news, sites, and pages of interest about hermits and solitude
An article in the Turkish Hurriyet Dail News is titled “Man finds solace living alone in abandoned village for 12 years.” The elderly Selami Salman is a widower and father of seven, who chose to remain in his small village despite hardship and loss of population over the years.
Utah Stories offers a profile of 20th century American hermit Bob Stinson, “The Hermit of Marjum Pass.” Byline: “A brokenhearted Bob Stinson left society behind and built a life in a natural cave in Millard County, not far from Delta [Utah]. The remains of his home can be found in Marjum Canyon.”
URL: https://utahstories.com/2023/11/the-hermit-of-marjum-pass/
from Heritage Daily (UK), an article about an early modern era false prophet, professed hermit — and con artist. Article title: “Treasure hoard associated with hermit conman found in Świętokrzyskie Mountains.” Summary: A treasure hoard associated with Antoni Jaczewiczar, a notorious hermit, conman, and false prophet, has been discovered in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains in south-central Poland.
URL: https://www.heritagedaily.com/2024/05/treasure-hoard-associated-with-hermit-conman-found-in-swietokrzyskie-mountains/151928
from Bangor DailyNews, an article about a 1920s con man presenting himself as a hermit to justify his disappearances. Article title: “The mysterious ‘Hermit of Monson’ may have smuggled opium out of Maine in the 1920s.”
URL: https://www.bangordailynews.com/2024/05/06/piscataquis/jim-whyte-hermit-of-monson-legend-joam40zk0w/
A summary of the life ofRodney McGlynn is presented in an obituary in The Scotsman in June of 2023.
McGlynn was born into a Scottish Romani community. As an adult he lived in a “secluded stone-walled ‘bender’ with an impermanent thatched and canvas roof, a fireplace and seven small stained-glass windows.” Initially he had women partners and fostered a family but soon came to live alone. He was often surrounded by people seeking to help him in household tasks, and he frequently joined them in similar labor. As a musician, bard, singer, poet, and performer, McGlynn often traveled to festivals to perform.
Here are several reent articles on the phenomenon of hikikomori:
3. The review article referred to by the above article 2. was recently published by International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health and is freely available via open access. Title: “Hikikomori: A Scientometric Review of 20 Years of Research.”
URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/9/5657
4. An article from OHSU News (Oregon Health & Science University News) titled “New tool will help to diagnose form of extreme social isolation,” describes a proposed new diagnoistic tool for identifying the hikikomori patient, The tool is HiDE (Hikikomori Diagnostic Evaluation.
URL: https://news.ohsu.edu/2023/09/19/new-tool-will-help-to-diagnose-form-of-extreme-social-isolation