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An avid musician, John Francis likes to let his banjo do the talking. And at one point, that was the ONLY talking he did. On his 27th birthday, he decided he had to do something really different – to not speak for an entire day. Just a day.

But that one day turned into two days, then a week, then a month. Ultimately, he did not say one word to another human being for 17 years.

That's right: At 27, Francis decided to stop talking, period. And he stuck with that decision until he was 44 years old. "There were about four times when by accident I did speak, when I bumped into someone at the grocery store, and I said, 'Excuse me,'" he told correspondent Susan Spencer.

He spent those quiet years hiking, camping, and making art. He says he really didn't miss conversation. It wasn't working for him anyway. "I would listen just enough to think I knew what someone was gonna say," Francis said. "And then I'd stop listening, which in effect cuts communication."

That feeling of being disconnected went hand-in-hand with something bigger: Loneliness. "I think I was lonely before I started this in the sense that I didn't want to be alone with myself. And that makes you lonely," he said.