"The Long Walk" by Slavomir Rawicz = Hoax

[Colter]

I wanted to make this a thread of its own. Like many of you I read the book The Long Walk and thought it was very interesting. There were, unfortunately, many parts of the book that were clearly untrue, for example the Yeti sighting, his claim that his party walked well over a week across the Gobi Desert without water, etc.

For those of you that didn't see the story, the BBC did some research and determined the story was fabricated. The bottom line is there is no evidence at all that his story is true, and documents proving it isn't.

There are many outstanding and true adventure books out there:
Endurance, the story of Shackleton's Antarctic survival,
The Journals of Lewis and Clark
Alive, the story of the Andes plane crash and survival
Touching the Void, an incredible story of survival in the Andes,
Minus 148 Degrees, the first winter ascent of Mount McKinley
Annapurna, the first ascent of an 8,000 meter peak, without oxygen

And for a true story by one of our own,
Awol on the Appalachian Trail, which rings so true. My favorite AT book.

[Spirit Walker]

The article does say that somebody did what The Long Walk describes. Just not Rawicz. It's still a good book even if it is fiction. Some of the true accounts are a lot less interesting. (i.e. George Sheehan's walk from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska.)

[Rockhound]

Guess were not talking about the novella Stephen King wrote under his Bachman pseudonym. Walk south from Maine and the last one standing gets to live.

[Colter]

The article does say that somebody did what The Long Walk describes. Just not Rawicz. It's still a good book even if it is fiction. Some of the true accounts are a lot less interesting. (i.e. George Sheehan's walk from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska.)

The article just says that someone reportedly interviewed a trio in India who claimed to have escaped from Siberia. It doesn't mean that any part of their claim is true, as Rawicz's fabrication shows. The article says "So the possibility remains that someone - if not Rawicz - achieved this extraordinary feat." (My bold) And of course no one actually did, or could, make the journey as described. No one is actually going to see Yeti's. No one is going to walk for more than a week with no water. The latter part is a key element in the story.

Personally, I think a "non-fiction" book that is a lie is automatically a bad book. It was fraud for him to profit from his book in that way. The title of the book is The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom The truth matters.

There are plenty of good books about true adventures out there. And there are undoubtedly many epic stories similar to Rawicz's that will never be told.

[JAK]

Story telling and listening is an essential part of the human experience.
Accordingly, honesty and modesty should never be allowed to get in the was.
False modesty and fake sincerity can be used quite effectively however.
They kind of up the ante though. They backfire bigtime if the story sucks.

[Snowleopard]

From the comments to the BBC article, a number of Poles walked from the USSR to Iraq and Iran, with at least one who apparently walked from Siberia to Iran/Iraq through Kazakhstan. The route through Kazakhstan is more believable than the route Rawicz supposedly followed, but still very very difficult.

[Spokes]

Ha! Blue Blazin' through Siberia!

Who'da thunk?

[Rain Man]

Doesn't sound to me like a "slam dunk" case, either way. The BBC pretty much extrapolates, and thus guesses. So, in the end, ... who knows?

Rain Man

.

[Colter]

Doesn't sound to me like a "slam dunk" case, either way. The BBC pretty much extrapolates, and thus guesses. So, in the end, ... who knows?

Rain Man

I think it's considerably more than a guess.

Our next find came at the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London, a treasure trove of Second World War memorabilia.

We found Rawicz's military record, which clearly says he had rejoined the Polish Army in Russia. We wondered how this could possibly fit with the story of The Long Walk. ...

The missing link came through documents discovered by an American researcher, Linda Willis, in Polish and Russian archives. One, in Rawicz's own hand described how he was released from the gulag in 1942, apparently as part of a general amnesty for Polish soldiers. These are backed up by his amnesty document and a permit to travel to rejoin the Polish Army.

These papers make it almost impossible to believe that Rawicz escaped, unless there is a case of mistaken identity. However, the name and place and date of birth all match. (my bold)

So there are documents showing his story couldn't be true, and none showing his story is true.

There are parts of his story we know aren't true: in addition to the obvious falsehoods mentioned earlier, he didn't see people wearing conical hats in the Gobi; and to the best of my knowledge the author failed to produce any evidence that his story is true. Combining that with documents from England, Poland and Russia showing he didn't escape at all, but was released? That's good enough for me.

I think the phrase "extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof" applies well to this story. There isn't extraordinary proof for his claim, there's no proof at all.

[The Solemates]

After so many people promoting this book on this website, I bought this book at the end of last year to read. I havent read it - it is sitting on the bookshelf. And now I feel like I wasted my money. You ruined it for me ignorance is bliss i'm sure i'll still read it though...

[fiddlehead]

I enjoyed both books titled "The Long Walk"
The Stephen King (Bachman books) one sticks with me more however.
and of course it is a fiction book.

[Doctari]

Somebody Faking a long walk???
Lying about an adventure???
I am shocked, this has never happened before.

No,

Wait,

Oh Yea, there was Bill Bryson.

Nevermind.

[wcgornto]

I read this book. I didn't believe it until the Yeti came into play. Then I knew it was true.

[the goat]

I read this book. I didn't believe it until the Yeti came into play. Then I knew it was true.

best post in this thread so far!!

fwiw, the bbc's account is just as shaky as slav's.

[Colter]

...fwiw, the bbc's account is just as shaky as slav's.

How so? There's mutually supporting documents vs. nada. He didn't misremember some details. He clearly made some stuff up. The story is incredible. As in without credibility. He must have had asbestos pants.

[wcgornto]

The part about surviving in the desert for days on end on snakes and no water was almost as believable as the Yeti.

[Grampie]

I read the book thru the eys of someone who had thru-hiked. A lot of it I could not believe was true.

[MyName1sMud]

I did read it and couldn't believe it as I was reading...... the whole time I was thinking this is bull***** to myself.

[generoll]

another book you might enjoy is "Alone We Survive", if I got the title right. It's about a Norwegian that had quite an adventure escaping from the germans and getting to Sweden after his espionage ship was sunk by the germans.

Guess I'm gullible, since I believed the "Long Walk".

[Awol2003]

another book you might enjoy is "Alone We Survive", if I got the title right. It's about a Norwegian that had quite an adventure escaping from the germans and getting to Sweden after his espionage ship was sunk by the germans.

Guess I'm gullible, since I believed the "Long Walk".

"We Die Alone" by David Howarth