#5: Henri Charrière and the Coconut Raft
Henri Charrière’s memoir Papillon describes repeated escape attempts from the brutal French penal system in Guiana, culminating in a supposed escape from Devil’s Island using a sack packed with coconuts as a flotation device. Historians later established that Charrière probably incorporated experiences belonging to other prisoners and exaggerated portions of his own story. Still, his account became one of the twentieth century’s most famous prison memoirs. Sometimes the legend escapes even when historical certainty does not.
