Grave of the Hermit of Deer Island
Biloxi, Mississippi
Jean R. Guilhot, a former barber and oysterman, lived as a hermit on Deer Island after a hurricane destroyed his house in 1947. Sometimes he would row out to passing boats and serenade them with French folk songs. He was reported to have had as many as eight wives before he began his self-imposed isolation, and would only come to the mainland when he needed groceries -- paid for with money thrown to him when he sang. He was a local tourist attraction until he died, age 81, in 1959.
Another hurricane, Katrina, washed away his simple wooden tombstone in 2005. It was replaced with a substantial one of black granite, engraved with his grizzled, hairy face, along with a summary of his fascinating life, in 2013.