The Man In The Hole
First seen in 1996
The man in the hole is an indigenous man who has lived alone in the Amazon for over 20 years
Believed to be the last member of his tribe
Unknown what happened to his tribe
Probably killed by loggers or ranchers
In 2007 FUNAI made a 31 mile area around The Man In The Hole a protected area
Expanded by 11.5 miles in 2008
The Man In The Hole is understandably wary of outsiders
Given tools like an axe
Seen using the tools that were given to him
In 2009 The Man In The Hole was attacked by someone with a gun
Survived
Called The Man In The Hole because he digs deep holes in every home he builds.
Over 6 feet deep
Used either as traps or protection
In 2018 FUNAI captured footage of The Man In The Hole using an axe to cut down a tree
The Sentinelese
Live on North Sentinel Island just off the coast of eastern India
Technically a part of India
Home to 40-500 people who have resisted contact from the outside world for years
First contact was with the British in 1880
Standard practice for British to kidnap
Found and kidnapped an elderly couple and 4 children
The elderly couple died
In 1967 the Indian government launched an expedition to make contact.
The Sentinelese would flee into the jungle or be hostile
Either dropped gifts in the water to wash up on shore or left gifts on the beach
In 1974 a documentary crew tried to establish contact
As soon as they were in range of the island the Sentinelese shot arrows at them
Landed their boats out of range and left gifts
a miniature plastic car, some coconuts, a live pig tied, a doll, and aluminum cookware
An arrow hit the director of the documentary in the thigh
The man who hit him could be seen laughing before he started lounging in the shade
The Sentinelese only took the coconuts and aluminum cookware
Members of other nearby indigenous tribes have been brought to the island in hope that they’d be able to communicate
These meets never work and almost always turn hostile
A cargo ship crashed near the island in 1981
The crew was evacuated by helicopter after being attacked by the Sentinelese
In the 90s the Sentinelese seemed to be less hostile to outsiders
Allowed boats to land without firing arrows
Meet unarmed
Make hostile gestures to intimidate
Fired arrows without arrowheads
In 1996 the Indian government ended attempts to contact the Sentinelese
There had been deaths in similar programs
Fear of disease
Appeared to have survived the 2004 tsunami
In 2006 two men were fishing mudcrabs nearby
Fell asleep (probably drunk)
Drifted toward the island
Killed by the Sentinelese
Attempt to retrieve the bodies resulted in attacks on helicopters
Indian government decided that this was not a murder
Sentinelese are a sovereign people with the right to kill anyone who interferes with their territory
The Korowai
Located in Indonesia near the border with Papua New Guinea
Approximately 3,000
Believed that they were totally unaware of the outside world until contact was established in 1974
First contact was simple. A scientific team was going through the area when they met 30 men
Basic contact was made and a simple word list was established
Late 1970s a team of Dutch missionaries started to live among the Korowai people
The Korowai were resistant to religious conversion
Several documentary crews made their way to the Korowai
Discovered that they practiced cannibalism to expel witches they call Khakua
Believe Khakua can inhabit someone’s body and the only way to get rid of them is to kill and eat the person
An Australian team working for 60 minutes was approach by a member of the Korowai people who said his 6 year old nephew was going to be eaten because he was accused of being a witch doctor
60 Minutes refused to help but a team from Seven Network sent a crew
Seven Network’s crew ran into visa trouble
One BBC documentary showed footage from 1999 in which the Korowai people were terrified of seeing a “white ghost” and were convinced that it was a sign that the world was ending