Say the name of the great actress Greta Garbo and one well known phrase immediately springs to mind...... "I vant to be alone."
Back in the Spring of this year a longstanding mystery in the state of Maine was solved.
Maine State Police Photograph
For the last 26 some odd years residents with cottages on the banks of the North Pond near Rome Maine have had their houses broken into and items stolen. The thefts were long believed to be the work of a hermit living in the woods nearby but no one had ever been caught.
Until this Spring when Christopher Knight was discovered on a surveillance camera tape robbing a nearby Summer Camp.
He claims to have walked out of his life and into the Maine Woods in 1986 and has survived that many winters in Maine living in a tent. He hasn't purchased anything since 1986, held a job, contacted his family or had any human contact(save for 1 person in 27 years), and has survived by stealing from homes and businesses near this seasonal lake which is part of the Belgrade Lakes system.
Reaction seems to be all over the place to this guy and what he has done....from some folks wanting to lock him up for life to others who admire him and have sent him money for bail and written songs about him.
What do you think?
If given the choice, could you or would you even consider making a lifestyle choice like this?
Could you walk away from your life and all the people in it never to return?
Or do you think he has a screw loose?
And what penalties should the man suffer for his actions?
While he never harmed anyone physically, he did break the law, and wreak havoc on the area's citizens' emotional and mental states as they never knew when he would hit and who's house would be robbed.
Personally I think he deserves a medal(or a straight jacket-your choice)for living 27 winters in a tent in Maine. lolz
Link to an article HERE.
Sluggy
Back in the Spring of this year a longstanding mystery in the state of Maine was solved.
For the last 26 some odd years residents with cottages on the banks of the North Pond near Rome Maine have had their houses broken into and items stolen. The thefts were long believed to be the work of a hermit living in the woods nearby but no one had ever been caught.
Until this Spring when Christopher Knight was discovered on a surveillance camera tape robbing a nearby Summer Camp.
He claims to have walked out of his life and into the Maine Woods in 1986 and has survived that many winters in Maine living in a tent. He hasn't purchased anything since 1986, held a job, contacted his family or had any human contact(save for 1 person in 27 years), and has survived by stealing from homes and businesses near this seasonal lake which is part of the Belgrade Lakes system.
Reaction seems to be all over the place to this guy and what he has done....from some folks wanting to lock him up for life to others who admire him and have sent him money for bail and written songs about him.
What do you think?
If given the choice, could you or would you even consider making a lifestyle choice like this?
Could you walk away from your life and all the people in it never to return?
Or do you think he has a screw loose?
And what penalties should the man suffer for his actions?
While he never harmed anyone physically, he did break the law, and wreak havoc on the area's citizens' emotional and mental states as they never knew when he would hit and who's house would be robbed.
Personally I think he deserves a medal(or a straight jacket-your choice)for living 27 winters in a tent in Maine. lolz
Link to an article HERE.
Sluggy
27 living in a tent..ok life choice...leaving my family nope couldnt do it. Although I love to see them leave I love to see them driving up the drive also
ReplyDeleteIt would be more amazing if he was able to survive without stealing from others. That's the one point that I really couldn't get past. So he wants to live his life this way but to do so steals from others who are working hard and making a living. He doesn't deserve to be rewarded for this.
ReplyDeleteNo, I could not:
ReplyDeletewalk away from my family.
live without ac
live in woods
live without a few comforts
steal.
It is strange. Just because he is getting support, does not mean he is not a criminal. How much time would anyone else get for stealing a propane tank?
What amazes me is that he could live so close without detection. Do these people never take hikes into the woods? Are they not adventuresome? Do they just stay in their cabins and watch tv all day?
I do think a person would have to have mental health problems to live for 27 years without contact.
While his feat of surviving such harsh weathers is quite commendable, I think that the crime deal isn't flying for me. Just because you want to get away doesn't make stealing any better.
ReplyDeleteAs for the other question... I would walk away from my current life and cut all ties, never to be remade. Yeah, sorry it sounds cruel, cold and calculating, but it's the truth. Live as a nomad? No. In a tent, without a job or things that make a normal life, normal? No. But cut all ties, pick up and move? Yes.
In my opinion the hermit is lazy, disturbed and a thief. Sometimes in life it is necessary to make big life changes. Walking away from your life can be the correct thing to do but resorting to thievery as a way to support yourself is wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe crime doesn't fly with me either. I'm with Tanner. I've always been intrigued with "The Other Side of the Mountain" stories or Swiss Family Robinson, but if you have to steal to do it and cut off all communications... that's just weird. He needs to be locked up in either jail or a mental institute...
ReplyDeleteMaking the life choice to spend his life alone in the woods is one thing, being able to survive Maine winters without modern comfort/shelter is commendable BUT stealing in order to do so? Sorry, just not right. No one has the right to take from others to supplement their own lifestyle (that covers a lot of territory!). Jail time, is my vote. Glad that some of the property was returned to the owners.
ReplyDeleteWell, I was fine until he started stealing. If you can live off the land, GREAT!!! My Side of the Mountains was one of my favorite books as an adolescent, and I spent a lot of time in the woods (some of it in Maine) over the past 40-odd years. I never had to steal to live.
ReplyDeletePeace <3
Jay
I can barely survive walking to the mailbox in the dead of winter. I wouldn't have made it 2 hours.
ReplyDelete