In conversations, people often say that their lives revolve around a circle, sometimes a circle from which they can hardly see a way out.
But for one man, the circle of damnation became literal, a way to atone for some long-forgotten sin that remained in his soul, to forever remind him of the ruin of the possibility of a happy life. As a self-proclaimed realistic version of the being created by Dr. Victor Frankenstein - this man believed that he did not deserve to exist among people anymore, although unlike the ``child`` of the new Prometheus - his ugliness was moral and not physical. Or at least that's what he thought, adhering to some very strict moral principles...
In the North Eastern United States near the Saw Mill Woods area around 1858 Anno Domine, people began to notice a man dressed in rough leather clothes that he had ``tailored`` himself, appearing at regular intervals in certain places. At first, they didn't pay much attention to the strange giant, but after a while they realized that the interval at which he appeared in their place was the same, i.e. 36 days. What they later learned was that the Leather Man (as they called him) moved in a circle of 587 km around the Connecticut and Hudson rivers and always passed by their (and not only their) settlement.
Over time, the silent weirdo became likable to them, so they gave him food and tried to find out who he was and why he traveled to the same places without stopping, for years. In addition to mumbling and strange sounds, the man sometimes said something in French, but they couldn't understand him. And it was obvious that he didn't understand English. He never hurt anyone, on the contrary, he was kind to people despite his gloomy appearance.
Over the decades, the Leather Man became a part of local life, fathers told their children that in so many days the great Leather Man would pass through their settlement. And always the man really passed. He slept in caves and shelters that were strategically placed along his eternal route, he fed on what he found, caught or accepted from well-intentioned people.
No one knew his identity, although many stories and speculations were woven. Until 1889, when for the last time he passed the eternal path outlined in his head for the 360th time and was found dead of the cold due to the unusually harsh winter of that year when his worn-out leather clothing failed to save him. A Bible in French and some letters and objects were found in the cave, but his identity remained a secret.
Later, after he entered local folklore, journalists and researchers tried to uncover the secret.
The most famous speculation was that he was supposedly born in Lyon, France under the name Gilles Bourglet, where he worked as a carpenter. The ordeal began after he fell in love with a certain Margaret Laron and wanted to marry her. Since she was from a wealthy family, her father, in accordance with the values of his time - refused to allow the marriage but still decided to give Gilles a chance by employing him in his tannery. If Gilles managed to make a career in a few years - he would also win Margaret's hand.
The beginning was promising, Gilles progressed well and gained confidence, but impatience was the ace up the sleeve of Misfortune, which had the task of capturing another soul. Gilles wanted to make one final move that would shorten the waiting time for the wedding and that was to invest in buying a large quantity of leather, expecting prices to increase drastically in the coming period. Instead, a new tanning technique appeared on the scene that the factory where he worked did not possess and the value of the purchase instead of increasing, fell by half.
All the savings, the trust, the big money from the owner and the opportunity to marry his love - disappeared as if they had never existed. Unable to face the new reality and the collapse of all dreams - Gilles disappeared from Lyon after a while, and soon from France. The story does not say how he got to the United States, but that is not important. Another version makes him a French Canadian who fled for similar reasons across the border to the United States.
Gilles became the Leather Man, turning the eternal circle in his conscience and in the forests of New York State. Voluntarily lonely for the rest of his life, isolated from the small and large pleasures of life and without hope that a human heart would dare to love him - he went into eternity and into the memory of generations of local people who to this day retell the alleged life story of the completely real Leather Man.
(By Roger Mortis 037)
