Who is Percy Fawcett and what happened to him?

Over 100 people have entered the Amazon rainforest to find out what happened to the great explorer Percy Fawcett—many decades after he was last heard from—only to never return themselves. What drove them to do such a thing? Who is Percy Fawcett and what happened to him? Let’s dive in.

British explorer and natural-born leader, Percy Fawcett born August 18th, 1867, became obsessed with uncovering the mysteries in the Amazon rainforest. Percy Fawcett’s first of seven expeditions into the Amazon was in 1906, at the age of 39 for the Royal Geographical Society to chart the border of Brazil and Bolivia as an unbiased third party.

Percy Fawcett as a young man finding his way in life

Fawcett attended Newton Abbot Proprietary College. Fawcett’s father, Captain Edward Boyd Fawcett, was born in India. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a British army officer. His older brother, Edward Douglas Fawcett, was a mountaineer, Eastern occultist, and the author of outlandish philosophy and fictional adventure novels.

Fawcett was renowned for his toughness and resilience in the face of adversity. While other men fell to their feet and waited for death in the jungle—he endured, seemingly unaffected by harsh conditions, treacherous terrain and disease. He successfully communicated with tribes known to be hostile, and survived scrapes with jungle animals during his expeditions.

Percy Fawcett the war hero: Awarded the Distinguished Service Order

In 1915, Fawcett volunteered to serve on the Western Front at the beginning of the war in the 25th Division on September 15. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for leading an artillery brigade in France despite being nearly fifty years old. Though he was never officially given the title of colonel, he chose to use it in all future correspondences just the same—a true testament to man who was a legend in his own mind.

After the war, Fawcett returned to Brazil to study local wildlife and archaeology. In 1920, he made a solo attempt to search for a mysterious lost civilization. He was forced to return due to fever and having to shoot his injured pack animal.

Striking out to find the Lost City of Z

After years of struggling to find backers and funding for his outlandish quest, and nearing his 60th birthday, he finally secured the means from a London-based group of financiers known as the Glove. Fawcett, his eldest son Jack, and Jack’s friend Raleigh Rimell, set out from the city of Cuiabá in Brazil for Fawcett’s final expedition. Their mission was clear: to find the fabled lost city of Z, an ancient civilization rumored to lie hidden amidst the impenetrable wilderness of the Amazon.

For Fawcett, the allure of lost city of Z was irresistible. Tales of its existence had tantalized his imagination for years, whispered among indigenous tribes and recounted in centuries-old manuscripts. But it wasn’t just the promise of fame or fortune that drove him forward—it was an insatiable thirst for knowledge, a burning desire to uncover the secrets of a bygone era. Fawcett also believed in the lost city of Atlantis, and thought it was close enough to South America to allow migration and a new line of descendants.

As the expedition delved deeper into the heart of the rainforest, they faced a relentless onslaught of challenges. The dense foliage obscured their path, while sweltering heat and suffocating humidity sapped their strength. Yet, Fawcett’s determination remained unshakable, his resolve unwavering in the face of adversity.

Each day brought new hints of the possibility of ancient ruins hinting at civilizations long since vanished. Clay pots, carved rocks, strange mounds.

Yet, with each step closer to their elusive goal, the dangers multiplied. Hostile tribes lurked in the shadows, their six-foot arrows poised to strike, while deadly predators prowled the undergrowth. Although Percy himself was kind to the indigenous peoples, having written to colleges and family about their mistreatment and torture, he still looked like the men who had committed mass genocide, torture, enslavement, and destroyed their cultural history.

The allure of lost city of Z propelled Fawcett ever onward. Fueled by an unwavering belief in its existence, Fawcett pressed forward, driven by a singular purpose that transcended the boundaries of time and space—and spirituality. Fawcett was known to be superstitious, and believed in signs and omens. He consulted horoscopes, relied on intuition based on mystical beliefs to guide his expeditions.

Journals, letters and correspondences

As time passed, his son who’d been left behind poured over his journals, letters, reports from colleagues—and rumors. It became clear his father had began to spiral into paranoia, shrouded his true locations in code, and had allowed outlandish occult practices to make decisions in the depths of the jungle.

Did Percy Fawcett’s obsession with the occult spiral into a fallacy conjured by mysticism? Was the Lost City of Z but a mirage seen best from a crystal ball?

When his initial expeditions to locate Z failed, he turned to psychic Margaret Lumley Brown, also known as Irene Hay. She wrote a letter to Fawcett explaining he had a special connection to the lost history of Atlantis, its far-flung colonies.

His interest in mysticism and esoteric beliefs may have influenced his worldview and approach to exploration. Percy Fawcett had become obsessed with Blavatsky’s vision of the human past, and considered Z to be an outpost of extraterrestrial gods who’d shaped the course of humanity nearly eighteen million years ago.

In his journals, he described a Portuguese traveler’s account of what he believed to be Z in 1753. It was recorded it on a faded document housed in Rio de Janeiro and described a city of stone with an entrance gate comprised of three great arches adorned with a unknown language. Percy Fawcett wrote to the Royal Geographic Society to express his belief that Z may be an outpost of Atlantis, destroyed by a cataclysm 11,000 years ago. After failed attempts to persuade them, and for fear of losing funding, he kept his innermost beliefs from them. Stories of a 62-foot anaconda snake, a cat-like dog he claimed to see twice and the giant Apazauca spider didn’t help his credibility.

Did Percy Fawcett believe in ancient aliens?

In writings his dependents kept private for decades express his belief that Z was the sacred place where ancient aliens arrived to tweak the evolutionary process to create homo sapiens. Percy Fawcett expected transcendence upon entering the city.

Fawcett was a member of several esoteric organizations, including the Theosophical Society, which explored spiritual and metaphysical ideas. He also had a fascination with ancient civilizations and lost cities, which sometimes intersected with mystical or occult themes in popular culture. Yet Fawcett’s personal theory of prehistory combined Biblical, Classical, and Theosophical ideas.

While Fawcett’s beliefs may have influenced his perspective on the mysteries of the Amazon and his quest to find the lost city of Z, it’s important to note that his motivations were primarily rooted in a thirst for adventure, discovery, and scientific exploration rather than any overtly occult practices or beliefs.

Yet, as weeks turned into months, hope began to wane. Supplies dwindled, morale faltered, and whispers of doubt crept into their minds. Still, Fawcett refused to surrender to despair, clinging to the belief that the lost city of Z lay just beyond the next horizon.

In the depths of the jungle, an unknown tragedy struck. Percy Fawcett’s final expedition party of three brave men vanished without a trace. The world held its breath as search parties scoured the rainforest in vain, their efforts futile against the vast expanse of green.

Percy Fawcett the legendary explorer

Did Percy Fawcett find the Lost City of Z before the jungle swallowed him, his son and his son’s best friend?

A century has passed since he walked in to the great unknown, so entirely convinced an ancient civilization was out there that he risked the life of his beloved son. Their contact sounded as though Raleigh Rimell was too badly injured to walk, and didn’t have much time left. The damn fool didn’t take the offer to head back with the last of their guides when they departed. The most tragic part of their disappearance, for me, is the two pumped-up young men who’d been led to their deaths.

A train romance that could have saved Raleigh Rimell: Why did Raleigh Rimell choose to keep going?

Raleigh had fallen in love on the days-long train ride to start the expedition. From the sound of the letters to heme from Jack, it had become quite serious and he’d become concerned his friend may ditch them to elope—if only he had. then again, what kind of life would he have led knowing he’d left them behind to never see them again? At least his poor mother would not spend her life in grief, clinging to hope that he would be heard from again.

Fawcett’s wife spend the remainder of her life in doubt, in disbelief of their failure, and eventually it drove her crazy. Unable to accept their fate, she clung to reports of white men in captivity and made into slaves by tribes in that area.

A false report of bones that belonged to her husband were examined, and found not to be those of Fawcett. They were inches-shorter than his commanding frame. Years later, the bones were identified as local indigenous remains by the grandson of the deceased.

With the discoveries of the lost civilizations in Mesquita Honduras and more archeological evidence of huge city networks in the furthest reaches of the vast green expanse the story of the lost city of Z is more believable by the day.

Extensive ancient city networks in the Amazon rainforest, are challenging long-held perceptions of the region as sparsely populated by small, scattered tribes. These discoveries have reshaped our understanding of the complexity and sophistication of pre-Columbian civilizations in the Amazon basin.

What would Percy Fawcett have thought about the recent discovery of lost city of Kuhikugu?

One notable discovery is the lost city of Kuhikugu, in the Brazilian Amazon near the Xingu River discovered by archaeologist Michael Heckenberger. Kuhikugu is estimated to have had a population in the tens of thousands between 1250 and 1600 CE. Network of roads, causeways, and dense settlements, suggested a more organized, further-advanced society than previously thought.

Another significant find is the “Geoglyphs of the Amazon,” massive earthworks shaped like geometric figures and animal forms located with satellite and aerial surveys. These geoglyphs, dating as much as 2,000 years ago, challenge the notion that the Amazon was a pristine wilderness untouched by human civilization. Instead, they indicate the presence of large, complex societies capable of shaping the landscape on a monumental scale.

Ancient civilizations once sustained large populations in the Amazonian rainforest

Ongoing archaeological research in the Amazon has revealed evidence of extensive terraforming, agriculture, and landscape management techniques employed by ancient civilizations to sustain large populations in the rainforest. These findings underscore the resilience and ingenuity of indigenous peoples who thrived in one of the most challenging environments on Earth.

The recent archaeological evidence of huge city networks in the Amazon rainforest highlights the rich cultural heritage and complex social dynamics of ancient civilizations in the region, challenging traditional narratives of its history and significance. Soil and satellites are revealing secrets of Ancient Civilizations in the Amazon. Ever-evolving technologies allow scientists to look for clues of manmade terra preta, indicating early agriculture. NASA’s satellites fly over the Amazon daily, collecting data than can detect subtle differences in how light reflects off the trees. They use this data to find photosynthetic activity and biomass differences. Terra preta sites have had lasting effect on forest structure which now allows modern archeologists the ability to map these areas and identify ancient settlements.

To this day, the fate of Percy Fawcett remains shrouded in mystery, his name etched into the annals of exploration alongside those of history’s greatest adventurers. Percy Fawcett’s legacy as an intrepid explorer continues to captivate people around the world. His expeditions paved the way for future generations of explorers and scientists to uncover the secrets of the Amazon rainforest.

I hope this answers the burning question: Who is Percy Fawcett and what happened to him?

I have a personal obsession with great explorers and the Amazon. I’ve designed home goods, apparel, and puzzles of the jungle that harkens the vision of Fawcett.