just let him rest in peace as any normal person should be able to. The last thing those who knew him need are nosy people prying into his affairs and turning his legacy into some shallow spooky story for the masses. Of course there's nothing wrong with being intrigued by all this, but it's something else entirely to actively try to water it down and portray him more as some flat fictional character than a real person with a real life, real family and friends, etc.
 
The most interesting aspect of the end of the mystery is that he was EXACTLY what he said and who he seemed to be. He could be kind and charming, he could be a jerk and a loner, he had mental problems and had been suicidal. All of these things make sense. It all fits and now, to me, there are no further questions.
 
GatorFL said:
A company called Sandpiper Films is shopping a documentary on Vance. What do you guys think? I think it is a huge mistake. How can they accurately portray anything when even now, after we know his identity, so much of it is a mystery? He was alone so much, particularly that last 3 months of his life
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First, to be clear, I fully agree with all the preceding comments about why a film should not be made. I especially appreciated the insights from @ChatteringBirds and @MadMcGoo. But the reality is that our opinions here at Websleuths will likely have zero influence on whether any films are made or not.

The widely read (and well written) Wired articles, along with recent books and films about the AT and PCT plus, of course, Into The Wild, show the public's fascination with "going off the grid" stories like MH/VR's. It's after the fact, but there's also been a huge surge this past year during the pandemic in hiking and outdoor activities. Hollywood today seems afraid to bankroll truly novel stories and topics, preferring the safety of endless recycles of superhero epics. So I can see them eagerly buying into a "Chris McCandless 2.0" storyline.

There was actually a pretty decent documentary about McCandless (Call of the Wild by Ron Lamothe) that debunked many of Krakauer's and Penn's details and gave a much more frank account of McCandless' family relations. It also challenged their cause of death theory, and as far as I can tell, this hasn't ever been fully settled. But clearly what doesn't fit neatly into a good storyline was just made up or replaced in Krakauer/Penn's drama. Let's hope that if any film is ultimately made, it's a documentary along the same lines as LaMothe's and not a Hollywood type exploitation.

Again, I'm not advocating for any film to be made, just trying to be realistic about how the film industry operates. I'm saddened by what we've learned of VR's life before the trail and I'm still torn about whether he would have ever wanted the mystery of his identity solved.
 
Curious_in_NC said:
I'm still torn about whether he would have ever wanted the mystery of his identity solved.
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I agree: MH could have re-aquired some of his ID. He could have left some kind of paper with his real name, or told someone, but he chose not to. I wonder whether long-distance hiking appealed to him because it required no identity documents at all.

McCandless left a final message for his family, a written journal, photographs, and a series of very close personal relationships he'd formed along the journey. His story was rich with detail and one could get to know the real person. IMO the real person who lived in MH's body is still a mystery.
 
Same for me. Even the references to his ex girlfriend and his sister were true. He had nothing to hide.

Pseudonymph said:
The most interesting aspect of the end of the mystery is that he was EXACTLY what he said and who he seemed to be. He could be kind and charming, he could be a jerk and a loner, he had mental problems and had been suicidal. All of these things make sense. It all fits and now, to me, there are no further questions.
Click to expand...
 
K9Enzo said:
I have mainly followed this case on WS. I attempted to venture beyond here and literally could not handle the odd way people were acting with this case. I don’t think the madness with these groups really started until last year. The outlandish way some believed they “owned” this guy. “Team Mostly Harmless”. That was a hard stop for me. I’m happy for our discussions here. IMO
Click to expand...

I agree. It was a zoo out there, ranging from peculiar (comparing MH to Brad Pitt) to perverted (some people wanted to have sex with him and that he would "make beautiful babies".. talk about objectification) to just outrageous (random people going off on his family and friends wanting to catch and scream at them for not reporting him missing.. and always the question why the family does not step into the spotlight?) to disgusting (some self proclaimed journalists harassing family and friends for every tidbit of information to publish)...

VR truly got the worst out of people. He stirred up emotions like almost no other case. I really wonder what was so different in his case that made him so popular.
He also in some cases brought out good things from people. And he probably would have hated all the uproar about his personality and withdrawn into his hibernation state if he would have been alive...
 
Susikatze said:
RSBM
I really wonder what was so different in his case that made him so popular.
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This was the case that brought me to Websleuths. Somehow he had a look like I could have met him somewhere before. I think several people also said this. I actually had to check the dates when I was in Hot Springs, Damascus, Front Royal, and N. Florida, and realized our paths never crossed, with six weeks being the closest they ever came.

But clearly there was far more to it than this and I'm unable to fully explain it.
 
If this case ever gets a documentary treatment, and there's no reason to think it won't, I don't think it will be very different from the usual format these types of cases get but it would be lovely to see how all these people he met have changed as a result of this case.
 
Susikatze said:
I agree. It was a zoo out there, ranging from peculiar (comparing MH to Brad Pitt) to perverted (some people wanted to have sex with him and that he would "make beautiful babies".. talk about objectification) to just outrageous (random people going off on his family and friends wanting to catch and scream at them for not reporting him missing.. and always the question why the family does not step into the spotlight?) to disgusting (some self proclaimed journalists harassing family and friends for every tidbit of information to publish)...

VR truly got the worst out of people. He stirred up emotions like almost no other case. I really wonder what was so different in his case that made him so popular.
He also in some cases brought out good things from people. And he probably would have hated all the uproar about his personality and withdrawn into his hibernation state if he would have been alive...
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The ugly, ugly truth is that we (even more so Americans) just cannot accept that we may be wrong about something and the other person may be right. Everyone gets really upset if they are questioned about being right.

The more people that saw the story, the more arguments became.

The more comments and opinions made, the more it was immaturely discussed on platforms such as FB.

Besides that, not being able to ID a man with multiple pictures on the internet in our day and age is almost unheard of. It would have been much different if he had never been seen, and then found dead in the tent in Florida.
 
That is very true. But on the other hand, it shows us in a frightening way how much we are dependent on our presence in social media channels. 30 years ago, nobody would have been so puzzled by an UID without an ID on him.

lonewanderer said:
Besides that, not being able to ID a man with multiple pictures on the internet in our day and age is almost unheard of. It would have been much different if he had never been seen, and then found dead in the tent in Florida.
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Susikatze said:
That is very true. But on the other hand, it shows us in a frightening way how much we are dependent on our presence in social media channels. 30 years ago, nobody would have been so puzzled by an UID without an ID on him.
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Yes and no.

Think about Unsolved Mysteries; it was a smash hit before the digital age and had many people completely intrigued.

There are several cases from many years ago that are still consistently talked about and looked into. Judy Smith, Blair Walsh, Ricky McCormick are some from the 90's.

To really put it into perspective, the Tamam Shud/Somerton Man case is still a highly popularly discussed topic even though it happened in 194(8?).

But, I totally agree. Social Media has become more important than real life, but I also fully understand the phycology behind it. In an automated world where there seems little to achieve in real life, the internet and video games are excellent places to obtain false senses of achievement and self worth.

I am still convinced future generations wind up like the obese people riding around on hover wheelchairs like the movie Wall-E.
 
Was his exact cause of death ever determined? He was incredibly emaciated...due to illness? starvation (intentional or unwillingly?)

I am maybe mis-remembering, but I thought he mentioned to someone having a serious illness?
 
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