Mystery Endures: Remains Found Not Those Of Artist [audo 3 minutes 36 seconds]
New DNA testing shows that the disappearance of writer, artist and explorer Everett Ruess is still a mystery — despite findings earlier this year that indicated his remains had been found.
The 20-year-old vagabond from California vanished 75 years ago in the steep and rugged canyon country of southern Utah. Ruess has since attracted a cult following passionate about the young man's writing and inspired by his disappearance.
"You can't help but become fascinated by this young man and what he did," says Ken Sanders, a Salt Lake City bookseller who collects Ruess' writing and artwork. "The mystery of what happened to him or who he was overwhelms his life and his legacy ... his love and unbridled passion for untrammeled wilderness, [his] just hedonistic love of the landscape."
Ruess, it seemed, had managed to dissolve into the red-rock landscape he deeply loved.
But earlier this year, writer David Roberts wrote in National Geographic Adventure that human remains found in the Utah desert had been positively identified as those of Ruess
Read entire article at NPR - Weekend Edition Saturday
The 20-year-old vagabond from California vanished 75 years ago in the steep and rugged canyon country of southern Utah. Ruess has since attracted a cult following passionate about the young man's writing and inspired by his disappearance.
"You can't help but become fascinated by this young man and what he did," says Ken Sanders, a Salt Lake City bookseller who collects Ruess' writing and artwork. "The mystery of what happened to him or who he was overwhelms his life and his legacy ... his love and unbridled passion for untrammeled wilderness, [his] just hedonistic love of the landscape."
Ruess, it seemed, had managed to dissolve into the red-rock landscape he deeply loved.
But earlier this year, writer David Roberts wrote in National Geographic Adventure that human remains found in the Utah desert had been positively identified as those of Ruess