We read Merton's Seven Storey Mountain at a theology course at Georgetown. The Jesuit professor mentioned Merton's unusual death. I did NOT know about the individuals reported to have seen him alive last. That's rather bizarre.
Merton seems very Orthodox in Seven Story Mountain, did he remain so the rest of his life? I know he was a Peace Activist and the like, but there is nothing wrong and inconsistent with that.
I wonder if Thailand in those years was notorious,as it is now,as a place for sex with little boys? It would figure,wouldn't it?