Dutch New Guinea - Michael Rockefeller, 23, 16 November 1961 in New Guinea

[Richard]

60 years missing...


Michael Rockefeller, 23
Missing since 16 November 1961 in New Guinea

Right after he graduated from Harvard in 1961, Michael Rockefeller — heir to the Rockefeller family fortune and son of then-New York governor Nelson Rockefeller — went down to Dutch New Guinea.

Rockefeller was there with a Harvard crew to film a documentary and collect artifacts for a museum endowed by his father. But the 23-year-old Rockefeller never returned and was believed for years to have drowned when his boat capsized...

LINKS:

The Mystery Of Michael Rockefeller's Disappearance

What Really Happened to Michael Rockefeller | History | Smithsonian Magazine

A Rockefeller Lost to Cannibals?

 

[Richard]

(From 2015) ...It’s one of the most enduring unsolved mysteries of the 20th century: the disappearance of Michael Rockefeller off the south coast of Netherlands New Guinea in 1961. Despite an extensive search overseen by his father, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, no trace of Michael was found, nor has any been found since. The open-ended mystery has proven to be catnip for generations of journalists, filmmakers, and adventurers and is now the subject of The Search for Michael Rockefeller, a documentary directed by filmmaker Fraser Heston that debuted on Netflix this month.

While the fate of the 23-year-old Harvard graduate remains unknown, the broad outlines of his final days are undisputed. The heir was on an expedition to collect woodcarvings by the Asmat people when his jury-rigged catamaran overturned. His two local guides swam to shore while Rockefeller and Dutch anthropologist Rene Wassing stayed with the boat as it drifted out into the Arafura Sea. The next day, perhaps 10 miles offshore, but likely closer, Rockefeller decided to swim for it. His famous last words to Wassing, who stayed with the boat and was rescued by a search party the next day: “I think I can make it.”

The question of whether he made it to shore remains unanswered. Into the void swept a number of fanciful theories—he had orchestrated his own disappearance, or he was being held in a remote village as a captive god—but the debate has consolidated around two possibilities: He was lost at sea, or he made it to shore where he was killed and possibly eaten by a group of natives in an act of revenge for the 1958 killing of several villagers by a Dutch colonial patrol.

Unlikely as it may seem, it is the killed-and-eaten theory that has convinced many of us. That’s the tentative conclusion I reached in 2008, when this magazine and the Travel Channel sent me to New Guinea to investigate. And it’s the conclusion author Carl Hoffman came to after a far more thorough investigation than my own, detailed in his 2014 book Savage Harvest. It’s also the conclusion reached by Milt Machlin, the editor of men’s magazine Argosy, who, in 1969, embarked on one of the first and, as it turned out, most quixotic investigations into Michael’s disappearance...

LINK:

The Mysterious Disappearance of Michael Rockefeller

 

[Richard]

Michael Rockefeller, 23
Missing since 16 November 1961

LINK:

Exploration Mysteries: The Disappearance of Michael Rockefeller

 

[Richard]

Michael Rockefeller, 23
Missing since 16 Nov 1961

LINKS:

Michael Rockefeller - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

What Really Happened to Michael Rockefeller

A journey to the heart of New Guinea’s Asmat tribal homeland sheds new light on the mystery of the heir’s disappearance there in 1961

www.smithsonianmag.com

Michael Rockefeller Disappeared in 1961. Was He Eaten by Cannibals?

Michael Rockefeller, the 23-year-old son of prominent political figure Nelson Rockefeller, went into the jungle of Netherlands New Guinea in 1961 and never returned. Here's the story.

history.howstuffworks.com

The Story Of The Rockefeller Heir Who Was Likely Eaten By Cannibals

“Now this is wild and somehow more remote country than what I have ever seen before.”

allthatsinteresting.com

 

[Richard]

There is a recent book out regarding the 1961 disappearance of Michael Rockefeller:

Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art by Carl Hoffman​

Carl Hoffman
Published by Text Publishing, Melbourne VIC (2014)
ISBN 10: 1922182508 ISBN 13: 9781922182500

 

[SkyBoomer]

So, this is a true story.

My sister and I are just a couple of years apart (I am the elder) and we were totally obsessed with “In Search Of” in the late 70’s/early 80’s.

They did an episode on Michael Rockefeller and included the possibility of his being cannibalized. The voice over said “There are many aspects to his disappearance…” to which my sister (maybe 10-11 years old) said “Yeah, ah ‘spects they ate him!”

To this day, one of the funniest things I have ever heard….but I am sorry if this seems disrespectful.

 

[Richard]

Bumping this thread up.