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‘I Don’t See How I Can Go Back To Being A Hermit’: Man Who Lived Alone In The Woods For 27 Years Mourns Loss Of Isolation After Eviction

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A man who lived in a remote cabin in New Hampshire for almost three decades told the Associated Press Tuesday that he doesn’t think he will be able to return to his prior lifestyle after he was recently evicted from his home.

“I don’t see how I can go back to being a hermit because society is not going to allow it,” David Lidstone, also known as “River Dave,” told the AP in an interview. Lidstone, 81, was arrested July 15 for illegally squatting on private property for 27 years and went in front of a judge for his hearing on Aug. 4, the AP reported.

Lidstone told the AP that even if he was able to rebuild his cabin, which was destroyed by a fire on Thursday, he doesn’t see off the grid living possible as he’d have “people coming every weekend, so I just can’t get out of society anymore.”

Lidstone, whose cabin was located on private property along the Merrimack River in Canterbury, told the AP he doesn’t miss living in isolation.

David Lidstone, who grew up in Wilton, Maine, has resisted efforts to leave the cabin he has lived in for 27 years since a judge issued an order for him to vacate in 2017. https://t.co/YNyMXM2u92 pic.twitter.com/OFRGPPNYLd

— Sun Journal (@sunjournal) August 4, 2021

“Maybe the things I’ve been trying to avoid are the things that I really need in life,” Lidstone said. “I grew up never being hugged or kissed, or any close contact.”

“I had somebody ask me once, about my wife: ‘Did you really love her?’ And the question kind of shocked me for a second. I’ve never loved anybody in my life. And I was shocked because I hadn’t realized that.” he told the AP.

“And that’s why I was a hermit. Now I can see love being expressed that I never had before,” he said, according to the AP. Lidstone, a U.S. Air Force veteran and father of four, is still married but remains removed from his family.