Michael Rockefeller disappeared in mysterious circumstances a few decades ago, and there are a few theories about what actually happened to the millionaire
Stranded at sea on a capsized boat 10 miles from shore, Michael Rockefeller decided to chance his luck, telling his companion, “I think I can make it,” before diving into the shark-infested waters.
Officially, it was the last time he was seen or heard from. Some claim he was almost certainly eaten by sharks. Others believe he was murdered by a remote tribe in a savage act of revenge.
Since then, more than one person has claimed to have encountered the missing American close to where he disappeared, but on every occasion, all they had was their word.
The only possible evidence of Michael’s existence is video footage, showing a man vaguely resembling the explorer with tribal warriors eight years after he vanished.
As the son of millionaire businessman and former US Vice President Nelson ‘Rocky’ Rockefeller, Michael was a member of one of the wealthiest families in the US.
But in the early 1960s, after graduating from Harvard, he headed to Dutch New Guinea, now known as Papua New Guinea, to study the Dani people for a documentary film about the remote tribe.
While there, he became more interested in another tribe, the Asmat. He said: “It’s the desire to do something adventurous at a time when frontiers, in the real sense of the word, are disappearing.”
On November 17, 1961, Michael’s expedition came to a tragic end. He was with Dutch anthropologist Rene Wassing when their 40ft canoe overturned three nautical miles from shore. They were cast adrift for 24 hours after the boat’s engine failed.
Michael’s disappearance has been investigated by many including Carl Hoffman, author of biography Savage Harvest. He claims the then 23-year-old opted to try to swim 10 miles to the Asmat shore.
He reportedly told Rene, “I think I can make it,” before jumping overboard. Rene was rescued the following day, but Michael was never found, despite helicopters, aeroplanes, ships and thousands of people forming the huge search party.
Michael was declared legally dead in 1964, with detectives concluding he had drowned and his body eaten by sharks. But Hoffman disagreed, claiming he had in fact been eaten by PEOPLE.
In the Smithsonian Magazine, he wrote: “He stripped to his undershorts, tied two empty jerrycans to his belt for buoyancy.”
The seas were calm and there had never been a shark attack recorded in the area, casting doubt on those theories.
At the time of Michael’s disappearance, the Asmat people had lived in the villages of Otsjanap and Omadeseep of Dutch New Guinea for 40,000 years. They shared wives, drank each other’s urine and covered themselves in human blood during bonding rituals. Cannibalism was commonplace and ancient stories described how to butcher, eat and honour humans.
Some years before Michael’s disappearance, the Dutch government, in a bid to stop a tribal war in the area, sent armed men to intervene. Five tribespeople were killed, sparking anger and resentment among the Asmat people.
Hoffman believes Michael reached the Asmat shore, where he was met by tribesmen, who killed him as payback for what the killings by the Dutch troops. The Asmat warriors impaled him with a spear before chopping off his head, he said. Finally, they cooked and ate his flesh, leaving the elders to eat his brains.
Disturbingly, his blood was then drained and used for ritual dances and sex acts, Hoffman claimed.
Hoffman spoke to Dutch Catholic priest Hubertus von Peij, who spent years living among the Asmat. A month after Michael’s disappearance, the priest said he was approached by four tribesmen, who claimed to have witnessed the horrifying ceremony.
They told him Michael had in fact made it to shore, encountered a group of warriors from Otsjanep and been killed and eaten.
“Was he wearing glasses?” Von Peij asked. “What kind of clothing was he wearing?” The tribesmen said: “The white man was wearing shorts, but shorts they’d never seen before . . . Underpants.” “Where is his head?”, the priest added. “It hangs in the house of Fin. And it looks so small, like the head of a child,” they said.
The priest told his superior, who was so convinced by the evidence that he penned a long report to the controller, writing in capital letters: “It is certain that Michael Rockefeller was murdered and eaten…”
But thanks to footage from 1969, there remains some doubt over both the detectives’ and priests’ conclusions.
Podcaster Mr Ballen, in an episode about Michael Rockefeller’s disappearance, said there had been been reports of people encountering the American in the jungles of the island some time after he was dead.
He said: “A reporter named Milt Macklin heard from this mysterious Australian person who had actually run into Michael Rockefeller recently in the jungle of New Guinea not far from where he supposedly disappeared.”
Macklin was not able to give a precise location, but he sent several camera crews to track the Asmat.
Some forty years later, a closer examination of Macklin’s footage prompted a new theory. In the footage, a white, naked, bearded man can be seen in a war canoe, among the Asmat warriors.
Mr Ballen said: “You see this canoe come into frame and it’s full of Asmat tribal warriors. This is a war party and they’re making their way presumably into battle with some other tribe.
“But amongst these big strong men is one man who totally stands out because he doesn’t look like the other Asmat Warriors. He is a naked bearded white man who, even though the quality of the film was poorm, totally looked like Michael Rockefeller.”
Almost 65 years later, the mystery of Michael Rockefeller’s disappearance remains unsolved…
