His name was John, or at least that's what the legend says.

There are a lot of versions of the story, after all.

Some say that the figure appeared to the people of Tanna through a drug-induced dream.

Tanna, by the way, is an island in the archipelago of Vanuatu, over in the South Pacific.

Others say he was a real visitor.

Either way, they agree on the important details.

John was a white man who arrived on their tiny island dressed in military clothing with

the promise of goods, like food, technology, and even houses.

Within a decade, the people had left their lives behind and retreated into the deeper

parts of the island to build more and more traditions about this mysterious individual.

So and his full name was John from, as in John from America.

During the military activity of World War II, 50,000 American troops ended up being stationed

on the islands there, giving life to the legends.

The islanders watched as food and supplies literally rained down on them from above, thanks

to the American air drop operations, of course.

The folks of Tanna leaned into this folklore so deeply that after the troops were gone,

they built their own air strips and control towers, believing they would lure John from

back, and every year they gathered to celebrate his story, many of them dressed in American

military uniforms.

There are a lot of deeper concepts that could be discussed in relation to the tradition

of John from, but the thing I want us all to notice is right on the surface.

It took just a couple of generations for an entire community to buy into a whole new

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