Petrov "Petro" Zailenko, a.k.a. Pitro Zalenko, known as the "Hendy Hermit" or the "Boonville Hermit," lived in

Hendy Woods State Park Hendy Woods State Park is a California state park, located in the Anderson Valley of Mendocino County. It is known for its old growth forest, old-growth Sequoia sempervirens, coast redwoods and also provides camping facilities near the wineries ...

in California for more than 18 years during the 1960s and '70s in huts of his own construction consisting of redwood plank

lean-to A lean-to is a type of simple structure originally added to an existing building with the rafters "leaning" against another wall. Free-standing lean-to structures are generally used as shelters. One traditional type of lean-to is known by its Finn ...

s, one of which was located on a hollowed-out tree stump. He subsisted on small game such as

chipmunk Chipmunks are small, striped rodents of the family Sciuridae. Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is found primarily in Asia. Taxonomy and systematics Chipmunks may be classified either as ...

and produce from nearby farms and obtained clothing discarded by others.

Biography

He was born in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, fought in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and was wounded during the war, then entered the U.S. on a Russian trawler without authorization. He was believed to be a

Ukrainian Jew The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jewish communities have existed in the territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Some of the most important Jewish religious and ...

. Zailenko then went to work in a local mill until asked for his Social Security number. He fled into the woods and lived there for 20 years in what is now called the Hermit Hut. He was terrified of anyone in a uniform, and it was thought that he was afraid of being sent back to Russia. Petro's date and precise place of birth is unknown. He died on August 31, 1981 and his ashes were scattered in Hendy Woods.

References

1981 deaths American hermits Russian hermits Russian people of World War II People from Boonville, California American people of Russian descent Soviet emigrants to the United States Year of birth missing {{Russia-bio-stub