Lost City Myth Lures Man to His Death in Jungle

Lost City Myth Lures Man to His Death in Jungle

In November 1980, John Reed, a 28-year-old from San Francisco, found himself in Barcelos, Brazil. This small village, two days by boat from Manaus, was the meeting point for his lifelong dream. Across from him sat Tatunka Nara, chief of the Ugga Mongola tribe. For John, this moment felt like destiny. He believed he was on the verge of finding the legendary lost city of Aakor.

The Allure of Aakor

The legend of Aakor came from a book called The Chronicle of Aakor by Carl Buger. Buger wrote that Aakor was the capital of a 12,000-year-old civilization, far more advanced than the Incas or Egyptians. Its people, he claimed, were descendants of gods who went underground when Europeans arrived, rebuilding their city and hiding a divine treasure.

Most dismissed Buger’s book as fiction. But John was convinced, especially after meeting Tatunka. The chief, described in Buger’s book with a turtle tattoo, was said to be the only living person who had actually visited Aakor. John saw Tatunka as proof that the city and its wonders were real. He hoped that finding Aakor would mean he could start a new life in the Amazon, never returning to America.

A Decade of Silence

John’s family last heard from him in late 1980. For nearly ten years, they assumed he had found Aakor or another remote village and was simply living out his new life. This changed in the spring of 1989 when John’s sister, Sandy Reed, received a letter from a German detective. The letter stated that German police were investigating the disappearance of John and several other individuals, including a German citizen, who had been drawn to the Amazon by the Aakor book.

The detective believed the book was a fabrication but suspected someone was killing those who sought the city. Brazilian officials were uncooperative, preventing a full investigation. Sandy, unwilling to wait, decided to go to Brazil herself.

A Sister’s Search

In June 1989, Sandy arrived in Manaus. She spent three weeks interviewing locals and contacting Brazilian law enforcement, but found little concrete information. Rumors varied wildly: some said John was seen recently, others that his bones were found, and some claimed he lived with a local tribe. A common thread emerged: fear. When Sandy asked about Aakor, people grew silent and warned her to leave it alone, hinting at danger.

Despite the lack of progress and growing fear, Sandy was haunted by dreams of her brother, who seemed to warn her that Aakor was not what she expected. Running out of money and leads, she heard one final rumor: John had gone into the jungle guided by a local chief named Tatunka. Though intimidated by the idea of finding Tatunka, Sandy eventually left Brazil, but not before visiting Switzerland and Germany to follow up on other leads, all of which proved fruitless.

The Revelation in Barcelos

Determined to find answers, Sandy returned to Brazil in June 1990, this time with a documentary producer and a reporter for safety and support. She traveled to Barcelos, a village that had developed an economy around tourism seeking Aakor and Tatunka, despite its rundown appearance. They found Tatunka’s hotel and met the man himself: a lean, shirtless figure with a turtle tattoo on his chest.

Sandy presented a photo of John. Tatunka smiled, saying he was surprised she hadn’t come sooner. But as Sandy looked at him, something felt wrong. The man before her was not the indigenous chief she imagined. He was Gunther Hawk, a German man who had fled Germany in the 1960s to avoid child support. He had created the entire Aakor legend, including his own identity as Tatunka, to blend in and attract tourists.

The legend, based on Hawk’s fabricated stories, had become too real. Buger’s book turned Hawk into a figurehead, and to maintain his tourist revenue, Hawk needed to keep Aakor hidden. Both Sandy and the German police suspected that Hawk had killed tourists, including John Reed, who insisted on finding the city. Hawk has never been charged with murder and denies harming anyone. John Reed’s body was never found.

Lingering Mysteries

The author of The Chronicle of Aakor, Carl Buger, was murdered in Rio de Janeiro in 1984. Rumors about his killer and motive persist. As of 2024, Gunther Hawk is reportedly still alive in Barcelos, maintaining that Aakor is real, and explorers continue to seek the mythical city.

A Different Kind of Survival

In a starkly different tale of survival and faith, on November 14th, 1994, traveling salesman Dwit Finley was driving his pickup truck towing a camper van up a snowy, icy mountain highway in Oregon. Finley, originally from Los Angeles and new to Montana’s harsh winters, was deeply religious. His faith was tested as his truck slid, eventually crashing into a snowbank that prevented him from going off a cliff.

Miraculously, Finley was unharmed, and his truck seemed intact. However, he was stuck. With no phone or radio, and the road likely impassable due to the storm, he was stranded. He had no food or water, only the camper shell, which offered no shelter or supplies.

Faith in the Wilderness

Despite the dire situation, Finley found a sense of calm, trusting that his prayers would be answered. He used his truck’s heater to stay warm and melt snow for drinking water, carefully rationing fuel. He also began writing letters to his fiancée, sons, and boss, reflecting on his life with gratitude and expressing confidence in his survival.

Days turned into weeks, then two months. Finley remained alive and surprisingly well, despite not eating. He interpreted his survival without food as a sign of divine protection. On May 20th, 1995, a teenager and his girlfriend, driving up the same mountain road, lost control of their own truck and slid into a snowbank.

When the teenager exited his vehicle to assess the damage, he looked up the road and saw another vehicle lodged in a snowbank, matching Finley’s description. The transcript ends before revealing the outcome of this discovery.

Source: They went looking for a lost city in the Brazilian jungle (YouTube)