Thomas Merton was not your average monk.

In 1965, when he built his hermitage in New Haven, Kentucky, Merton was debatably the most

famous and controversial monk on the planet.

He was a champion for civil rights, a vocal critic of nuclear armament, and a fierce dissenter

to the war in Vietnam.

He was a Catholic priest who loved Zen Buddhism, and his beliefs made him a star and a contradiction.

He wanted to change society for the better, and he also wanted to retreat.

Merton built the hermitage to create a sanctuary for himself and escape.

But in 1968, just three years later, he was found dead in his room in Bangkok, Thailand.

I'm Dylan Thurus, and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible,

and wondrous places.

Today, we're going to New Haven, Kentucky to explore the little house where Thomas Merton,

aka the Prophet Poet, aka the Rebel Monk, tried to get away from the world, and the world

was not having it.

More of this.

And I believe that by openness to Buddhism, to Hinduism, and to these great Asian traditions,

we stand a wonderful chance of learning more about the potentiality of our own traditions

because they have gone from the natural point of view so much deeper into this than we

have.

So I will conclude on that note, so I will disappear from view and we can all have a

cope or something.

Thank you very much.

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