![](/uploads/post/key_image/6030/landscape_mccandless2.jpg)
The Longform Guide to Loners
Chris McCandless, Sly Stone, and Ida Wood — a collection of stories going inside the lives of outsiders.
The Last American Man
At age 17, Eustace Conway moved into the North Carolina woods. He hasn’t compromised since.
Elizabeth Gilbert GQ Feb 1998 25min
Everything Was Fake But Her Wealth
Ida Wood, who lived for decades as a recluse in a New York City hotel, would have taken her secrets to the grave—if her sister hadn’t gotten there first.
Karen Abbott Smithsonian Jan 2013
The Boy Who Heard Too Much
Matthew Weigman was blind, overweight, 14 and alone. He could also do anything he wanted with a phone. Sometimes that meant calling Lindsay Lohan. Other times it meant sending a SWAT team to an enemy’s door.
David Kushner Rolling Stone Sep 2009 25min
The Mystery of Erica Blasberg
How could a one-time rising golf star be gifted with top 10 talent yet struggle to break even on the LPGA tour, possess Madison Avenue magnetism yet be such a loner? But the most difficult thing to understand is this: Why did she take her own life?
Alan Shipnuck Sports Illustrated Dec 2010 30min
Death of an Innocent
The tale of itinerant wanderer Chris McCandless. The magazine story that preceded Into the Wild.
Jon Krakauer Outside Apr 1993 30min
Sly Stone's Higher Power
A profile of the reclusive musician.
David Kamp Vanity Fair Aug 2007 35min
The Last Romantic Outlaw
If Charles Brogden pilfered a kitchen, he washed the dishes and mopped the floor before he left. And the law just couldn’t seem to run him down.
Jan Reid, Alan King Texas Monthly Aug 1973 10min
The Strange & Curious Tale of the Last True Hermit
Meeting Christopher Thomas Knight, a.k.a. the North Pond Hermit, who lived alone in the Maine woods for nearly 30 years.
Michael Finkel GQ Aug 2014 30min
Huguette Clark, Reclusive Heiress, Dies at 104
On the mysterious life of an the isolated heiress.
Margalit Fox New York Times May 2011
Aug 1973 – Aug 2014 Permalink