Final Words Of Missing Researcher Studying Cannibal Tribe Revealed After Decades-Old Mystery 'Solved'

The final words spoken by a young researcher who vanished without a trace after encountering a tribe once known for cannibalism have now come to light.

This wasn’t just any researcher. Michael Rockefeller was the son of former US Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, which made his disappearance in 1961 a global headline that captured huge media attention.

At just 23 years old, Rockefeller had returned to Dutch New Guinea—today known as West Papua—for his second trip. While his first visit had been met with warmth and acceptance, his second journey ended in tragedy and mystery.

West Papua is still considered a dangerous region for outsiders even today. One TikTok influencer recently found this out firsthand. The area is home to the indigenous Asmat people, who were historically known as headhunters and cannibals.

Despite these dangers, Rockefeller chose to return to the island in November 1961, this time with Dutch anthropologist René Wassing. Wassing would go on to be the last person who ever saw Rockefeller alive.

The pair were traveling by canoe when it capsized about three miles from land. It was then that Rockefeller, struggling in the water, reportedly told Wassing, “I think I can make it.” Those words became the last he was ever known to speak.

Rockefeller was part of one of the most prominent families in the world at the time Harvard University

Although a judge officially declared his cause of death to be drowning, no body was ever recovered, leaving his fate uncertain. Now, historian Carl Hoffman has put forward a different explanation for what may have happened.

"They killed him for these complex historical and cultural reasons," he explained, noting that Rockefeller’s end likely came after he swam back to shore in 1961.

"[In Asmat cosmology] the world needs needed to be balanced and righted, and that balance came from the killing of Michael Rockefeller. It wasn't some blood thirsty thing for them," Hoffman said. "It was just making the world whole, and that was going to reclaim their culture and their power."

Hoffman elaborated further: "I mean, these were people who had been living separate from the world on their own for, you know, 1000s of years, and they had a whole three-dimensional complex civilisation, so much so that, you know, that's why Michael was there to collect their spectacular art, which today stands in the greatest museums of the world."

"This was a culture in which, you know, some in which head hunting was incredibly important, and cannibalism itself was just an is sort of an outgrowth of head hunting. And those things took place in a very sacred, ritualised context."

Reports suggest that even though Rockefeller had shown kindness to the local Otsjanep warriors, the tribe was in no state to welcome visitors. Just before his arrival, five of their men had been killed in a violent clash with Dutch colonial authorities, leaving tensions dangerously high.

Michael photographed with his family, which included New York Governor and former Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) top right

When the tribesmen came across Rockefeller lying weak and stranded on the shore, one is said to have driven a spear into his ribs. Afterward, it’s believed his body was consumed in a ritual act of cannibalism by other tribe members. This disturbing possibility serves as a chilling reminder of the risks faced by outsiders who attempt to contact isolated tribes.

Yet, even with stories like this, some still take reckless chances. Earlier this year, a self-styled travel influencer was arrested after attempting to make contact with a protected tribe, bizarrely bringing along a can of Coke as a gift.