Post #1175994

2026-04-15 21:56 UTC

Hey Masto, can anyone help me? About a year ago, I read about a guy but I can't remember his name. What I can remember: he was an inept explorer in the 1800s, in the Americas/the US. Every time he left his base fort, he got lost & needed rescuing. One time, a search party was sent to rescue him but he evaded them, thinking they were a Native tribe wanting to harm him. Eventually he stumbled up an actual Native tribe who took him home. Any ideas? The AI-filled search engines are failing me!

Replies (7)

@technothrasher@universeodon.com 2026-04-16 00:38

@louisa_@mastodon.social "he evaded them, thinking they were a Native tribe wanting to harm him. Eventually he stumbled up an actual Native tribe who took him home." I've got a story my great grandfather wrote about his trip alone into the "Indian Territory" in 1893 in what is now Oklahoma, when he was 16. He was terrified of the "Indians" and even took a rusty pistol with him (that didn't work) to try to protect himself from being scalped. When he did eventually run into some natives they... completely ignored him.

Open ##1175993
@louisa_@mastodon.social 2026-04-15 22:03

I don't think it was Percy Fawcett - I think, despite getting lost, he was more competent than my guy. And I don't think it was Truman Everts - he certainly had his poor-judgement moments but I think I would have remembered his story more clearly. I possibly heard about this chap on a podcast but I can't see anything from around that time in the feeds of the podcasts I listen to regularly. There's also a non-zero possibility I dreamt it but I really do think it's real!

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@chris@socialbc.ca 2026-04-15 22:00

@louisa_ @Meznor maybe one of @MargueriteHBC 's stories?

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@Meznor@mstdn.social 2026-04-15 22:07

@louisa_ it's this guy!! I searched using duckduckgo https://www.nytimes.com/1979/12/31/archives/books-of-the-times-explorer-keeps-getting-lost.html

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@kboyd@phpc.social 2026-04-15 22:09

@louisa_ @chris No idea, but sounds like he has real Stede Bonnett energy.

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@Uair@autistics.life 2026-04-15 22:19

@louisa_ I suspect he /evaded/ them, not "invaded" them... Aside from that, I can't help ya. Good luck. Tag @books

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@clew@ecoevo.social 2026-04-15 22:28

Oh good grief. That was fun at a distance In the same vein, Lightoller; famous mostly for being the ranking survivor of the _Titanic_’s crew— but that wreck was possibly only the second or third most exciting event in his life. Wikipedia is mostly about the Titanic but there’s a biography: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL2908733M/Lights @louisa_

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