Alaskan Family Has Lived In Isolation For 18 Years

The BBC has a profile of a family who have lived in isolation for the past 18 years:

http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-39418054

  Quote

Over the past 18 years, only a handful of people have ever visited them in their remote location, 100 miles from the nearest town, Ruby.

Photographer Ed Gold went to meet the Atchleys, who spend 11 months of the year in isolation.

  Quote

Once a year, the family do a huge grocery shop. Their cellar contains more than 1,000 cans of produce, from evaporated milk to tomato paste, alongside staples of rice, sugar and beans.

As well as buying food, they live off the land, hunting black bears, wolves, rabbits, ducks and beavers, and making jam out of rosehips and lingonberries.

"There was the one time I had to shoot a bear when David was gone," says Romey, 44. "Being by myself, I had to skin it, tan the hide and deal with the meat, which took a whole day."

 

The family keep their own time to suit their needs, putting the clock as much as three hours forward or back depending on the light.

  Quote

They generally eat breakfast at 16:30, spending the short winter daylight hours busy with carpentry, cleaning and repairs. After supper at about 22:00, they fill the rest of their day with talking, guitar playing and writing, going to bed around 04:00.

  Quote

If they feel short of money, 52-year-old David will sell tanned hides, build log cabins or take work in the local gold mine, about 100 miles away.

  Quote

However, by living off the land and using solar power, they manage to survive on just $12,000 (£9,600) a year.

I bet you'd make a lot of music being isolated like that...

jealous

fascinating stuff

there was a VICE documentary about a couple who are similarly isolated in Alaska - they were talking about 9/11 and he mentioned that he's never seen footage or photos of the attack but noticed it even at his far-flung homestead because the aircraft he sometimes hears and sees stopped for weeks

  Quote

 

The Atchleys thrive on playing Boards of Canada discography throughout their days work. This is the only form of contemporary entertainment they allow themselves to enjoy. "Original pressings only," David assures.

jk but this is pretty cool. I feel like they're cheating though with the annual grocery trip lol like come on, embrace the full mccandless fantasy

Also, i hate myself for even processing the thought, but: what do they do about the primal need of sexual interaction ??

In all seriousness, i'm sure these people are already on some plane of self-actualization anyways

  On 4/19/2017 at 9:27 PM, BoomTssPhace said:

Also, i hate myself for even processing the thought, but: what do they do about the primal need of sexual interaction ??

 

They kidnap random hikers and rape them to death in their canned food dungeon. Have you never seen a single horror film?!

  On 4/19/2017 at 9:27 PM, BoomTssPhace said:

 

  Quote

Also, i hate myself for even processing the thought, but: what do they do about the primal need of sexual interaction ??

 

Probably not an issue except for the teenage son but even so...Westermarck_effect Your comment also reminded me of this picture I saw on reddit of some dude who found a piece of paper with like hundreds of hand-written euphemisms for jerking off, in alphabetical order to boot, in a rural forest cabin. Life before the internet.

This is a family unit of 3 people, two parents and their kid, and I imagine they have discussed the possibility of their son leaving at some point for work or school. 

I've always been more perplexed about the sex, dating, marriage situation in really isolated towns/settlements, some of which still exist with little outside interaction. For example Tristan Da Cunha has only 260 +/- people and no emigration or immigration for hundreds of years. IIRC the only non-native is a UK civil servant who is changed out every couple years. There are only 9 surnames on the island.

  On 4/19/2017 at 9:45 PM, Amen Warrior said:

 

  On 4/19/2017 at 9:27 PM, BoomTssPhace said:

Also, i hate myself for even processing the thought, but: what do they do about the primal need of sexual interaction ??

They kidnap random hikers and rape them to death in their canned food dungeon. Have you never seen a single horror film?!

 

Sawney_Bean

I'll stick to the concrete jungle I'm used to, thanks.

fuckin poseurs

At first I was thinking "man I hope it's not Papa Pilgrim" (Robert Allen Hale)...then I forgot he died four years ago in our city jail.

The Atchleys actually seem like a family whose experiment in self-sufficient remote isolation has proven successful. Not like a crazy Bible-thumping Frontiersman who doesn't want the family tree to branch out.

i just think the rest of us can be happy with less is all i'm saying, we have our idms and all

  On 4/19/2017 at 9:22 PM, ladalaika said:

jealous

LOL at the shower pic!

  On 4/19/2017 at 9:12 PM, Joyrex said:

The BBC has a profile of a family who have lived in isolation for the past 18 years:

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-39418054

 

 

 

  Quote

Over the past 18 years, only a handful of people have ever visited them in their remote location, 100 miles from the nearest town, Ruby.

Photographer Ed Gold went to meet the Atchleys, who spend 11 months of the year in isolation.

 

 

 

  Quote

Once a year, the family do a huge grocery shop. Their cellar contains more than 1,000 cans of produce, from evaporated milk to tomato paste, alongside staples of rice, sugar and beans.

As well as buying food, they live off the land, hunting black bears, wolves, rabbits, ducks and beavers, and making jam out of rosehips and lingonberries.

"There was the one time I had to shoot a bear when David was gone," says Romey, 44. "Being by myself, I had to skin it, tan the hide and deal with the meat, which took a whole day."

 

The family keep their own time to suit their needs, putting the clock as much as three hours forward or back depending on the light.

  Quote

They generally eat breakfast at 16:30, spending the short winter daylight hours busy with carpentry, cleaning and repairs. After supper at about 22:00, they fill the rest of their day with talking, guitar playing and writing, going to bed around 04:00.

  Quote

If they feel short of money, 52-year-old David will sell tanned hides, build log cabins or take work in the local gold mine, about 100 miles away.

  Quote

However, by living off the land and using solar power, they manage to survive on just $12,000 (£9,600) a year.

I bet you'd make a lot of music being isolated like that...

great pictures,  i suggest people lick the clink

by the way thats me and my family right there, dont tell them but i have a secret shack which i post from thats hooked up to the internet

"People want to know what 18 years of isolation does to you. It changes you. You have time to have more than two thoughts on any one subject. We spend months talking about just one subject because we have time to." - david

that was my favorite quote. 

really cool, thanks

  On 4/20/2017 at 4:20 PM, Salvatorin said:

by the way thats me and my family right there, dont tell them but i have a secret shack which i post from thats hooked up to the internet

solves the sex issue thing as well

I would love to live off the land!

Love this kind of thing, gives me the Proennekes thinking about doing something like that. Ideally, I'd dream of living a life like that but what happens when you like keeping up with new music and the like?

Also, if the chainsaw done broke, you use a fricken' axe right?!

If you could pull a magic lever that dropped them into a major city for one day, would you do this? They'd trip balls on society. 

  On 4/22/2017 at 12:13 AM, QBLA said:

I would love to live off the land!

Yeah me too. Where would you choose, in the sea or in space?