Long Ago, I Mentioned A Book About The Death Of A Young Rockefeller, In Papua New Guinea, in 1961... A Silly New Theory Has Emerged...

Please understand -- this is trivia, exclusively. I lend it zero credence. [And that linked story is a ham-handed poor retelling, to be sure -- but it sets out some of the back story. For the more complete, but complicated truth, do read "Savage Harvest".]

Almost a decade ago, this book (largely factual, but full of conjectures) was written -- about his life, disappearance and likely death at the hands of cannibals around 1961.

The indigenous people of these islands back then still considered it a form of ancestor worship, an honor, to partake of the body and soul of someone of one's own tribe. To be fair, there was (as late as the 1950s) also (in that part of the world) a history of keeping the skulls of enemies' tribes as nightstands. . . but given Michael Rockefeller's well-documented history of living harmoniously among them, for over two summers, it seems unlikely he was seen as an enemy.

Most likely (according to Mr. Hoffman's exhaustive research -- and on-the ground evidence location), young Rockefeller may have been severely injured in a boating accident, and -- as a form of honor, after he died. . . he was likely consumed. [And his skull was likely found in a tree hollow -- over two decades later -- but left there, in situ, as would be the then local, and honorable custom.] But that's not the most sordid part of this story.

Over five decades later, the son of Charleton Heston decided to make a movie (he styled it a doc, but it is far from that) -- relying in part on footage of an unknown white man, with tribal peoples of an unknown / very imprecise location, with long canoes -- and with spears. That white guy almost certainly cannot be Michael Rockefeller (he is far too young!), given the dating of the clips, and the established facts, from the US military led search party then Gov. Rockefeller sent to look for him in '61.

So. . . all of this is to suggest that I suspect the recent outbreak of Instagram, Facebook and X-itter images (one screen cap of which appears at upper left in my graphic) is nothing more than an attempt to win a wider audience for the Heston non-doc.

Now you know. Mr. Rockefeller almost certainly died in Papua New Guinea in 1961 or '62, latest. [It should also be noted, though -- that his father's museum still houses what are undoubtedly viewed by the peoples of that time. . . as their ancestors' spirits. . . but stolen away, to mid-town Manhattan -- and kept on display, as totem poles. This would have been seen as a grave offense against the ancestors, but it is nearly impossible that the peoples of that time knew Rockefeller's family had stolen / grave robbed them, and put them on display in New York.] Onward. Make of all that. . . what you will. It is a belated Halloween story, I suppose. Smile.

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