Haunted Cosmos – Season 6, Episode 4

"FERAL PEOPLE!"

Release Date: December 24, 2025
Hosts: Ben Garrett & Brian Sauvé
Theme: Investigating a world that isn't just stuff.

Episode Overview

In this unusually haunting and philosophical episode, Ben and Brian dive into the legend and reality of feral people—humans found or rumored to live entirely outside society, sometimes among animals, in isolation, or in deliberate withdrawal from community. Using stories from myth, history, and folklore—including the founding myth of Rome, medieval wolf-children, Indian legends, and modern unsolved disappearances—they probe deep questions about humanity, dignity, isolation, and what it means to be made in God's image.

The discussion moves from ancient legends to chilling Appalachian folklore and true 20th-century hermits, even delving into theology: where is the line between man and beast? How does isolation deform or degrade our humanity? Do entire peoples or cultures risk becoming "bestial"? The episode artfully blends dark legend, real-life mysteries, and existential Christian questions, wrapped in Haunted Cosmos’s signature mix of deep seriousness and irreverent humor.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

I. Feral Children and the Founding Myths

Starts at [00:00]

• The Romulus and Remus myth: Ben opens with the well-known story from Virgil's Aeneid—twins raised by a she-wolf, founders of Rome. He suggests this motif appears elsewhere, not just as myth but as “true stories” in the human record.
• Medieval cases from Hesse, Germany: Ben recounts several 14th-century stories where children were found living among wolves. Behaviorally, they acted animalistically—walking on all fours, rejecting clothing or human food, showing loyalty to their wolf families.
  • “[He] groomed himself as canines do, and loathed clothing, refusing it for many months.” – Ben [03:11]
• Similarities in India—Kamala and Amala story: In 1920s Bengal, villagers discover two girls in a termite mound, living with wolves, fully feral, resistant to human rehabilitation, craving raw meat.
  • “[The girls] snarled at anyone who would approach…they even bit at nurses who were tending to their sores.” – Ben [14:45]
• The existential and spiritual questions: The hosts illuminate that these stories raise profound questions: What makes a person truly human? Does loss of community/communion with humans result in loss or deformation of humanity? Is isolation always inherently bad?
  • “Isolation diminishes the one who suffers it. In other words, to withdraw from the world while still living in it…ought never to be the aspiration of the human heart.” – Ben [11:16]

II. Theological Reflections: Man, Beast, and the Image of God

Begins after [31:38]

• Scriptural foundations: Nebuchadnezzar’s transformation into a beast (Daniel 4) is raised as a biblical example of a human made bestial as a curse and lesson.
  • “He lives like a beast, he eats like the grass. He’s on all fours… for a year.” – Brian [30:29]
• Theological debate—how much humanity remains?: Ben and Brian discuss different religious perspectives (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed) on what’s lost after the Fall. The Reformed line: Humanity retains the image of God broadly but not the positive righteousness before God.
  • “The question really is, when does man—if he gives himself over…to being like the beasts—does he ever lose the image of God? The image of God, does he ever stop being man?” – Ben [36:39]
• Bestialization of entire peoples: Paul’s critique of the Cretans (“liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons”—Titus 1) is discussed as suggesting entire cultures can become bestial, though not animals in kind.
  • “Not only can a person go to a point where they become bestial, but…peoples can.” – Brian [37:42]

III. Appalachian Legends, Missing Persons, and the Wild Men of the Woods

Begins at [45:35]

• Dennis Martin disappearance (1969): A real missing child case in the Smokies—intense search, no resolution, a witness seeing a “disheveled, shaggy man” running with something over his shoulder the same day.
  • “The wild-looking figure…carried something slung over his shoulder, a bundle of clothes, perhaps…” – Brian [46:20]
• Appalachia’s “Wild Men” and Wood-Woes: The Appalachian mountains, with deep European (and pre-Christian) legends, are said to harbor feral people—hermit clans, cannibal tribes, solitary madmen.
  • “Every time I think about feral people, I think about the Appalachian wilderness. As a kid, I was always told, there are these cannibalistic tribes.” – Ben [54:20]
• True (bizarre) tales from historic Appalachia:
  • Hermit in the Alleghenies who preserved “whole families” in embalming fluids in cave vats.
    • “I collected those years ago.” – Hermit, as recounted by Ben [54:38]
• Bigfoot and Feral People: Tall tales and missing 411 cases are considered—do some “cryptids” represent humans (or once-humans) gone feral?

IV. Modern Hermits and Voluntary Isolation: The Limits of Endurance

Begins at [63:35]

• Hiroo Onoda—the last WWII holdout: 29 years in the Philippine jungle, refusing to surrender until personally ordered by his superior. While isolated, Onoda was not a misanthrope—his isolation was a duty, not a desire. He returned to society when allowed, never looking back.
  • “Kudos to him for keeping his head…not just think, ‘I’ll do this crusade for the rest of my life no matter what.’” – Ben [77:56]
• How is forced isolation different from self-imposed isolation? Onoda’s story is contrasted with feral children and with Chris McCandless (“Into the Wild”), whose romantic yearning for the woods was escapism, not heroism.
  • “When Chris McCandless made that commitment…it wasn’t heroic. It was actually escapism.” – Ben [82:58]

V. The Lykov Family: Generations in the Wilderness

Begins at [83:12]

• Old Believers’ flight: The Lykovs, a Russian Old Believer family, fled religious persecution into deep Siberia in 1936. They lived more than 40 years in utter isolation.
  • “Not a single member of that family saw another human being for 42 years.” – Ben [92:31]
• Consequences of generational isolation: Loss of immune defenses, archaic speech, death of most family members upon first contact with outsiders—even as their faith and family bonds endured.
  • “For 42 years, they survived on potatoes, rye, hemp seeds and berries. During famines, they ate bark and boiled leather.” – Ben [92:44]
  • “It began as virtue, but by the end, it had become something else…they were content in solitude.” – Ben [93:12]
• Isolation’s ambiguous legacy: The Lykovs’ story raises the core question—when does virtuous withdrawal for safety, faith, or conscience turn into deforming isolation? What are the long-term costs, physically, mentally, and spiritually, of “becoming like the beasts”?

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Philosophical & Theological

• “What happens when life is marked by community’s antithesis? Very little that is good. Isolation is as mysterious as it is pervasive.” – Ben [10:04]
• “Grace restores nature.” – Brian [36:01]
• “There seems to be like a lingering, unseen element inside…that still causes reproduction after their own kind.” – Ben [40:44]

Chilling & Wry

• “You stink. And Indigo Sundry Soap Company will not only help you smell better, it will keep the wolf family that's trying to reclaim you into their pack away.” – Brian [23:08]
• “When you see the commitment of these Japanese soldiers, you realize why…maybe they had to have that level of aggression.” – Ben [79:10]
• “If you’re from Virginia, do you have a collection of human bodies preserved in your basement?” – Brian [58:11]

Hauntology and the Limits of Humanity

• “When you mix this foreboding landscape with the deep well of lore… the terrifying legends start to make sense. For all myth finds its genesis in reality.” – Brian [47:07]
• “It began as virtue, but by the end, it had become something else, for not a single member of that family saw another human being for 42 years…they were content in solitude.” – Ben [93:12]

Important Timestamps

• [00:00-03:10] – Romulus & Remus, world myths of feral children
• [02:21-17:18] – Medieval and Indian cases of wolf children; tragedy and theology of isolation
• [29:30] – Nebuchadnezzar: scriptural example of beast-like transformation
• [32:18-36:39] – Image of God after the Fall: denominational debates
• [45:35-62:00] – Dennis Martin case, Appalachian wildmen folklore, and preserving hermits
• [63:35-80:00] – WWII Japanese holdout Onoda, nature of deliberate isolation vs. victimhood
• [83:12-97:25] – Lykov family: four decades in Siberian isolation, generational consequences
• [92:44 & 93:12] – Reflection on the meaning and risks of “becoming like the beast”

Tone and Language

The episode blends literary narration, biblical gravity, and bantering irreverence. The hosts alternate between carefully written monologues (heavy on image and allusion) and relaxed conversation, full of jokes, references, and asides. They don’t shy away from the dark strangeness of their topics but also offer considered theological and philosophical insight, always keeping it rooted in their Christian worldview.

For Further Thought

• Where is the line between man and beast—behavioral, spiritual, or ontological?
• Can isolation ever be virtuous, or does it inevitably destroy the human heart?
• What does it mean—and what does it cost—to leave the communion of mankind behind?

End with a haunting musical outro:

“Mothman in the skies
Wolfman in disguise
Giant angel cries…
Take Cosmos, save us now
Take our hand, show us how…”