The Rockefellers are one of the most famous surnames in the world. But the life story of one of the scions of the family is written in blood. An inquisitive young man, disappeared without a trace in the jungle of New Guinea. According to many researchers, the young man was given the greatest honor - he was eaten by the natives as a sign of respect …
Son of the Governor of New York
Rockefeller was born in 1938 in the family of Nelson Rockefeller, the richest man in America. As a child, Michael began to be interested in history and anthropology, since he had all the opportunities for this - his father did not skimp on the best books, willingly bought various artifacts.
The Rockefeller family also sponsored the Institute of Anthropology, allocated large sums of money for scientific research, and the boy was his own in scientific circles from childhood. He was determined to become a scientist and did not change his mind as an adult.
In 1960, the young man graduated from Harvard University, after which he spent several months in the army, dreaming of how soon he would go on a scientific expedition to New Guinea.
Michael's father by that time was the governor of New York, his political career occupied all his thoughts, but he welcomed his son's decision to see the life of the Aboriginal people with his own eyes and collect a unique collection that tells about the life of the Aboriginal people.
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And in the fall of 1961, young Rockefeller set off on a dangerous and fascinating journey to Oceania …
Skull hunters
Michael and his companion, the Dutch ethnographer Rene Wassing, hired local guides named Leo and Simon and drove around the Aboriginal villages, exchanging Papuan household and art objects for steel hooks and axes.
They, among other things, offered kushi to the white explorers - decorated human skulls, and Rockefeller and Wassing willingly bought them.
Young scientists have collected a good collection (which later became an adornment of the New York Museum of Primitive Art), but they were not going to stop there.
Wassing and Rockefeller decided to go to the lost village of asthmatics, a local bloodthirsty tribe, to find unique artifacts there. Not long before this, Rockefeller went to a Papuan shaman, who told Michael that he saw a death mask on his face.
The shaman warned the researcher that he should not go to the Asmat. In this tribe, it is believed that a person's soul goes to the one who kills and eats him. Therefore, cannibalism is the norm there. But Michael did not believe the shaman and on November 18 set off …
Young scientists and their guides decided to get to the remote Asmat settlement by the river. Michael bought a flimsy homemade catamaran from the Papuans, hung a motor on it, and the researchers hit the road. The Papuans, seeing how their boat was overloaded, warned Rockefeller that trouble awaited him - the waves in these places could be simply huge, but he did not heed the advice …
At first, the catamaran moved successfully, but then the ship collided with a stormy stream that overwhelmed the water into the boat. The motor was flooded and it stalled. There were many crocodiles in this area, and people did not dare to leave their precarious shelter, which contained food supplies and expensive equipment.
The distance to the coast was about 3 kilometers, and Rockefeller decided to risk - though not his life, but his guides, sending them for help. Leo and Simon tied the fuel cans to themselves and swam to the shore. They reached solid ground, but got lost in the jungle and were found a few days later.
Michael and Renee waited unsuccessfully for help. And suddenly a huge wave washed over the catamaran, turning it over. Rene grabbed the wreckage of the ship, and Michael shouted to him that he would float to the shore. Wassing refused to follow him and watched his comrade disappear over the horizon …
A few hours later, Wassinga found a Dutch naval seaplane. The pilots reported to the nearest port the coordinates of the catamaran crash site, soon the schooner "Tasman" picked up Rene, who was almost unconscious.
When he came to his senses, he told about all the circumstances of the disaster. All forces were thrown into the search for Michael Rockefeller, the richest heir in the United States. All the surrounding forests were combed, the bottom of the river was explored, the aborigines were interviewed, but no trace of Mark Rockefeller remained.
Nelson Rockefeller flew in from New York and spent a huge sum on the search for his son, but Michael or his body was never found. The search was stopped, the inconsolable father returned to the United States, and the disappearance of Michael Rockefeller remained one of the unsolved mysteries of the 20th century.
Iron eyes
For several decades, researchers from all over the world have been trying to solve the mystery of Michael Rockefeller's disappearance.
It is not known whether he drowned in the river, whether sharks or crocodiles ate him, or something happened that is difficult to imagine in a nightmare …
Many believed that he could successfully swim to the coast - as guides who avoided meeting with crocodiles and survived. Wassing, after spending many hours in the water, was also not attacked by predators and survived. Rockefeller was an excellent swimmer and simply could not drown.
The most common version of the death of the heir to millions sounds like this - he was … eaten by the natives. He made it safely to the coast, but ended up in the hands of a wild tribe.
This version is based on the words of the Christian missionary Ian Smith, whose mission was located near the village of Asmat. He claimed that he once saw Asmates carrying the clothes of the missing Rockefeller, and in addition, they showed him the bones, allegedly belonging to the missing youth.
But Smith himself tragically died, and it was not possible to find out the details from him. Skeptics argued that Michael could have left the clothes with Aboriginal people during his previous visits, and the bones could have belonged to anyone.
But another missionary, Billem Heckman, claimed that the natives also told him about a certain murdered youth who was eaten by a certain tribe. His skull is in a special ritual house, which suggests that the young man was given the honor of being eaten.
The most interesting thing is that this skull has a feature - "iron eyes". Heckman said that this is what the Aborigines call Rockefeller's metal glasses, which he never took off. But nobody managed to find this skull with iron eyes, and the mystery of Michael Rockefeller's death has not been solved …
Nelson Rockefeller did not recover soon after the death of his son, which, however, did not affect his political career in any way - he became the vice president of the United States. At his expense, a wing was added to the Metropolitan Museum, which now houses the exposition of the Museum of Primitive Art. In memory of the young scientist, this wing is called the Michael Rockefeller wing …
N. Trubinovskaya