The Boy Who Walked Into the Void
Utah Desert, November 1934.
Everett Ruess was a phantom. A 20-year-old poet, artist, and wanderer.
He preferred the company of sandstone canyons to people.
He rode into the desert with two burros. He wrote letters home about the beauty of the wild.
He carved his name into the rock walls: “NEMO 1934”. (Latin for “No One”).
And then, he vanished.
Search parties scoured the canyons.
They found his burros in Davis Gulch. They were healthy, grazing in a corral someone had made for them.
The camp was untouched. His food was there. His painting supplies were there.
But Everett was gone.
Theories exploded.
Did he fall? Did he drown?
Or was he murdered?
Years later, a cattle rustler on his deathbed allegedly confessed to killing Everett for his gear. But he was delirious. No body was ever found.
The legend of the “Artist of the Canyons” grew. He became a ghost story.
Until 2008.
An old Navajo man came forward with a secret he had kept for 70 years.
