"Naked" Joe Knowles, Naked and Afraid reality star...... From 1913
August 4th 1913, Joe Knowles walked into the woods in Maine to prove that modern man could still survive.....as they had to 1000's of years.
Quite a story.....8 weeks naked and afraid......and wrote about it.
By Bill Donahue:
One hundred years ago, Joe Knowles stripped down to his jockstrap, said goodbye to civilization, and marched off into the woods to prove his survival skills. He was the reality star of his day. For eight weeks, rapt readers followed his adventures in the Boston Post, for whom he was filing stories on birch bark. When he finally staggered out of the wild, looking like a holdover from the Stone Age, he returned home to a hero’s welcome. That’s when things got interesting.
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/a...ure-man-woods/
Largely forgotten, but bring to mind today "survivor experts", and those that run away to the wilderness......
Or not?....seems to be some conversely as to the truthfulness of the whole thing.....read the later pages....seem he may have been a fraud.
Sound familiar?
Quote>
Last fall, I traveled up to the Trading Post from my home in Oregon, a couple of hours away. I went as a pilgrim. In poring over the dusty troves of old news clippings, I’d developed a warm appreciation for Knowles. He was a dyspeptic coot and a hard drinker, I can’t deny that. He had no stage presence, and he was a liar. But by my lights he was still an American hero. He was like the Great Gatsby. He had chutzpah and grandiose ambitions, and in his own bumbling way he chased after his dreams.
This was related on Mysteries at The Museum.....



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