Secrets of the Lost City of Z

CBS ^ | 21 Feb 2010 | Anthony Mason

[Palter]

Since the dawn of the modern age, the notion of a pre-historic world, hidden deep in the jungle and untouched by the passage of time, has captivated our imaginations.

Before "Jurassic Park," before "King Kong," there was "The Lost World." Written in 1912 by Sherlock Holmes' creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Lost World" was in turn largely inspired by the real-life adventures of one remarkable man: Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett.

David Grann, a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, says in his time Fawcett was a larger-than-life figure: "Oh, he really was. I mean, he was the last of these kind of great territorial explorers who would plunge into the blank spots on the map, carrying a machete, essentially, and an almost divine sense of purpose."

Grann was researching an article on Conan Doyle when he came across a reference to Fawcett.

"I had typed Fawcett's name into one of these newspaper databases, and up came all these kind of crazy headlines: Fawcett disappears into the unknown. A movie star kidnapped trying to save Fawcett.

"I had never heard of this man, and I quickly discovered there was this legendary figure," Grann said. "And this enormous mystery that had kind of been eclipsed by history. And it really intrigued me."

So Grann started digging. Fawcett, he learned, was an honored member of Britain's renowned Royal Geographical Society.

"He would live in the jungle for years at a time without contact with the world," Grann said. He diascovered stories about "how he'd battle anacondas and electric eels, and how he'd emerge with maps of regions that no one had ever came back from."

[Palter]

Z ping.

[evets]

[stormer]

[Puppage]

I enjoyed River of Doubt much more.

[Defiant]

I think the movie “Up” was about Fawcett.

[JoeProBono]

[D_Idaho]

Any Freeper who enjoys true-life adventure tales would do well to get a copy of “Lost Trails, Lost Cities.” The book is taken from P.H. Fawcett’s notes which were edited by his son, Brian Fawcett. One of my all-time favorites.

[Portcall24]

I thought The Lost City of Z was a great read. Fawcett was the real deal.

[Darksheare]

I swear it isn’t my fault, I left the city right where it was, I didn’t lose it.
/ bad joke.

There’s some interesting radar overhead images of the Amazon junle showing large overgrown cities, erthworks, etc.
Just wish I could recall what website I was on when I saw them!

[BuffaloJack]

Kewl !!!

[wildbill]

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun.

Fawcett, Shakleford, John Ross and John Franklin were much of the same mold—adverturers with a desire to discover fame and fortune via exploration of the Earth’s harshest terrrains.

Here is a famous ballad called Lady Franklin’s Lament

We were homeward bound one night on the deep

Swinging in my hammock I fell asleep

I dreamed a dream and I thought it true

Concerning Franklin and his gallant crew

With a hundred seamen he sailed away

To the frozen ocean in the month of May

To seek a passage around the pole

Where we poor sailors do sometimes go.

Through cruel hardships they vainly strove

Their ships on mountains of ice were drove

Only the Eskimo with his skin canoe

Was the only one that ever came through

In Baffin’s Bay where the whale fish blow

The fate of Franklin no man may know

The fate of Franklin no tongue can tell

Lord Franklin with his sailors do dwell

And now my burden it gives me pain

For my long-lost Franklin I would cross the main

Ten thousand pounds I would freely give

To know on earth, that my Franklin do live.

(alternate: To know Lord Franklin and where he is.)

Category: British folk songs

[SunkenCiv]

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[Monkey Face]

What can I say? He was a wanderer!!

[SunkenCiv]

I guess that explained the tattoo of “Rosie” on his chest.

[Fiddlstix]

You forgot to mention his car that could drive around the world.........