The recluse who became the most famous person in Maine
In 1986 20-year-old Christopher Knight drove his Subaru Brat into the Maine woods stopping only when the road ran out. He then put the keys in the console and walked away forever. He had no gun for hunting game and no fishing gear to fish in the nearby lakes. For the next 27 years, he would speak only a few words to other human beings. He had no plan to stay in the woods, but he did.
His family lived less than an hour away. His parents and two brothers did not know what happened to him. Their son and brother was simply gone.
Knight set up a camp so deep in the woods no one ever stumbled across it. Even an experienced game warden, familiar with the area, couldn’t find it. Nearby were several hundred seasonal cabins and the Pine Tree camp for people with disabilities.
Knight managed to avoid contact with all the people, but not their supplies.
He survived on food and other provisions he stole from the nearby cabins. Processed, shelf-stable foods like canned beans, soup, macaroni and cheese mixes, snacks, cheese, Twinkies, bacon, and crackers were his favorites.
The food he cooked, the camp stove he cooked on, the pans and utensils he used, were stolen. He pilfered personal items like shaving cream and…
