Plot Twists From History That Still Surprise People

1. A Gruesome Plot Twist

The local kids swam to the nearby shore. Michael Rockefeller and Renee Wassing did not want to abandon their possessions, however, and stayed in the swamped boat. It was a bad decision. The boat drifted further out to sea, and continued to fill with water until it finally overturned. The duo clung to the hull, as their possessions sank or drifted away. Early on November 19^th, 1961, they were about fourteen miles from shore, and Rockefeller decided he could reach it. He told Wassing “I think I can make it“, and struck off. He was not seen again. If he had waited, he might have been saved along with Wassing, who was rescued the next day. A huge search operation failed to find Rockefeller. He was declared legally dead in 1964, presumed to have drowned, or been eaten by a crocodile or shark. The Dutch colonial authorities knew otherwise.

In a plot twist, Rockefeller had reached shore, only to be taken down by Asmat tribesmen. The Dutch suppressed the information, however, because it made them seem unable to control their colonial charges. Decades later, researcher Carl Hoffman uncovered reports that detailed “who had his head, who had his femur, who had his tibia, who had stabbed him, who had speared him“. Local Catholic priests also wrote at the time that Rockefeller had been killed and eaten by Asmat tribesmen. Hoffman traveled to the region in 2012, and collected further evidence that confirmed Rockefeller’s macabre end. He even confirmed that some Asmat men pictured by Rockefeller were the same ones named in colonial and missionary reports as the men who had stabbed, ended, and eaten him. Many of the Asmat works collected can now be seen in the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Athens-Clarke County Unified Government – Double-Barreled Cannon

Battery B, 4^th US Light Artillery – The Athens Double-Barreled Cannon

Cracked – 6 Secret Plots With Twists Nobody Saw Coming

Daily Beast – Was This Rockefeller Heir Eaten by Cannibals?

Dormandy, Thomas – Opium: Reality’s Dark Dream (2012)

Encyclopedia Britannica – Karl Schulmeister

Hari, Johann – Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs (2016)

History Collection – 37 Historical Items Unearthed by Surprised Construction Workers

History Net – The Checkered Life of War Hero Snuffy Smith

Hoffman, Carl – Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller’s Tragic Quest for Primitive Art (2014)

Home of Heroes – Maynard H. ‘Snuffy’ Smith: You Don’t Have to Be a Saint to Be a Hero

Honolulu Star Advertiser, March 18^th, 2018 – Hawaii Ponzi Schemer and Professed Secret Agent Dies at 76

Los Angeles Times, November 7^th, 1999 – The Rise and Fall of Joseph McCarthy

Malmstrom Air Force Base – Legend of Airman Snuffy: The Maynard Smith Story

History Collection – Remarkable Historic Blunders these People Should be Embarrassed About

Maude, Frederic Natusch – The Ulm Campaign, 1805 (1912)

Military dot Com – The Original ‘Airman Snuffy’ Was Real and a Total Badass

National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force – Medal of Honor, SSG Maynard ‘Snuffy’ Smith

New York Times, September 3^rd, 1985 – CIA Officers Testify at Hawaii Fraud Trial

New Zealand History Online – Sydney Ross

Radio New Zealand – Nazi Hoax: The Story of Syd Ross

Security and Surveillance History Series, 2018/1 – A Formidable Responsibility: The Rise and Fall of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Bureau 1940-1945

Smithsonian Magazine, March, 2014 – What Really Happened to Michael Rockefeller

We Are the Mighty – This Is the Story of the Civil War’s Only Double-Barrel Cannon