Everett Reuss (1914-1934) disappeared into the sierra of the U.S. West professing a love of nature and solitude. He wrote poetry and made block prints of natural settings. With his burro Reuss departed for the desert wilderness, not yet age 21, and never returned. A number of web sites tell his story. The “official” site for books, etc., seems to be EverettReuss.net (http://www.everettruess.net). More information includes a page from Traditional Fine Art Online (http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/2aa/2aa404.htm), Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (http://www.suwa.org/everett.html), and a descriptive biographical page (http://www.angelfire.com/sk/syukhtun/everett.html). Brought to our attention by a friend of Hermitary.
Daniel Bourguet
A brief article from the Eglise Reformee de France web site on Daniel Bourguet, Protestant hermit, including a photograph of him in front of his hermitage. URL: http://www.erf-clr.org/communautes_et_centres.php?rub=184&nid=218&tag=1180.
Brought to our attention by a friend of Hermitary. See also a translated article about him in Hermitary: http://hermitary.com/articles/bourguet.html.
Bob Kull: Wilderness Solitude
Bob Kull chronicles “A Year in Wilderness Solitude” on a remote island of southern Chile at his web site http://www.bobkull.org. The site is rich in resources: description, a half-hour video, photographs, his published article in Canadian Geographic (May/June 2004), and his own short stories and essays. Brought to our attention by a friend of Hermitary.
See also these articles on Kull:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?
pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1110582612192
&call_pageid=970599119419 and http://www.thetyee.ca/Life/current/As+Lonesome+As+Can+Be.htm.
New York State hermit
Conflating homelessness, mental illness, and eccentricity with reclusion is illustrated by several sites about “The Leatherman,” a nineteenth-century hermit and eccentric in Westchester County, New York, so called because of his attire and interest in leather items. The conflation is furthered by adding details about his enormous appetite and by ghost sightings. URLs: http://www.trailsidemuseum.org/Leatherman.html, http://www.bearsystems.com/OldLeatherMan/OldLeatherMan.htm, (with photo), and http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/yasinsac/briarcliff/leather.html.
Southern California hermits
In this Los Angeles Times article, the author reflects on the “hermit of Tahquitz” and other colorful hermits who have recently populated the desert canyons of southern California. URL: http://www.latimes.com/features/outdoors/la-os-wildwest22feb22,
1,5376597.story?coll=la-headlines-outdoors&ctrack=1&cset=true.