This is a fascinating story about a guy from my neck of the woods. I was watching the news last night, which is something I do less and less these days.
Ferguson, MO is on fire and, as information trickles out, it looks increasingly likely that the spark was simply a police officer doing good police work and protecting himself. Facts are still coming in, but it is certain that the world can be a crazy place.
The next story was about our local legend, The North Pond Hermit, and I found myself becoming increasingly sympathetic to this guy’s lifestyle, as well as increasingly appreciative of just how tough this guy is to spend 27 Maine winters living in a nylon tent.
I pondered the amount of tax dollars we’ve collectively spent financing the lifestyles of people who have no qualms about burning their city to the ground. Then I pondered the petty thievery that the North Pond Hermit committed to perpetuate his lifestyle. It occurred to me that the amount of money this guy would need to live in peace and solitude out in the woods would be negligible.
As a resident of Maine I’d have no problem using tax money to let this guy live in peace, provided he did a small public service like trail maintenance or something along those lines.
Add a squat rack and a few hundred pounds of olympic weights to his isolated wilderness camp and I could see myself checking out of society for a while too.
It’s a fantasy of mine to live that way. Not necessarily the stealing to survive, just to be a recluse who lives off the land. What an adventure.
This weekend I get to spend three days that way (upMaine, even!) and I’m really looking forward to it.
Thanks for sharing the story!
I, too, saw this story this morning, and found it equally fascinating.
I enjoy interacting with people and following sports too much to entirely check out of society, but I do think many of us would be better served by taking a collective chill pill and and “retreating” every once in a while in some way. Turn off the TV, spend some time outside, learn a skill like camping, hunting, fishing, etc.
I found his survival skills very impressive (especially his attention to details like going to sleep early and waking in the middle of the night, when it was coldest, so he’d be moving around), things he obviously just learned along the way in the course of surviving those 27 winters that one can’t learn any other way.
I also found his reaction towards other people interesting. It didn’t seem that he “disliked” people, but nor did he actually “like” anyone else, either; the quotes at the end - “We are not friends” and “I will not miss you at all” - seem very telling. I wonder how he will react to living with his mother and siblings again after so long. I can’t imagine suddenly being thrust back into society after living 27 years entirely off the grid; his only contact with the outside world would have been reading books or magazines, occasionally listening to the radio. I’m even enthralled by the description of his first encounter with police, which would have been the first time he spoke to another person in a decade or more. That must have been something.
Re: the use of tax money to let him live out his life in peace…on one hand, it sets a dangerous precedent, right? Anyone that doesn’t want to deal with people or life can argue they should get the same treatment. On the other hand, if he wants to go back to that lifestyle of his own accord, you’re going to have to use taxpayer money to prosecute him for any thefts and jail him on-and-off anyway, so why not just spend that little bit of cash up front to give the guy some groceries and a space heater or something and let him go back to his old lifestyle (minus the thievery, of course)…interesting to wonder.
I think the author’s line “The breadth of his thievery was impressive. He’d fled the modern world only to live off the fat of it,” summed it up for me. I understand that surviving the cold of a Maine winter is impressive, but that’s only one aspect. It’s not so much a “return to nature” story as it is a “total isolation” story. Seems like he would’ve been just as happy to live in a bunker with a three-decade supply of bottled water and tinned food.
[quote]KBCThird wrote:
I think the author’s line “The breadth of his thievery was impressive. He’d fled the modern world only to live off the fat of it,” summed it up for me. I understand that surviving the cold of a Maine winter is impressive, but that’s only one aspect. It’s not so much a “return to nature” story as it is a “total isolation” story. Seems like he would’ve been just as happy to live in a bunker with a three-decade supply of bottled water and tinned food.[/quote]
This x100. I tried to summarize my thoughts yesterday but ended up deleting what came out to a lame post. This guy basically became a voluntary scavenger alluding to that other thread asking about the morality of “looting.” He wasn’t in a SHTF scenario but decided to skip out. Instead of relying on nature he was relying on other people and did so by stealing.
Honestly, I think he needs to serve time. Whether or not he is an aggressive person is irrelevant, if he was breaking into my house I wouldn’t give 2 shits if he was just some crazy man hiding in the woods. He’s still breaking and entering and should punished as such. Luckily the guy with the .357 didn’t get to him first.
[quote]KBCThird wrote:
I think the author’s line “The breadth of his thievery was impressive. He’d fled the modern world only to live off the fat of it,” summed it up for me. I understand that surviving the cold of a Maine winter is impressive, but that’s only one aspect. It’s not so much a “return to nature” story as it is a “total isolation” story. Seems like he would’ve been just as happy to live in a bunker with a three-decade supply of bottled water and tinned food.[/quote]
This x100. I tried to summarize my thoughts yesterday but ended up deleting what came out to a lame post. This guy basically became a voluntary scavenger alluding to that other thread asking about the morality of “looting.” He wasn’t in a SHTF scenario but decided to skip out. Instead of relying on nature he was relying on other people and did so by stealing.
Honestly, I think he needs to serve time. Whether or not he is an aggressive person is irrelevant, if he was breaking into my house I wouldn’t give 2 shits if he was just some crazy man hiding in the woods. He’s still breaking and entering and should punished as such. Luckily the guy with the .357 didn’t get to him first.[/quote]
Some good thoughts here, but I don’t think anyone who has spent time in the north woods would think that a bunker would provide the same experience. It seems like a lot of folks up my way (lookin’ at you Mighty Matron), are sympathetic to the lifestyle and the lure of the woods, but we all agree the thievery was unacceptable.
But yes, he’s serving time right now, and I think that is just. The issue I see, and that ActivitiesGuy alluded to, is what happens after he gets out and fulfills all of his court-ordered obligations. That’s part of what makes this so interesting to me.
I think it is entirely possible that forcing him to re-integrate into society will end up being a bigger drain on society, not to mention making this guy a miserable bastard. If there is one thing that we have plenty of in Maine, it is unsettled woodland. Just to give you an idea, the Northwest Aroostook is an unorganized territory in the far north of the state that is larger than Delaware with a population of 10.
After giving it some thought, I think the state of Maine should hire him for a very modest salary, let him set up camp on public land and have him count loons, weigh moose shit, take water samples or do some other small tasks that do not require human contact.
He could leave a list of the things he needs and I’m sure a game warden or some other person from the “neighborhood” would be happy to spend his money for him to get his necessary supplies.
He could even build a fire if he wanted.
Nobody’s shit gets stolen, he doesn’t have to live in fear, the loon census will be more robust and it would cost the state less than it does for any of the thousands of people from out-of-state who move here to collect state benefits.
[quote]twojarslave wrote-
After giving it some thought, I think the state of Maine should hire him for a very modest salary, let him set up camp on public land and have him count loons, weigh moose shit, take water samples or do some other small tasks that do not require human contact.
He could leave a list of the things he needs and I’m sure a game warden or some other person from the “neighborhood” would be happy to spend his money for him to get his necessary supplies.
He could even build a fire if he wanted.
Nobody’s shit gets stolen, he doesn’t have to live in fear, the loon census will be more robust and it would cost the state less than it does for any of the thousands of people from out-of-state who move here to collect state benefits.[/quote]
What makes you think he’ll do that?
He never once mentioned WHY he just walked away. He just did.
I honestly think these are the worst kind of people there are. Seems like a less spiritual/hippy version of Chris Mccandless. I detested Chris Mccandless by the time I finished Into the Wild, and I see no reason to like, or even sympathize with, Christopher Thomas Knight.
[quote]twojarslave wrote-
After giving it some thought, I think the state of Maine should hire him for a very modest salary, let him set up camp on public land and have him count loons, weigh moose shit, take water samples or do some other small tasks that do not require human contact.
He could leave a list of the things he needs and I’m sure a game warden or some other person from the “neighborhood” would be happy to spend his money for him to get his necessary supplies.
He could even build a fire if he wanted.
Nobody’s shit gets stolen, he doesn’t have to live in fear, the loon census will be more robust and it would cost the state less than it does for any of the thousands of people from out-of-state who move here to collect state benefits.[/quote]
What makes you think he’ll do that?
He never once mentioned WHY he just walked away. He just did.
I honestly think these are the worst kind of people there are. Seems like a less spiritual/hippy version of Chris Mccandless. I detested Chris Mccandless by the time I finished Into the Wild, and I see no reason to like, or even sympathize with, Christopher Thomas Knight.[/quote]
As unlikely as such a scenario is, it would be his best chance at living his life the way he wants to, minus just taking off and starting it all over again. Now that he knows about trail camera technology, he might be inclined to take such an offer.
McCandless was just a well-read dumbass. That’s why he died within months. Knight survived the elements for 27 years.
And there are much, much worse kinds of people than petty thieves and aimless college graduates.
[quote]twojarslave wrote-
After giving it some thought, I think the state of Maine should hire him for a very modest salary, let him set up camp on public land and have him count loons, weigh moose shit, take water samples or do some other small tasks that do not require human contact.
He could leave a list of the things he needs and I’m sure a game warden or some other person from the “neighborhood” would be happy to spend his money for him to get his necessary supplies.
He could even build a fire if he wanted.
Nobody’s shit gets stolen, he doesn’t have to live in fear, the loon census will be more robust and it would cost the state less than it does for any of the thousands of people from out-of-state who move here to collect state benefits.[/quote]
What makes you think he’ll do that?
He never once mentioned WHY he just walked away. He just did.
I honestly think these are the worst kind of people there are. Seems like a less spiritual/hippy version of Chris Mccandless. I detested Chris Mccandless by the time I finished Into the Wild, and I see no reason to like, or even sympathize with, Christopher Thomas Knight.[/quote]
you hate some guy who did nothing to anyone? (McCandless)
I hate him PRECISELY because he did nothing to anyone.
Knight survived by stealing for 27 years. I’m pretty sure McCandless could have survived too if he wasn’t a dumbass who went into an remote part of Alaska and instead went into Maine and lived close enough to people that he could steal from them…
[quote]magick wrote:
I hate him PRECISELY because he did nothing to anyone.
Knight survived by stealing for 27 years. I’m pretty sure McCandless could have survived too if he wasn’t a dumbass who went into an remote part of Alaska and instead went into Maine and lived close enough to people that he could steal from them…[/quote]
[quote]magick wrote:
I hate him PRECISELY because he did nothing to anyone.
Knight survived by stealing for 27 years. I’m pretty sure McCandless could have survived too if he wasn’t a dumbass who went into an remote part of Alaska and instead went into Maine and lived close enough to people that he could steal from them…[/quote]
I find that peculiar, to hate someone like that.
I do not think McCandless would have lasted a winter in Maine, not the way Knight did. -20 to -40 degree nights would have sent him right back to civilization and on to his next poorly planned adventure.
Knight definitely stole to survive, but it took a helluva lot of grit as well. Winters with no fire for 27 years, thats just incredible.
The parallels between the two are really quite few, in my opinion.
I understand magick’s general point - that someone who bails on society is kind of a black hole of a personality, and I’ll even concede that this guy stole plenty of food over a long period to sustain himself - but saying that this guy is “the worst kind of person there is” has left the plane of reasonable thought.
Serial killers?
Terrorists?
Someone that lives alone in the woods and breaks into homes at night to steal candy and batteries is worse than that?
I understand magick’s general point - that someone who bails on society is kind of a black hole of a personality, and I’ll even concede that this guy stole plenty of food over a long period to sustain himself - but saying that this guy is “the worst kind of person there is” has left the plane of reasonable thought.
Serial killers?
Terrorists?
Someone that lives alone in the woods and breaks into homes at night to steal candy and batteries is worse than that?
Please.[/quote]
I believe they are the worst kind of people because, afaik, they feel that their selfish needs and desires override all else.
Coincidentally, I generally include serial killers and terrorists and other such people in that list.
If you’re not clear about why I said something, ask me. Don’t go posting an idiotic video like Aggv.
[quote]twojarslave wrote:
I find that peculiar, to hate someone like that.
I do not think McCandless would have lasted a winter in Maine, not the way Knight did. -20 to -40 degree nights would have sent him right back to civilization and on to his next poorly planned adventure.
Knight definitely stole to survive, but it took a helluva lot of grit as well. Winters with no fire for 27 years, thats just incredible.
The parallels between the two are really quite few, in my opinion.[/quote]
Why does it matter that he has grit? Why does what he did make him sympathetic to you?
[quote]twojarslave wrote:
Knight definitely stole to survive, but it took a helluva lot of grit as well. Winters with no fire for 27 years, thats just incredible.[/quote]
The article did mention propane heat.
May have missed it, but did they ever find his tent? How do we know he didn’t just bounce from unoccupied cabin to unoccupied cabin during his adventures in isolation?
Also, lumping this guy in with serial killers and terrorists is ridiculous. Yeah, he’s selfish, but he removed himself from society in an attempt to get away. Serial killers and/or terrorists thrust themselves upon society and hurt those around them to satisfy their sociopathic tendencies.
Why does it matter that he has grit? Why does what he did make him sympathetic to you?[/quote]
The lure of the woods and the sense of solitude and peace you find there is something I understand. I guess it is something you either get or you don’t.
Knight is an unusual and interesting person who did something extraordinary. Illegal and wrong, but extraordinary all the same. I can admire that.
For an example of someone who did this the right way, you can see the story of Dick Proenneke on PBS when they air Alone in the Wilderness.
