Robert E. Harrill had a rotten family life, and wound up in a mental hospital in Morgantown, North Carolina. One day, at age 62, he returned to his home in Shelby, packed one bag, and hitchhiked 260 miles to the Atlantic Ocean. For the next 17 years he lived in a World War II bunker in the salt marshes near the mouth of the Cape Fear River, eating crabs and fish that he caught and paying for groceries with whatever money was brought to him by visitors. That money may have been surprisingly substantial.

Although Harrill was called "The Fort Fisher Hermit," he was hardly alone. At the time of his death, it was reckoned that he was the second most popular tourist attraction in North Carolina. Harrill's self-imposed exile -- 1955-1972 -- coincided with America's fascination with bohemians and back-to-the-land lifestyles. It was cool to make a pilgrimage to ...