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Mississippi hermit: Jean Guilhot

Jean Guilhot (1878-1959) was the “Hermit of Deer Island” off Biloxi, Mississippi. Born in France, he traveled to Key West, Florida, and then to Deer Island off the Mississippi coast. His life was a series of hard times, as the SunHerald.com notes in an article titled”‘Hermit of Deer Island’ will get his due at Biloxi Cemetery.” Guilhot’s grave site will be rededicated, with a new marker, and a dramatic recreation of his life presented.

URL: http://www.sunherald.com/2013/08/07/4856287/hermit-of-deer-island-will-get.html

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Japan’s elderly male recluses

A recent study by Japan’s National Institute of Population and Social Security Research shows, according to Vox Populi (Asahi Shimbun) that “elderly men who live alone are more prone than their female counterparts to becoming social recluses.”

This is not a surprise given the history of reclusion and hikikomori in Japan, which has always been an especially male phenomenon, but the study surveys a more mainstream population wherein the loss of family and friends tends to isolate elderly men versus elderly women. This information further delineates the differences between men and women in general, and essentially identifies it with larger social patterns in contemporary Japan.

URL: http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/vox/AJ201307260049

Related article on the study: http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201307260005

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Hermit cookies

from a package of Newman’s Own© Organic Hermits (hermit cookies):
“No hermits were harmed, mistreated, pestered or annoyed in the making of these cookies!”
hermit cookies

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Alpine shepherd hermit

A salacious story in The Independent describes “The Alpine Shepherd and the Parisian”: A French Alps hermit, described as simple, owned rundown property that could be used for ski chalets. The property was coveted by a wealthy jet-setting Parisian woman. She duped the hermit into marrying her, though they live in two different worlds; she occasionally visited him. Then the hermit mysteriously dies in a road accident, in a car driven by the woman’s accomplice. But when the hermit’s will is unveiled, it deliberately leaves her nothing.

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/rich-hermit-cut-widow-from-will-new-chapter-in-drama-of-the-alpine-shepherd-and-the-parisian-8650752.html