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Swiss property seeks hermit

UPDATE: A hermit-caretaker has been hired!
URL: http://austriantimes.at/news/Around_the_World/2014-07-01/51346/Swiss_Council_Hires_New_Hermit_For_Job_With_Cave

An article in WorldCrunch highlights the dilemma of the owners of the St. Varena Hermitage in the Swiss city of Solothurn. The owners want to hire a hermit, but one who is sociable enough to greet visitors, arrange for marriages and social uses of the churches on the grounds, and generally promote the site. The owner, representing a property management firm, does not want to alter the job description. The previous hermit lasted 5 years before resigning to seek a place more hospitable to a hermit.

URL: http://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/wanted-in-switzerland-um-a-sociable-hermit/verena-dubacher-hermitage-hermit-religious-site-/c3s15802/#.U2ey_SgVDaV; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2620789/Wanted-hermit-Must-like-solitude-prepared-dispense-wisdom-salary-included-wont-spend-council-seek-official-cave-dweller.html

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Alvah Dunning, Adirondack hermit

Alvah Dunning

Alvah Dunnning (1816-1902) was a Adirondacks Mountains (NY) guide skilled in tracking and hunting. He is unfortunately credited with exterminating the presence of wolves and moose in the Adirondacks.

Dunning was a fierce recluse, stereotypically cantankerous, temperamental, and hard to get along with, according to A History of the Adirondacks by Alfred L. Donaldson, published in 1921. Dunning disliked people, especially women and the wealthy urbanites who hired him as a guide and would not consume what they killed.

Dunning’s death is ironic: he stayed in a New York City home overnight while attending a trade show, and in his ignorance had blown out the bedroom gas lamp. He died of asphyxiation.

URL: http://www.adirondackhistory.org/newguides/dunning.html

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Tom Neale, Pacific island hermit

Tom Neale (1902-1977) was born in New Zealand and lived on several Pacific islands, including Tahiti and the Cook Islands, pursuing odd jobs. In 1952 he moved to the island of Anchorage in the Suwarrow Atoll to live off and on as a solitary.

Neale’s story is told in his book, An Island to Oneself, which is available on the web. A number of websites about Neale include photos and biographical details.

 

URL (book): http://www.riverbendnelligen.com/tomneale/anislandtooneself1.html
URLs: http://volnomuvolya.com/Tom_neale_and_suwarrow_atoll.html; http://www.riverbendnelligen.com/books.html

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Japanese island hermit

Here are two notices, from the Mail and the Mirror, reporting on Masafumi Nagasaki, the naked Japanese hermit living on the island of Sotobanari. These articles from Spring 2012 complement the more extensive documentary film from Japan Vice titled In Subtropical Solitude posted on Films about Hermits.

URL (Mail): http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2131093/Sotobanari-hermit-Masafumi-Nagasaki-Japanese-man-76–lives-naked-tropical-island.html

URL: (Mirror): http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/naked-hermit-76-lives-alone-797638

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Dan Fuller, Massachusetts hermit

Dan Fuller
A 2012 article in the Kingston (MA) Journal describes the the life and eccentricities of the 19th-century hermit Dan Fuller. Information is based on an 1893 interview printed in the Boston Journal.

Fuller was said to have grown up in the forest and was most comfortable away from civilized life. He lived in a hundred square-foot hut crammed with belongings.

Fuller subsisted on hunting, including monies from town-paid bounties on rodents, and was said to eat only game (especially birds he had shot or trapped) unless he received gifts of other foods.

Observers described him as simple, honest, independent, and likely not capable of holding steady employment.

Brought to our attention by a friend of Hermitary.

URLs: http://kingstonjournal.com/dan-fuller-the-hermit-of-kingston/
http://piqueoftheweek.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/lives-alone-the-story-of-kingstons-famous-hermit/