• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
One of the last known photos of Michael Rockefeller with the cannibal peoples believed to have killed him

Home> Celebrity> News

Published 15:14 25 Apr 2024 GMT+1

One of the last known photos of Michael Rockefeller with the cannibal peoples believed to have killed him

An unnerving photo depicting one of Michael Rockefellers alleged final moments

Anish Vij

Anish Vij

Michael Rockefeller went missing in 1961 and one of the last known photographs of him shows him with a cannibal tribe.

To this day, what happened to 23-year-old Michael Rockefeller - the son of New York Governor and later US Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and grandson of American financier John D. Rockefeller - is a mystery.

In 1961, Rockefeller and Dutch anthropologist, René Wassing, went on an expedition in the Asmat region of southwestern New Guinea - now a part of the Indonesian province of Papua.

However, seven months into the trip, crisis struck and the 40-foot canoe the pair were on overturned, tossing both Rockefeller and Wassing into the waves.

Advert

While Wassing clung to the boat, Rockefeller allegedly began to swim to shore but he was never seen again.

The death and disappearance of Rockefeller remains to be a mystery, even to this day. (Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo)
The death and disappearance of Rockefeller remains to be a mystery, even to this day. (Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo)

Wassing was later spotted in the Arafura Sea and was rescued, but searches for Rockefeller showed up nothing.

And it didn't take long for theories to begin to develop - one rumor was that he got to shore, whether conscious or not, and ended up being killed by the cannibalistic Asmat tribe.

Advert

And when the National Geographic did a project on the tribe around 10 years later, other theories developed.

Michael C. Rockefeller (1934-1961) adjusting his camera in New Guinea, Papuan men in background. This is one of the last pictures of him alive. (Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo)
Michael C. Rockefeller (1934-1961) adjusting his camera in New Guinea, Papuan men in background. This is one of the last pictures of him alive. (Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo)

One photograph from the project seemed to show one white man rowing with the tribe and it didn't take long for people to question whether it was Rockefeller.

Malcolm Kirk, the photographer who captured the footage, has given his take on the mind-boggling theory and he's a little sceptical.

Advert

He said: "I can’t say I was particularly aware of a light-skinned figure in one of the canoes, but I do recall coming across a reference to an albino male when I glanced through my journal a few weeks ago."

Documentary maker Fraser Heston, whose 2011 film The Search for Michael Rockefeller investigated the disappearance, is more open minded however.

Another theory is that Rockefeller lives amongst the tribe. (Malcolm Kirk/National Geographic)
Another theory is that Rockefeller lives amongst the tribe. (Malcolm Kirk/National Geographic)

He says in the documentary: "This shot of a bearded, light-skinned Caucasian paddling in a canoe full of naked Asmat warriors begs more questions than it answers.

Advert

"The resemblance to Michael Rockefeller, an accomplished canoeist who wore a beard, is obvious."

Commenting on the photo on social media, one person wrote: "Too good to be true, but I really want to believe it."

Although, someone else thought: "I believe they killed him. I don't know if they ate him, but it was known they did that sort of thing."

Speaking about Michael's last photos, Carl Hoffman, who wrote the book, Savage Harvest, on Rockefeller's disappearance, said: "So in that crazy, eerie, strangeness, Michael had photographed the people who would later kill him."

Advert

I guess we'll never know for sure what really happened.

Featured Image Credit: Strand Releasing

Topics: Celebrity, Travel, World News

Anish Vij
Anish Vij

Anish has an MA in Multimedia Journalism and is passionate about delivering sarcastic/mildly amusing content. After studying business at undergrad, Anish realised that he’d much prefer getting paid to rant about a topic, rather than to find a solution to it. Apart from that, he loves the ‘Four F’s’, as he calls it - family, friends, football and food. Email: [email protected]

X

@Anish_Vij

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

14 hours ago
a day ago
  • 14 hours ago

    Pamela Anderson explains ‘horrified’ reaction people around her had when she chose not to wear makeup anymore

    The Baywatch star has spoken openly about giving up her 'glam squad'

    Celebrity
  • a day ago

    Resurfaced footage of Robin Williams making ‘profound’ point about Trump has people saying the same thing

    The actor made some prescient comments about Donald Trump back in 2012

    Celebrity
  • a day ago

    Rapper 4xtra ‘loses fingers’ in fireworks explosion after making disturbing threat in video

    The rapper's 4th of July celebrations went terribly wrong

    Celebrity
  • a day ago

    Johnny Depp finally addresses Fantastic Beasts 'recast' amid domestic abuse accusations

    The actor has spoken out about the time he was asked to 'resign' from Warner Bros.

    Celebrity
  • One of the last known photos of Michael Rockefeller with the cannibal tribe believed to have killed him
  • Inside cannibal tribe suspected to have ‘eaten’ missing millionaire over six decades ago
  • How pilot survived Nepal plane crash that killed everyone else on board
  • Chilling video of woman waving on lake is the last time she's seen alive after mysterious disappearance