Whether these people were locked in isolation by others or chose seclusion of their own free will, they spent an enormous amount of time alone. And no matter who they are - involuntarily prisoners, mystical hermits or eccentric recluses, their stories are tragic and in many ways exciting.
1. John Bigg
In 1649, at the end of the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell's Puritan Roundheads seized control of the English parliament and immediately sent the reigning monarch Charles I to court for treason. An English magistrate named Simon Mayne, who was a Member of Parliament at the time, became one of the judges in the trial of Charles I. It was rumored that Maine's secretary, Mr. John Bigg, was one of the hooded executioners. at the execution of the king by beheading, which followed the trial.
Karl's impromptu trial and execution drew widespread disapproval. The Roundheads had to get rid of half of the British parliamentarians before they could carry out the execution. Thomas Hoyle, a surviving member of the Rump Parliament who remained in office, committed suicide on the first anniversary of the death of Charles I. The Royalists later claimed that he was haunted by headless ghosts. Another judge, Rowland Wilson, died of melancholy and guilt that same year.
John Bigg, whether he was one of Karl's executioners or not, also fell victim to a metaphorical death shortly thereafter. When the monarchy was restored in 1660, John's boss, Simon Maine, was put on trial and found guilty of regicide. He later died in the Tower of London before the appeal was heard. Whether out of fear or out of guilt, John settled in an underground cave near Maine's house, Dinton Hall, and lived there alone until the end of his days. The last mention of him was made in an illustration of the 18th century.
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Despite the fact that John was not a large man, his shoe size was very large. One of his shoes can still be seen in the Ashmolean Museum. The secret was that when John's clothes and shoes wore out, he simply attached new leather straps over the worn out place, which subsequently led to his peculiar and bulky appearance.
2. Mary Molesworth
After Mary Molsworth's debut at the Dublin Theater, all of Ireland admired her talent and beauty. Unfortunately, it was these qualities that caught the attention of Colonel Rochfort, a man known for his terrible temper. Mary did not want to marry him, but her father insisted on this. By that time, Rochefort had become the 1st Earl of Belvedere, could offer Mary an estate and title. Therefore, contrary to her wishes, Mary Molesworth became Lady Belevedere in 1736, giving birth to several children to the duke. Disregarded and lonely on the Earl's vast estate in Gaulstown, she began spending time with the Earl's brother, Arthur and his wife Sarah.
At some point, the count received a parcel containing letters incriminating Mary of adultery. The gruesome speculation was that she slept with his brother during frequent absences. The Count went berserk and threatened to shoot Arthur on the spot, forcing him to flee the country. Mary herself was locked up in Galstown. She was kept under relentless guard, and yet Mary managed to escape only once to ask her father's protection in Dublin. However, her father refused to speak to her, giving the Count to the people as soon as they came for her.
Sixteen years have passed since Mary was imprisoned in Galstown. People, apparently, for the most part forgot about her and remembered only when the Count's brother Arthur returned from abroad. His arrival was followed by a trial and Arthur was found guilty. He was ordered to pay 20 thousand pounds in compensation for the destruction of the count's marriage. When he could not pay, he was sent to prison.
Mary remained a prisoner in Galstown for another 16 years. The release became possible only after the death of the count in 1774, and this was done by her son. After her release, the person who met Mary wrote: “Who would have believed that she was the woman whose beauty we have heard so much about? She looks crushed, weak and haggard! Her hair is white as snow, and she has a wild, intimidated look, like a person who has experienced a terrible shock, the memory of which is always with her. She speaks in a trembling voice barely louder than a whisper, and the dresses she wears were in vogue over 30 years ago! Even on her deathbed, Mary continued to speak of her innocence, as did Arthur Rochefort, who died in his prison cell. Their tragic story became one of Ireland's greatest scandals in the 18th century.
3. William Beckford
William Beckford was the only legitimate son of an extremely wealthy sugar merchant. After he inherited the entire fortune in 1770, Lord Byron called him "the richest son of England." Byron and several other influential writers have also recognized William as a genius. So why did someone with such talent and money end up being an outcast living in a tower all alone? And how did he manage to squander his entire fortune?
William was an archetypal romantic and used his unlimited money to indulge his fantasies. He never stopped collecting rare books, furniture and art. At first, this hardly affected the stable annual income from his West Indies plantations. But since the slave trade was abolished, the situation in the sugar industry began to change, and its profits declined. On top of that, William was throwing money down the drain, investing it in his infamous architectural project called Fonthill Abbey.
Fonthill was an amazing example of neo-gothic construction. It took years to complete, but since aesthetic beauty played a greater role in design than the practical realities of the physical world, it collapsed in 1823 - just two years after William tried to sell it. William, distraught at the loss of his monumental structure, moved to Bath and then indulged in all his Freudian obsession with building huge towers. He became a hermit at his lesser-known Lansdown Tower. This is an unusual piece of neoclassical architecture, 37 meters high, which can be seen to this day. William also left behind one of the greatest underrated treasures of Gothic literature, a highly imaginative novel called Vathek. It can be viewed free of charge on the Internet.
4.5th Duke Of Portland
The true scale of the mystery surrounding the 5th Duke of Portland's seclusion is too interesting not to be told. During the Victorian era, the Duke, who remained locked up in a room at his private estate, Welbeck Abbey, was believed to be "Jekyll & Hyde" in real life. Its vast network of underground chambers and passageways was built to help lead a double life.
The story of the Duke seems to have left the pages of a Victorian novel. In fact, some have speculated that he was the inspiration for Charles Dickens's unfinished work, Mystery of Edwin Drood. A widow named Anna Maria Druce has insisted for decades that her father-in-law, a Baker Street textile shopkeeper named Thomas Charles Druce, was none other than the Duke of Portland himself. … Despite the fact that Thomas Drews died in 1864 (15 years before the official death of the duke), Anna argued that the funeral was a hoax. She asked to exhume and open the coffin, being sure that it would be either empty or filled with lead weights. She stated that Thomas Drews faked his own death,to fully resume his life as a duke.
Anna never renounced her seemingly out of the ordinary history and went so far as to dispute the inheritance of the Portland estates. She was eventually admitted to a mental hospital in 1903 due to the "stress of the trial." Other members of the Drews family continued her actions on the matter, although the evidence some of them provided turned out to be false and several key witnesses received harsh sentences for perjury. When Thomas Drews' coffin was finally exhumed and opened in 1907, a body was found in it and the case was closed as "unfounded and litigious." However, Anna Maria Drews' claims may well be rooted in some long-hidden truth.
Consider the evidence provided. On the extremely rare occasions when a lone duke appeared in public, he hid under three coats, a ridiculously huge top hat and a huge umbrella. For the most part, orders were given through handwritten notes. During his travels, the curtains in his mail coach were always drawn, and the coach himself drove him to the train going to London, which he presumably boarded. He had apartments in London that were allegedly connected to Baker Street by a secret tunnel discovered by workers many years later.
Due to the Duke's isolation, no one really knew if he was in his room at Welbeck Abbey or not. Food was delivered to him, but no one ever saw him take it and eat it. Even in those cases when the duke was ill, he shouted out his symptoms through a crack in the door, and the doctor shouted out the diagnosis to him. In addition, it was revealed that Thomas Drews kept the windows of his Baker Street office with red velvet curtains. When the curtains were drawn, staff were told to stay away and not bother Druce. When the duke's whereabouts were known, no one knew where Drews was. And vice versa. Following the funeral of Thomas Drews, the Duke is known to have taken up residence at Welbeck Abbey.
5. Blanche Monnier
Blanche Monier spent 25 years locked in a completely dark room, living hand to mouth, without clothes and lying on a mattress covered with lice and her own excrement. The only companions of this unfortunate were the rats, with whom she shared the crusts of bread. By that time, she was already aged and, for obvious reasons, had lost her mind. What was her crime? In love for a person below the social status of her family. Or maybe the reason was stubbornness - depending on how you look at it. But it is safe to say that Blanche Monnier was the victim of a terrible injustice and that love, despite the popular aphorism, does not always win.
Mademoiselle Monier was discovered by the French police in 1901 in the rather prosperous town of Poitiers after an anonymous report and rushed to the hospital. At first, everyone thought she would not survive. Although she subsequently recovered physically, her sanity was never fully recovered. Meanwhile, the world was shocked to learn that the woman, who later became known as the Sequestered of Poitiers, was locked in a room by her own family after she refused to renounce her love for an unsuccessful local lawyer.
Blanche Monnier was an attractive brunette with sparkling eyes who was reportedly popular with several men in town. But much to the dismay of her upper class family, the girl's heart belonged to a lawyer. Members of the Monier family, believing that their reputation would be destroyed if such an alliance was concluded, decided to prevent marriage and closed the young woman indoors. Moreover, her own brother, who was a representative of the local administration, locked her in. However, the imprisonment plan was hatched by Blanche's mother, who was convinced that the girl would soon submit to their will. But Blanche never did.
The lawyer died 16 years before Blanche was released. When the shocking crime was discovered, Blanche's mother was sent to prison, where she soon died of a heart attack, realizing the horror of her crime.
It is also interesting that according to some people, the so-called life "Isolated from Poitiers" haunted the French philosopher Michel Foucault, who grew up in the same city and regularly passed by Monier's house. Already in our time, it has been suggested in a BBC documentary that the philosopher's obsession with imprisonment and madness was inspired to some extent by this horrifying story, which he must have heard as a child and had not forgotten.
6. Kevin Tust
Kevin Tust is a lone hunter, though not in the usual sense of the word. He spent decades alone, freezing his knees for months in the wilderness of Fiordland, on New Zealand's west coast, trying to find and photograph Canadian moose there.
The first attempt to bring moose to New Zealand took place in 1900. Only four were imported, as ten others died during the difficult sea voyage from Canada. By the time they arrived, the four surviving moose were tame, almost like house ponies. During their epic journey, they appear to have become addicted to liver. When they were finally released, only three of them ventured out into the wilderness. One elk lived near the Koiterangi settlement for many years, probably hoping to feast on cookies.
The next batch of Canadian elk was released in New Zealand at Supper Cove, near the Dusky Sound fjord, Fiordland, in 1910. There were only 10 individuals - six females and four males. The moose from this batch took root much better, despite the fact that one female was injured the day they were released, and the other was shot a week later. Without an addiction to liver, these moose soon adapted to their new habitat. Their descendants were often seen up until 1953.
Over time, almost everyone thought that all moose in Fiordland became extinct due to competition for food with a growing population of imported red deer. Nonetheless, biologist Kevin Tust was convinced that a small herd of moose had survived. Since then, he has lived in the wilderness of the Fjordland mostly alone to find evidence that the remaining moose are still living there. His long periods of time alone paid off in some way in 2005, when DNA analysis of several clumps of animal hair found in Fiordland showed that they could only have belonged to the descendants of Canadian elk. Kevin's search for moose continues.
7. Dorothy Paget
An eccentric racehorse owner named Dorothy Paget was an accomplished rider in her youth, but became obese over the years. Weighed 127 kilograms and smoked 100 cigarettes a day, Dorothy ended up looking twice her age. She tried to lose weight to go on romantic dates, but the men, with the exception of a few friends from the racetrack, literally made her vomit. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that she remained lonely throughout her life. When she congratulated her Golden Miller racehorse, winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup and winner of the Grand National, people joked viciously that it was the only male creature she ever had. or kissed. The big wit then noticedthat she kissed Golden "just because he was a gelding."
Although Dorothy could be bossy, intimidating and rude, she also suffered from debilitating shyness. At the racetrack, Dorothy isolated herself from others with a group of caring female secretaries and her trademark uniform - a blue speckled tweed coat (which looked like a tent) and a beret. Sometimes she locked herself in the toilets until the crowds left for their homes, and while traveling on the train, Dorothy bought tickets in the entire passenger car in order to ensure her privacy. She communicated with her staff primarily through sticky notes and preferred to refer to them through a color-coded system rather than by name. In addition to horses, Dorothy was attached to Olga de Mann, the niece of Princess Meshcherskaya. Russian immigrant Meshcherskaya kept a Parisian institution,in which spoiled and rebellious Dorothy Paget had to complete her formal education after being expelled from six other schools.
By the age of 54, Paget was living as a hermit in her home in Chalfont Saint Giles. During this period of her life, she isolated herself with mountains of yellowed copies of the Sporting Life newspaper and placed bets on the phone. She was such a recluse that the bookmakers allowed her to place bets long after the end of the races - they were so sure that she could not know the results due to her isolation. Dorothy slept during the day and worked at night, unceremoniously calling her trainers at late hours. She was found dead, falling on the racing calendar, in the early morning of 1960. The hostess was found by a color-coded staff member. After Dorothy's death, newspapers published caustic articles reviewing her life, prompting Olga de Mann to publicly stand up for her unfortunate friend.
8. John Slater
Former Royal Marine commando officer John Slater is a conspicuous English eccentric with a penchant for long walks on secluded coastlines. After being discharged from military service, on the grounds that “the time came when I lost interest in learning how to kill a person using only my thumbs,” John took up self-discovery after living for months among homeless people on the streets of London. This changed him. He managed to work in dozens of different places, but it always ended in dismissal. At some point, he volunteered to be a human exhibit at the London Zoo for six months in order to raise money for giant pandas. But his offer was rejected.
Later, John decided to set the world record for walking barefoot across the UK - from Cape Land's End to John O'Groats. He ended the journey dressed in brightly striped pajamas, and the Border Collie dog that accompanied him on the road was wearing suede boots. To raise money for charity, he walked the entire coastline of Scotland in just four months. John then built a working car from "old car parts, washing machines, ironing boards, and Coca-Cola bottles" that people threw away. Emotionally distressing, John grew a beard and retired to live in a remote oceanfront cave on the west coast of Scotland, where he stayed regularly for up to four months for 10 years. Twice a day he had to pack his things and run to the back of the cave as the tide came. At night, rats appeared in the cave, which crawled over him when he slept. Unsurprisingly, his wife refused to join him and they eventually divorced. As extreme as it sounds, it looks like John enjoyed living this way.
Once, in an interview with The Herald, he said: “There is a cathedral-like silence in the cave that helps me think. I am an adherent of harmony … calmness. There you understand that the breath of the planet is the same energy that moves these stones, makes your heart beat. John also admitted to his plans at some point in the future to share his understanding of being and share wisdom from the depths of the cave with the world through a large puppet, which he himself sewed and called Muddy the Frog.
9. "Terrible Tommy" Silverstein
Tommy Silverstein is one of America's most violent criminals. After he was imprisoned for armed robbery in 1977 and killed two of his inmates, the sentence was raised to life in prison without parole. After Tommy killed the guard at Marion Prison in 1983, he was promoted to no human contact status. Some human rights activists argue that this violates the American constitution, which officially prohibits "cruel and unusual punishment."
Tommy spent time alone in Atlanta before being transferred and locked in a separate cell in the bowels of Leavenworth Prison for 18 years. Finally, he was transferred to the ADX maximum security correctional facility in Florence, Colorado. A former overseer of this institution once described it as "a pure version of hell." Tommy is now "buried" in his cell behind a soundproof door for 23 hours a day. He eats alone and gets only one hour of rest in a slightly larger cage. Some say this hellish environment is deliberately designed to drive prisoners crazy and make them more accommodating. The harmful psychological effects of solitary confinement have certainly been well documented. Tommy Silverstein claims he survived depressionhallucinations, disorientation, and memory loss. He says he went "beyond what most people can handle psychologically."
At the moment, Tommy has been in solitary confinement for over 30 years. Despite the fact that this is a record for federal penitentiaries, it is surprising that some prisoners in Louisiana spent even more time in solitary confinement. For example, Herman Wallace spent 41 years in solitary confinement and died three days after his release at the age of 71.
10. Christopher Knight
Christopher Knight's classmates described him as quiet, intelligent, and shy. After graduating from high school in 1984, Christopher was interested in computers for a while before leaving for the woods of Maine and not returning. Over the next 27 years, he met only one person - a tourist in the forest. Christopher greeted him and went about his business.
Local residents in those places guessed that someone was secretly living nearby, because their houses were periodically robbed. Over the decades of hermitage, Christopher has committed hundreds of burglaries. He stole sleeping bags, clothes, propane cans, batteries for his radio, and countless food and alcohol. He was caught only after a motion sensor was triggered during another raid on a camp for children with special needs. When arrested, Christopher claimed that his glasses were the only things he had in the first place, and that he stole everything else. The police filled two trucks while clearing his camp.
Apparently, Christopher spent all his time in the woods, playing the Nintendo Gameboy, meditating on an inverted bucket and watching TV, enduring the cold winters, reading every book and magazine he could steal while drinking and listening to the radio. After his arrest, Christopher suddenly found himself in a cell for six people and at the center of a global media storm. He almost became a legend overnight, people wrote songs and poems about him, offered to pay his bill, and girls even offered to marry him.
Christopher Knight declined all offers of interviews and assistance. His lawyer donated public donations to a fund to compensate the victims of numerous hermit robberies. Christopher served several months in jail before admitting that he had a drinking problem. A special program was developed for him to help return to society. Christopher was ordered to attend consultations and check in with the authorities on a weekly basis. However, he did not end up mentally ill, but just wanted to be alone.