The Stranger in the Woods — The Story of the Last True Hermit

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 June 2021

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Editor's Note: This is a rebroadcast. The episode originally aired in November 2017. Have you ever just wanted to get in your car, drive off into the middle of nowhere, leave behind the hustle and bustle of civilization, and just be by yourself? Well, in 1986 a man named Christopher Knight did just that and lived alone in the Maine woods without any, any human contact for 27 years until he was discovered in 2013. My guest today wrote a biography — The Stranger in the Woods — about this man who locals called “the Hermit of the North Pond.” His name is Michael Finkel and today on the show we discuss how Chris survived alone in the Maine woods by himself, but more importantly, why Chris wanted to be by himself for so long. By looking at the life of one of the modern world's last true hermits, Michael and I explore the idea of hermitage, solitude, and why being an individual requires you to be alone. Get the show notes at aom.is/hermit.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Brett. We're taking our break from a new episode today. So we're going to re-broadcast
0:03.2	episode number 358, the stranger in the woods, the story of the last true hermit aired originally
0:08.2	in 2017. It's one of the more memorable episodes I've done. Interviews I've done. The story's
0:12.1	just fascinating. Hope you enjoy it. See you on Wednesday. Brett McKay here and welcome to
0:30.4	another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast. Have you ever wanted to get into your car, drive off
0:35.6	through the middle of nowhere, leave behind the hustle and bustle of civilization and just be by
0:39.9	yourself? Well, in 1986, a man named Christopher Knight did just that and lived in the main woods
0:45.4	without any human contact, any human contact, for 27 years until he's discovered in 2013. My
0:50.9	guest named for a biography, the stranger in the woods, and about this man who locals called
0:54.7	their hermit of the north pond. While their name is Michael Finkle, the day on the show, we discuss
0:58.5	how Chris survived and the main woods alone by himself. The more importantly, we discuss why Chris
1:04.9	wanted to be by himself for so long. And by looking at the life of one of the modern world's last true
1:09.9	hermit, Michael and I explored the idea of hermitage, solitude, and why being individual requires you
1:15.2	to be alone. After the show's over, you're going to want to go off the woods and be by yourself,
1:19.6	but before you do that, go check out the show notes at at a-wim.is-hermit.
1:26.6	Mike Finkle, welcome to the show. Thanks, happy to be here. So you wrote an interesting book,
1:31.5	sort of a hybrid of looking at the life of a hermit named Chris Knight. We're going to talk about
1:36.3	him, but also exploring the ideas of solitude and being alone. And is that important to being a human,
1:43.5	being individual? So let's let's talk about how would you do the story of Chris Knight? So this
1:49.2	is a guy who lived in the main woods, middleman main woods, by himself for 27 years. How do you
1:56.4	get connected with this story and why did you decide to write this book? Yeah, so I've been a journalist
1:59.6	for like 27 years, and it's only my second book. I got three little kids. I have a short attention
	...

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