1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:06,040 Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of IHEARTRADIOZ Elizabeth Z. Yeah, 2 00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:09,920 Speaker 1: you know, it's ridiculous. I have so many things, but 3 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:11,559 Speaker 1: I have one in particular. I was thinking about that. 4 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:12,879 Speaker 1: I was like, waiting to see as I can tell 5 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,639 Speaker 1: you about this. Is it a product mashup? No darn? Yeah, 6 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: but I okay, in my head it was a mashup. Okay. 7 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:24,799 Speaker 1: I thought it was World Dog Snorkeling Championship. I was like, dude, 8 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: I gotta tell Elizabeth there's a World Dog Snorkeling Championship. 9 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: Turns out I just read too fast. Sometimes. It was 10 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:35,159 Speaker 1: the World Bog Snorkeling Championship, which makes a lot more 11 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:36,800 Speaker 1: sense if you think about it, because you actually can't 12 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:39,960 Speaker 1: snorkel in a bog. It's weirder to give a snorkel 13 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:42,520 Speaker 1: to a dog. I think we do. You look anyway, 14 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 1: Apparently people you'll never guess where over in England they 15 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:50,519 Speaker 1: go and they jump in perfectly good swamps and they 16 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: swim around for competition. Yeah, and they only do that 17 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: like though it's about like a two hundred foot stretch 18 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: of bog. And then the rules are you wear a 19 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 1: snorkel like scuba diving and then you just swim through 20 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,800 Speaker 1: the swamp and then whoever swims through the swamp facets 21 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:08,400 Speaker 1: with the snorkel, I guess then they throw fruit at them. 22 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:10,399 Speaker 1: I don't know, something they win, I don't know whatever, 23 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:13,480 Speaker 1: But apparently is also a triathlon where you can do 24 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: a five mile run, a twelve mile mountain bike ride, 25 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: and then the bog swim. Anyway, so yeah, there's a 26 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 1: there's a whole thing. I'm gonna be doing this August 27 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,520 Speaker 1: twenty third of this year. I'm gonna go over. Okay, 28 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:29,680 Speaker 1: I'm training now. I got the shin kicking training going 29 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:31,760 Speaker 1: with my shin kicking Master. So now I just got 30 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:34,160 Speaker 1: to get a bog swimmer can teach me the ways 31 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:36,399 Speaker 1: of how I like forget that I'm in a swamp 32 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:37,720 Speaker 1: or whatever it is it you have to do a 33 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 1: train Well, I hope they don't lose the snorkel. It 34 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: could be like you know those bog people all the 35 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:45,520 Speaker 1: like really well preserved remains, you know, Yeah, that's the 36 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 1: anaerobic preservations, Like, yeah, that's great to slip under, like 37 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: join clothes are pretty weld Like there's a girl I 38 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 1: think that they pulled out of the bogs from I 39 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: don't know, like Caveman times. That's the that's the scientific 40 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: you're talking like real more like Pete Mossy Ball their box. Yeah, 41 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: and then they have like the one she has like 42 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: a flower necklace. That was Wow, there's zero oxygen down there. 43 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:10,960 Speaker 1: That'll be me some days, you know, Cass, I should 44 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 1: probably really pick out my outfit then if I'm gonna 45 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:15,680 Speaker 1: go do the box're going right, something that I want 46 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: to live for. I'm thinking sequined speedos. That'll be fun 47 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: for archaeologists of the future. Yes, you gotta gotta think 48 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 1: of them. Yeah, that's ridiculous, Thank you. Do you know 49 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: what else is ridiculous? Hell no, I don't living is 50 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:31,360 Speaker 1: a hermit and surviving on stolen candy. Oh my man, 51 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:54,320 Speaker 1: this is a ridiculous crime. A podcast about absurd and 52 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 1: outrageous capers, heists, and cons. It's always nine murder free 53 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: and one hundred percent ridiculous. Oh you damn right. Have 54 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:05,799 Speaker 1: you ever thought someone was in your house without knowing 55 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:09,120 Speaker 1: about it? Now? Actually, I've never thought that, Like, have 56 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 1: you ever had things go missing that are unexplained? I've 57 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: had weird noises occur and thought it was a ghost 58 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,359 Speaker 1: before I thought it was a living person, so I'm 59 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: not the right person to ask about this. My my 60 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: mom had a dog years ago named Lucy, okay, and 61 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: Lucy was like a big old hound dog. She's dumber 62 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:31,359 Speaker 1: and cheese like. She was not a smart way down 63 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: like yogurt super smart smart sutured w um. So anyway, 64 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: so Lucy the hound dog kleptomaniac okay, And like, my 65 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: mom had a neighbor who maybe wasn't like the sharpest 66 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 1: of wits thanks to the drink and like anything else 67 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: you could find. So Lucy started sneaking over to this 68 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: guy's yard and taking things, like first it was a 69 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 1: ball cap and then my mom just like went around 70 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: and put it on the guy's mailbox and like didn't 71 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:00,480 Speaker 1: say anything. Um. Then she turns up with a pack 72 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: of smokes and like people shouldn't smoke, So my mom 73 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: threw the pack away. And then meanwhile, like the guy's 74 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: kind of losing what little since he has, think like 75 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:12,240 Speaker 1: where did I leave all this stuff? So then Lucy 76 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 1: shows up one day in the yard with a single 77 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: raw chicken wing. All right, he was grilling. Yeah, I 78 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:21,479 Speaker 1: think he was like trying to grill up a wing. 79 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 1: Like Parker posey and waiting for Guffman. Yeah, my favorite 80 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:26,320 Speaker 1: scene anyway, And that's a shout out to rude dude 81 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 1: Phineas Gage Instagram and their lovely wife. The two of 82 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:33,800 Speaker 1: them are Guffman obsessive. Oh I like it anyway. So 83 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:35,120 Speaker 1: so when did you just show up with like with 84 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,800 Speaker 1: like I don't know, the I don't know the bumper 85 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 1: of well clothes. Long story longer. The dog kept stealing 86 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: things until the man stopped keeping things in his carport, 87 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:50,599 Speaker 1: everything in the car park. Lessons were learned everybody, But 88 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 1: you know, this isn't that uncommon, Not dog stealing cigarettes, 89 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 1: but people finding things going missing with no explanation. There 90 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:00,880 Speaker 1: was a woman in South Carolina, not my mom, who 91 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: was hearing weird sounds in her house, like and then 92 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:06,960 Speaker 1: nail started coming down from the ceiling through like this. 93 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:11,680 Speaker 1: Yeah right, you're getting points of nails. Yeah, and then 94 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:14,719 Speaker 1: like a little bit of insulation was coming through, and 95 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:16,719 Speaker 1: so she thought maybe she had a critter living in 96 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:19,279 Speaker 1: the attic. You would have thought, automatically goes oh, of course, 97 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:22,360 Speaker 1: I'm like probably civil war. Goes well, did she ever 98 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:24,479 Speaker 1: have a critter? So she sends her nephew up to 99 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 1: check and there was a man up there. Huh. In 100 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: her attic there were fastol were fast food cups filled 101 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:34,840 Speaker 1: with his own waist. Oh god. And he had his 102 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:37,800 Speaker 1: bed little bed area situated so that he could see 103 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:40,320 Speaker 1: down a heating vent into the master bedroom. He was 104 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:44,800 Speaker 1: literally crapping where he slept. Yeah, yes, oh man, and 105 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:48,279 Speaker 1: where he ate I suppose. So the cops came, and 106 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: it turns out the lady knew the guy that she'd 107 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 1: broken up with him twelve years prior what he was 108 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 1: about to go to prison, and she ended their relationship. 109 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: And when was he discovered in the attic he'd just 110 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,360 Speaker 1: gotten out of prison two weeks earlier. Wait, I'm a 111 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:07,160 Speaker 1: little throne here. So he's about to go to prison. 112 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:09,800 Speaker 1: She breaks up with him. She's like, this isn't gonna work. 113 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:12,479 Speaker 1: You're going to prison. Goes to prison twelve years later, 114 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: comes out. He's like, I'm just gonna sneak back into her. Hang, 115 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:17,320 Speaker 1: I'm gonna maybe seeping a pick up where we started first. 116 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:19,200 Speaker 1: I'm just gonna sleep into her. I just need to 117 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:22,280 Speaker 1: get about twelve cups of poop. I need to get 118 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 1: her used to my smell. Eighteen bottles a peek and 119 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:27,240 Speaker 1: then she'll she'll be mine. All this osmotically make my prison. 120 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:30,480 Speaker 1: What did he think would happen? Well, there was there 121 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 1: was a lady in Washington State. She called a repairman 122 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:35,760 Speaker 1: and he had to go into the house to fix something. 123 00:06:35,839 --> 00:06:37,839 Speaker 1: And when he was down there, he discovered a dude 124 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:40,560 Speaker 1: living in the crawl space a family of four. Well, no, 125 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:42,160 Speaker 1: it was like a dude. She they didn't know how 126 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:47,800 Speaker 1: long you've been down woman. No, she's like, I don't 127 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:54,479 Speaker 1: know why she needs a date? Better man exow her house. Well, 128 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:56,279 Speaker 1: like he gave out the word like, hey, this is 129 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 1: a place to hang out. No, this is in Washington State. 130 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:00,800 Speaker 1: So they didn't know how long the guy had been 131 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: in the crawl space. But like she told police, things 132 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:05,120 Speaker 1: have been off for a while, like there were weird 133 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:07,720 Speaker 1: smells in her house that she couldn't place. It turns 134 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: out that was the stink of the weed and the 135 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: meth that he was smoking down like a meth addict, 136 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,720 Speaker 1: like losing his teeth and smell just to be creeping 137 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:20,120 Speaker 1: up through your floorboard. Who's smoking? Math? Is that meth? 138 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:23,720 Speaker 1: I smell? Now in another place in North Carolina, there 139 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:26,320 Speaker 1: was a college student who kept finding her clothes missing. 140 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:30,120 Speaker 1: And she and I'm thinking, she's probably okay my roommates, right, 141 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:33,600 Speaker 1: but she's like, no, they don't want my clothes or dots. 142 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: They don't have the fashion sense I do. She's found 143 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:38,320 Speaker 1: like a handprint on the wall. And what did her 144 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:41,440 Speaker 1: roommates say? It's a ghost? So like, were you her 145 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: roommates telling you a lot of us means Razer got 146 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: to be a ghost. So then one day she hears 147 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: a noise. You know how many dead people there are, Elizabeth? 148 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:52,480 Speaker 1: Do you know how many ghosts? I mean, that's a 149 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:57,040 Speaker 1: deep bench forget saying. So she hears a noise, is dead. 150 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:01,680 Speaker 1: I'm just saying, here's annoise. It's coming from her closet. 151 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:04,160 Speaker 1: Her thought, it's got to be a raccoon. Yeah, r 152 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:08,560 Speaker 1: ex boyfriend, right, like x con ex boyfriend. This is 153 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:10,280 Speaker 1: what she This is what she said to Fox eight 154 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 1: News in Greenboro, North Carolina. I'm like, who's there? And 155 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:19,119 Speaker 1: somebody answers me. He's like, oh, my name is Drew. 156 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: And I opened the door and hiss in there wearing 157 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:25,760 Speaker 1: all of my clothes, my socks, my shies, and he 158 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:34,120 Speaker 1: has a book bag full of my clothes probably, so 159 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:36,679 Speaker 1: she had a thirty year old man living in his 160 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:41,360 Speaker 1: closet and yeah, and she was like, so she she says, like, 161 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:42,600 Speaker 1: what are you doing in my closet? He's like, my 162 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:46,319 Speaker 1: name is Joe, And so then she's chatting with him, 163 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:48,040 Speaker 1: like trying to keep him busy while she calls the 164 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:52,400 Speaker 1: cops asking him for fashion advice. Well, what did they 165 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:55,079 Speaker 1: do while they were waiting? He tried on more clothes. 166 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:58,880 Speaker 1: So the cops come and they arrest him and they 167 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:01,760 Speaker 1: charged like this for weird squatting, right, but then he 168 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:04,719 Speaker 1: also had other felonies for other weird stuff that he'd 169 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:10,200 Speaker 1: done beyond. So then there's a guy in Japan, Okay, 170 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: and he keeps finding food missing from his house, and 171 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:15,640 Speaker 1: so he sets up a video camera and he catches 172 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:18,400 Speaker 1: the culprit on tape, and that's where he found out 173 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:21,200 Speaker 1: that she wasn't breaking in, that she was already in 174 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:24,240 Speaker 1: and she's living in a closet and we've been in 175 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:26,199 Speaker 1: there for more than a year. Now. Here's the thing. 176 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: It's from a British paper where I found this and 177 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:31,120 Speaker 1: they kept saying it was in a cabinet, and so 178 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:32,599 Speaker 1: I think that's what they mean like a closet. I 179 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:34,480 Speaker 1: don't think she was climbing up among the glasses in 180 00:09:34,559 --> 00:09:38,079 Speaker 1: the cabinet. She's real tiny. It's just a little little tiny, 181 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:43,680 Speaker 1: like a little box. So um yeah, Now the guy 182 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:45,840 Speaker 1: I want to tell you about today, our main character, 183 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 1: he did something similar, but not just not just not 184 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 1: for a year, not just a year. One day he 185 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: went into the woods with no intentions, no intentions to stay, 186 00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: no intentions to come back out. He just wanted here. 187 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:03,719 Speaker 1: Uncut in the moment awareness. Okay, so he just goes 188 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:06,760 Speaker 1: on a hike one day. I want to I'm done, 189 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:09,240 Speaker 1: I want to be present. Yeah. His name is Christopher 190 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:12,440 Speaker 1: Thomas Knight. He was born in nineteen sixty five to 191 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 1: a working class family in rural Maine, Albion. To be exact, 192 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:20,280 Speaker 1: they had six kids. His dad cleaned tanker trucks at 193 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:23,120 Speaker 1: a creamery while his mom kept the house. Um, they 194 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:25,960 Speaker 1: had like a simple farmhouse, but it was on sixty acres. 195 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:30,720 Speaker 1: Damn right, that's a spread. They weren't rich. Well, he 196 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 1: just worked at the dairy, Like, he didn't keep the 197 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:35,839 Speaker 1: dairy hut. They were super self sufficient and like really 198 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:37,880 Speaker 1: clever with what they had. They had a two acre 199 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:41,560 Speaker 1: garden that they grew food on. Yes, that's a farm. 200 00:10:41,679 --> 00:10:44,640 Speaker 1: That's like my dream. I mean, I just have what 201 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:48,720 Speaker 1: like five raised beds. Um. They built stuff, they fixed stuff, 202 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:50,880 Speaker 1: They made like a little hut in the woods. The 203 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:53,920 Speaker 1: boys did all by themselves. The kids worked really hard. 204 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 1: They were awesome brainiac nerds in school. Um, that's awesome 205 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:00,920 Speaker 1: for from where I'm standing, But the kids at Lawrence 206 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:03,520 Speaker 1: High School in Fairfield, Maine probably didn't get with that 207 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:08,080 Speaker 1: either way. The family were voracious readers. A neighbor said 208 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:10,080 Speaker 1: that their house looked like a library because they were 209 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:13,880 Speaker 1: just books and magazines. Everybody I know. His family was 210 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:18,520 Speaker 1: very reserved and super private. Like I cannot stress that enough, 211 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:22,280 Speaker 1: obsessively private. Most of the neighbors had rarely spoken to 212 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:24,680 Speaker 1: them in like the decades that they live. Next week. 213 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:28,000 Speaker 1: That's more than really private. Yeah, it's like intensely private. Well, 214 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:31,079 Speaker 1: and this is what Christopher later said of his family quote, 215 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:34,200 Speaker 1: we're not emotionally bleeding all over each other. We're not 216 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:38,240 Speaker 1: touchy feely. Stoicism is expected. Okay, I'm with mom stoic 217 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:43,200 Speaker 1: the part, but the emotionally bleeding a way to look 218 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:46,400 Speaker 1: at it. So Chris graduates from high school. In nineteen 219 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:50,320 Speaker 1: eighty four, Olympic fever was sweeping the nation. Oh yeah, 220 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:53,360 Speaker 1: that has the eagle. Oh yeah, but that has nothing 221 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:56,600 Speaker 1: to do with anything I'm telling you about. Okay, just 222 00:11:56,720 --> 00:11:59,520 Speaker 1: needed to get that out. Nineteen eighty four Olympic fever 223 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:07,760 Speaker 1: was sweet been the nation. I can't America's sweetheart. So Chris, 224 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:11,000 Speaker 1: like his siblings, he had really great grades. And just 225 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:14,400 Speaker 1: like his siblings, he went to Sylvania Technical School in 226 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:18,079 Speaker 1: Massachusetts after I graduated, and like his brothers before him, 227 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:21,200 Speaker 1: he enrolled in an electronics course there. He completed the 228 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:24,240 Speaker 1: program and then he got a job like installing home 229 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:27,640 Speaker 1: and car alarm systems. His paychecks from that job earned 230 00:12:27,679 --> 00:12:32,840 Speaker 1: him a car, a nineteen eighty five subru Bratt. Oh wow, 231 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:35,920 Speaker 1: that is an amazing not a truck truck. It's a 232 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:39,120 Speaker 1: bad little scooter right there. He'd only been working for 233 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:41,199 Speaker 1: about a year when he got into his car one 234 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:44,800 Speaker 1: day and just started driving. He drove out of the 235 00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:48,720 Speaker 1: city limits of Waltham, Massachusetts. He headed up the coast, 236 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:51,240 Speaker 1: passing through the sliver of New Hampshire that touches the 237 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:54,960 Speaker 1: Atlantic Ocean. He went through Portsmouth and crossed into Maine. 238 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 1: He went past the Nubble Lighthouse, Zaren. Oh, not the 239 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:02,240 Speaker 1: Nuble Lighthouse, Elizabeth. I cannot tell you how many times 240 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:05,479 Speaker 1: he went through Kennebunk. I know that, but not Kennebunkport 241 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:08,400 Speaker 1: isn't that close to the water. He went along the 242 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:12,800 Speaker 1: rugged coast by Portland, past Yarmouth, Zaren Muth. Yes, I 243 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:14,199 Speaker 1: would have gone. I would have stayed in port He 244 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:20,040 Speaker 1: went past Brunswick and past the Androscoggin River. Who please, 245 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:22,920 Speaker 1: are you kidding me? He headed to the capitol Augusta, 246 00:13:23,559 --> 00:13:26,480 Speaker 1: and he just kept going. Did he go up to Bahaba? 247 00:13:26,559 --> 00:13:30,199 Speaker 1: He made his way along the dense forest surrounding China Lake, 248 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:33,920 Speaker 1: past love Joy Pond, if you can believe that, until 249 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:36,680 Speaker 1: he reached Albion. It's a really good place his hometown. Yeah, 250 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 1: just chill there. Sure well. He looked up and down 251 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:41,200 Speaker 1: the main street as he drove, and then he just 252 00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:43,559 Speaker 1: kept going, Zaron, This man, there's no stopping. Can you 253 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:45,560 Speaker 1: believe it? Like he's just got his foot on the gas. 254 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,480 Speaker 1: I do not doubt Christopher Thomas Knight. The more he drove, 255 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:51,559 Speaker 1: the deeper he went into the wilds of northern Maine. 256 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:54,760 Speaker 1: He just kept going. Until his gas tank was almost empty. 257 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:58,480 Speaker 1: Oh come on, new Jack, throw do it? So hold on. 258 00:13:58,920 --> 00:14:01,720 Speaker 1: So he was right it in Moosehead Lake, not too 259 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:04,559 Speaker 1: far from the Canadian border, when he decided, like, I'm 260 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:06,800 Speaker 1: running out of gas, I'm gonna pull over. He pulls 261 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:09,240 Speaker 1: the brat to the side of the road, like kind 262 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 1: of deep into the bushes on like a little trail. 263 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:14,800 Speaker 1: He grabs his backpack, which was not filled with supplies. 264 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:17,200 Speaker 1: He left his keys in the car and then just 265 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:21,720 Speaker 1: started walking. Okay, And he kept walking and he kept walking. 266 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:24,000 Speaker 1: He would camp somewhere for a little bit and then 267 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:26,960 Speaker 1: head south. And this just was like days and days. 268 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:29,520 Speaker 1: He followed the valleys and the streams like and at 269 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:32,440 Speaker 1: first he was foraging for food. Do we know a 270 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:35,760 Speaker 1: time a year? This is uh no, okay, So he's 271 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:40,600 Speaker 1: foraging for food. He's eating berries, roadkill. Oh god, you know. 272 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 1: And it should be noted that his family never filed 273 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:48,080 Speaker 1: a missing person's report. They were a really quiet family. 274 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:51,720 Speaker 1: I thought that, you know, they're these like stoic New 275 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:54,200 Speaker 1: England stock right, he didn't want to emotionally bleed all 276 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:56,840 Speaker 1: over the cops. Well, it's like they figured, like, okay, 277 00:14:56,880 --> 00:14:59,200 Speaker 1: if my son goes off and doesn't say anything. Well, 278 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:00,880 Speaker 1: he's on some sort of adventure and wants to be 279 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:03,800 Speaker 1: left alone. That doesn't make sense to me, still, even 280 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:07,600 Speaker 1: taking into account the culture, because like, what if something 281 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:09,680 Speaker 1: bad happened to him, either it's someone else's hand or 282 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 1: his own. I don't get it. Yeah, I'm kind of 283 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:14,600 Speaker 1: with you. But at the same time, I do know 284 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:17,840 Speaker 1: that certain families who have taken similar stances with when 285 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:21,880 Speaker 1: a child that they are not surprised does something like this. Yeah, 286 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:23,760 Speaker 1: I could see that they don't. They don't have the 287 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:26,680 Speaker 1: family like you're all on find my friends. No, no, no, 288 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:29,880 Speaker 1: not quite like some people I know. So, um, that's 289 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:32,800 Speaker 1: subru brat he was driving. Yeah, it was just a 290 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 1: year old when he ditched it. There's a new car. Yeah, 291 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:38,040 Speaker 1: it was never discovered. It's pretty much probably still out 292 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:41,320 Speaker 1: there in the woods somewhere. Oh, find my brat wallowed 293 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:43,920 Speaker 1: by the wilderness. I want that like brat with like 294 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:52,360 Speaker 1: a thousand miles on it. Mufferent direction. So he starts 295 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:55,480 Speaker 1: making his way south from Moosehead Lake, and he starts 296 00:15:55,600 --> 00:15:58,440 Speaker 1: stealing food to live rather than eating road kill. Yeah, 297 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:02,560 Speaker 1: he stole corn from gardens. He dug up potatoes. It 298 00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:05,080 Speaker 1: must be like summertime. Yeah, but he's not stealing from 299 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:07,360 Speaker 1: like the houses. He's not stealing pies from window sills. 300 00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:10,000 Speaker 1: I'm sure he probably did that too. First it was 301 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:12,440 Speaker 1: the gardens. Then let's say pies from window sills. Okay, sure, 302 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:14,560 Speaker 1: I live in a hobo world, Elizabeth. Well, that went 303 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:17,560 Speaker 1: on for two years. Two years, and then one day 304 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:20,200 Speaker 1: he found the perfect spot to call home. When we 305 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:22,280 Speaker 1: get back from this break, i'll tell you where and 306 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:46,160 Speaker 1: how Christopher Knight decided to stay. Zaren, we're back. Hey, 307 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 1: you look at us. When we left off, Christopher Knight, 308 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:51,080 Speaker 1: he was making his way through the wilds of northern Maine. 309 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:54,920 Speaker 1: That's right, laid Amy Claude, eating on roadkill, stealing carrots, yes, 310 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:58,840 Speaker 1: probably pies from windowsills, living someone's best life. I want 311 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:00,320 Speaker 1: to make a pie, put it on the wind sile 312 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 1: and see what happened. I'll tell you what. I'll steal 313 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:07,200 Speaker 1: it like you'll go over. And what are they called? 314 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:11,960 Speaker 1: What do they call them squirrels? Anyway? Um? So? He 315 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:14,960 Speaker 1: initially he stayed in an empty cabin. What do they 316 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:19,720 Speaker 1: call them trash? What are those things? A bird? Um? So, 317 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:22,679 Speaker 1: he stayed in an empty cabin once and he was 318 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:24,720 Speaker 1: nervous the whole time, and he didn't think it was 319 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:29,960 Speaker 1: worth it. The whole shelter thing too anxiety producing. Um, 320 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:32,880 Speaker 1: so after that he never slept inside again. That was okay, 321 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:34,920 Speaker 1: Then make a choice and stick with it, man. So 322 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:38,439 Speaker 1: he started out way up by Moosehead Lake. Um, do 323 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:40,960 Speaker 1: you know that's that's where Moosehead beer comes from. I 324 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:43,199 Speaker 1: kind of guessed, had no idea, it doesn't. I just 325 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:48,080 Speaker 1: made that Noway, No, I just made it up. Anyway. 326 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:50,439 Speaker 1: He moved south and then he reached an area that 327 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:52,320 Speaker 1: felt like a little more familiar to him, like he 328 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:55,840 Speaker 1: understood the trees and the temperature and the flora and fauna. 329 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 1: He didn't know where he was, but he was like 330 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:01,520 Speaker 1: more than a one hundred miles south from where he started. 331 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:04,199 Speaker 1: He was at a place called North Pond. It's a 332 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:07,600 Speaker 1: big pond called North Pond. Ah, that makes sense, but 333 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:10,119 Speaker 1: it's a it's a small river. Yeah, you want to 334 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,239 Speaker 1: in the southern part called North and everyone refers to 335 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:16,760 Speaker 1: it as North. That way, if someone says North Pond, 336 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:21,280 Speaker 1: you know. Well where he left the Brat and dub Brat. 337 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:24,720 Speaker 1: She was riding with him in the car and she's, well, 338 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:28,560 Speaker 1: summon it on the highway. I'm gonna keep going to 339 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:33,360 Speaker 1: Nova Scotia. Your word, that had been completely unpopulated. I mean, 340 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:36,160 Speaker 1: it was just there was nothing out there. Now he's wood. Yeah, 341 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:39,720 Speaker 1: now he's in like a rural farming slash vacation. So 342 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:44,520 Speaker 1: he's back and it's beautiful. I did Google street view 343 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:46,879 Speaker 1: all over the place and it's and it's now that 344 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 1: most of the roads aren't covered, but it's gorgeous. Oh. 345 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:55,480 Speaker 1: I drove all over the place on the click click 346 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:57,679 Speaker 1: click click. I'm just going to look at then I 347 00:18:57,760 --> 00:18:59,640 Speaker 1: pan over look at that. You can see the North 348 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:02,560 Speaker 1: Pond from here. Oh, it's just stunning. You like it 349 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:04,720 Speaker 1: as you can drive slowly and you can no, I 350 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:08,160 Speaker 1: just speed. I jump, I jump, I jump. Okay, So 351 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:11,119 Speaker 1: the woods where he decided to set up shop, they 352 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:15,280 Speaker 1: were really rugged, lots of boulders, yes, really dense under 353 00:19:15,359 --> 00:19:18,760 Speaker 1: that Appealachian style. Yeah. And there were no game trails anywhere, 354 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:22,000 Speaker 1: which told him that this was not a high traffic area. 355 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:26,840 Speaker 1: There were no like stoplights for deer. So he finds 356 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:30,440 Speaker 1: this clearing like a like a round area of boulders. 357 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:33,400 Speaker 1: You can't see my hand and so I'm just making 358 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:36,240 Speaker 1: a big hug of all these boulders in this big circle, 359 00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:38,240 Speaker 1: and you had to kind of go in through a 360 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:41,960 Speaker 1: split between them, so it's like a hinge of rock, correct, 361 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:45,280 Speaker 1: And they are all these big trees over the top, 362 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:48,199 Speaker 1: so it's really shady. He sets in more ways than 363 00:19:48,280 --> 00:19:51,760 Speaker 1: what he sets up camp. He cleared this large area 364 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:53,840 Speaker 1: and he leveled out the dirt as best as he could, 365 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:57,560 Speaker 1: and then he set out to stock up his little paradise. Right, 366 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:02,680 Speaker 1: so he's like refounding America. Pretty nice one man from here. 367 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:06,920 Speaker 1: So the area around North Pond, which is the Belgrade 368 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:11,040 Speaker 1: Lakes area, it's brimming with vacation cabins in summer camps. 369 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:14,440 Speaker 1: Were you writing real estate over here? I want to 370 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:19,000 Speaker 1: go there so badly. It's so pretty, Chris. He's deep 371 00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:21,439 Speaker 1: enough in the woods that summer fun seekers are like 372 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:24,120 Speaker 1: drunken high school students. They're not going to stumble upon 373 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:26,560 Speaker 1: his camp. Oh yeah, But he could get close to 374 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:30,679 Speaker 1: the cabins without being detected easily enough. He'd watch the 375 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:32,840 Speaker 1: cabins to make sure no one was around, no cars 376 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:35,439 Speaker 1: in the driveway, and then he'd creep up, peek in 377 00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:38,240 Speaker 1: the window, try the door and it was from these 378 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:41,240 Speaker 1: cabins that he got himself a tent and some tarps 379 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 1: and a propane stove and some propane tanks and food. 380 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:51,119 Speaker 1: Completely is he like just packing this stuff on his 381 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:54,840 Speaker 1: back in hiking back And then I'll get to some 382 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:58,120 Speaker 1: of his other techniques, so he gets the basics, then 383 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:01,479 Speaker 1: he moves on to close another sub. He stole a 384 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:04,360 Speaker 1: ton of sleeping bags, all right. You know, I try 385 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:06,359 Speaker 1: to understand why his family may just let him go. 386 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:10,239 Speaker 1: It's like he's always been a bit strange. Well, he 387 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:12,240 Speaker 1: needed all the sleeping bags for the winter and the 388 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:15,080 Speaker 1: cold bite. Yeah, yeah, and he only went out at night, 389 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:17,960 Speaker 1: so it and in the dead of winter when it 390 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:20,400 Speaker 1: would get super super cold, he'd get up and he'd 391 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:22,920 Speaker 1: pace around his campsite to keep warm, like he'd turn 392 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,600 Speaker 1: on the propane stove and melt some snow for water 393 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:27,400 Speaker 1: to get all tis because he have like a pet 394 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:31,239 Speaker 1: timberwolf at this point, no traveling everywhere with canon. I mean, 395 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:33,240 Speaker 1: that's what I would be like, Yeah, I know your story. 396 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:36,320 Speaker 1: I'd have like all the woodland creatures exactly. You'd have 397 00:21:36,359 --> 00:21:41,919 Speaker 1: a he never got frostbite, if you can believe it, 398 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:44,280 Speaker 1: And he never got sick because he wasn't around people 399 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:45,919 Speaker 1: to catch a cold. Sure, I get the sect the 400 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:48,960 Speaker 1: frost bite. He didn't have stomach issues. He fell once 401 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:51,840 Speaker 1: or twice, but he didn't break any bones. Okay, he's lucky. 402 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:53,560 Speaker 1: He's not really putting himself out, and he didn't have 403 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:56,200 Speaker 1: any dental emergencies. No, no, it was in good shape. 404 00:21:56,520 --> 00:22:01,320 Speaker 1: He stole books and so many magazines and books like tons. 405 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:05,919 Speaker 1: He managed to swipe a giant collection of National Geographic magazines, 406 00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:09,520 Speaker 1: which he repurposed into the floor of his campsite. Oh wow, 407 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:11,800 Speaker 1: so he leveled off the ground. But he wanted insulation 408 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:15,480 Speaker 1: and water absorption, so he stacked the magazines into blocks 409 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:19,639 Speaker 1: and basically tiled his hideaway with them. Oh okay, super 410 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:22,840 Speaker 1: super smart. He didn't read them, though, because he thought 411 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:27,719 Speaker 1: National Geographic was garbage, and he was a little disappointed 412 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:30,840 Speaker 1: with the literary taste of the cabin dwellers. Like he 413 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:33,280 Speaker 1: would take just about anything they had to read, but 414 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,720 Speaker 1: he felt that they had met too many paperback pot 415 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:38,920 Speaker 1: boilers and not enough of an intellectual challenge. Too much 416 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:42,040 Speaker 1: main Native Stephen King and not enough main Native Edna 417 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:46,360 Speaker 1: Saint Vincent Malay. Okay, so he did have strong literary opinions. 418 00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:48,960 Speaker 1: He thought he thought James Joyce was a total joke 419 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:52,560 Speaker 1: and only loved by fake intellectuals. When he ran out 420 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:55,840 Speaker 1: of stolen toilet paper, he wiped with pages from John 421 00:22:55,840 --> 00:23:01,240 Speaker 1: Grisham novels. He couldn't stand Jack Aroak, but actually he 422 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:04,720 Speaker 1: just couldn't stand people who liked Jack Kerouacay. He was 423 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:09,119 Speaker 1: totally over Robert Frost. Yeah, and he really really hated 424 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:14,600 Speaker 1: Henry David throw with him. Do you know my take? 425 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:17,080 Speaker 1: If your mother and your sister are doing your laundry 426 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:19,280 Speaker 1: and bringing you food every week, that is not you 427 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:23,840 Speaker 1: living alone in a cabin. I don't I heard that, 428 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:26,159 Speaker 1: And I was like, I'm gonna go back. Are you 429 00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:29,200 Speaker 1: kidding me? Are you? Christopher Knight, Because that's like exactly 430 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:31,320 Speaker 1: what he said. He goes on this rant and he's like, 431 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:33,520 Speaker 1: you know, if my mom did my laundry when I 432 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:37,080 Speaker 1: was out in the woods, he had dinner parties the 433 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:40,600 Speaker 1: row did. So He's like, whatever I am, Christopher Knight, brother, 434 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:43,000 Speaker 1: I'm right there. We went into the woods and got free, 435 00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:49,120 Speaker 1: well free stuff. So meanwhile, the folks at row Rome 436 00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:52,880 Speaker 1: is like a large unincorporated area along North Pond, Okay. 437 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: The people there, they felt like they were kind of 438 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:58,199 Speaker 1: losing it. The area had been so safe, no crime, 439 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:01,199 Speaker 1: but now people were finding stuff missing from their houses 440 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:04,040 Speaker 1: and their vacation cabins. They started to talk to each 441 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:07,000 Speaker 1: other and they found they weren't alone, so they wanted 442 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:09,440 Speaker 1: to keep an eye open. But no one ever saw anything. 443 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:13,240 Speaker 1: Stuff just kept disappearing. So a legend was born. The 444 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:17,240 Speaker 1: North Pond Hermit was to blame, gave the name. They 445 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,840 Speaker 1: weren't wrong. Chris was a hermit in all but the 446 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,880 Speaker 1: religious sense. Hermits go away from society as a means 447 00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:26,720 Speaker 1: to get clarity, to get closer to their higher power 448 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,159 Speaker 1: or powers. They renounced worldly concerns and pleasures. This is 449 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:34,160 Speaker 1: very us for some people, and we hear about hermits 450 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:37,320 Speaker 1: and stories fictions. Watch Northern Exposure. Yea, they have a 451 00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:39,600 Speaker 1: great one, Adam, who goes off and does exactly this. 452 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:41,960 Speaker 1: He's the hermit who's stealing stuff, but he's a Gormet chef, 453 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,679 Speaker 1: so he steals like Gormetradians. Go on. There was that 454 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:48,040 Speaker 1: super filthy seduction of a young woman by a hermit, 455 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:51,199 Speaker 1: and Pacaccio is the t Cameroon. Oh wow, did you 456 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:53,560 Speaker 1: know that that section of the book was a northern 457 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:58,520 Speaker 1: exposurecaccio is the camera on the book was so filthy 458 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:01,600 Speaker 1: that it wasn't translated in English until the twentieth century, 459 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:04,840 Speaker 1: and it was written in thirteen fifty. Oh wow, I 460 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:06,200 Speaker 1: got a copy of If you want to break into 461 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:09,920 Speaker 1: we'll do a reading later. So then there's Nietzsche's Thus 462 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:14,680 Speaker 1: spoke Zarathustra. Zarathustra is a hermit who calls time out 463 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:18,280 Speaker 1: on his isolation, pops out of his cave. Society declares 464 00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:21,600 Speaker 1: that God is dead. Yeah, Chris Knight though he was 465 00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:24,639 Speaker 1: in the woods with no interaction or connection with human beings, 466 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:27,359 Speaker 1: but he had no desire to go out and share 467 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,920 Speaker 1: with society the things that he'd learned. What did he learn? Yeah? Please, 468 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:33,119 Speaker 1: what did he learn? Elizabeth? In an interview with writer 469 00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:37,160 Speaker 1: Michael Finkel, he wrote, Michael Finkel wrote a really great 470 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:39,679 Speaker 1: book about Chris Knight called The Stranger in the Woods. 471 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:42,480 Speaker 1: It's a great book. Here's what Chris had to say. 472 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:47,560 Speaker 1: I did examine myself, he said, solitude did increase my perception. 473 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:51,080 Speaker 1: But here's the tricky thing. When I applied my increased 474 00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:55,160 Speaker 1: perception to myself, I lost my identity with no audience, 475 00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:58,280 Speaker 1: no one to perform for. I was just there. There 476 00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:01,920 Speaker 1: was no need to define myself. I became irrelevant. The 477 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:04,720 Speaker 1: moon was the minute hand, the season's the hour hand. 478 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:07,639 Speaker 1: I didn't even have a name. I never felt lonely, 479 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:14,119 Speaker 1: to put it romantically, I was completely free. Wow. It's heavy, 480 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:16,600 Speaker 1: and it's like I'm you. I've read about, you know, 481 00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:19,720 Speaker 1: obviously your diaries from cowboys who experience a lot of 482 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:22,840 Speaker 1: time alone and life alone and out on their own, 483 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:26,600 Speaker 1: and they say things very similarly, not quite so poetically 484 00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:30,920 Speaker 1: or with so much thoughtful and meaningful examination of the self, 485 00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:33,639 Speaker 1: but they get to the same levels of like, you know, 486 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:35,760 Speaker 1: the moon is your our hand, and the idea of 487 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:37,640 Speaker 1: like you know, you don't need a name, and your 488 00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:41,680 Speaker 1: identity merges with the oneness of everything. And it's interesting 489 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:45,400 Speaker 1: how the freedom is the loss of the self. Yeah, yeah, 490 00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:49,280 Speaker 1: somehow the self is the prison. Well, to be irrelevant 491 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:51,560 Speaker 1: is to be free. Yeah. Well. They also goes with 492 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:53,400 Speaker 1: the Buddhists with like, you know, once you have a self, 493 00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:55,119 Speaker 1: you're suffering. Like as soon as you have one, that 494 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:57,840 Speaker 1: that's it. Brother, you are your own prison. This is 495 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:01,080 Speaker 1: wild ugly. So there's Chris. Yeah, living in the woods, 496 00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:06,159 Speaker 1: stealing to survive. He stole himself a nice Columbia jacket. Uh, 497 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:09,520 Speaker 1: he had a little radio, and he stole a lot 498 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:12,320 Speaker 1: of junk food. Was he talking to himself? Because his 499 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:14,480 Speaker 1: language skills are pretty good for someone who wasn't speaking 500 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:17,120 Speaker 1: for not so much. He actually was hard for him 501 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:19,800 Speaker 1: to start talking again. Yeah, could you hear that? So he, 502 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:23,920 Speaker 1: like I said, radio, he did listen to Rush Limbaugh. 503 00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:29,720 Speaker 1: His like entertainment. Okay, um, well know in music, you 504 00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:33,080 Speaker 1: know who he really really loved Leonard skinnerd He was like, 505 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,160 Speaker 1: in a thousand years, people are going to be listening 506 00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:39,639 Speaker 1: to Leonard Skinner. That's what he said. Dead serious. I 507 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:43,680 Speaker 1: mean I would have gone with if you had to 508 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:48,120 Speaker 1: pick the genre. Yeah. Anyhow, so all this junk food, right, 509 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:50,280 Speaker 1: he would really like he got so he really is 510 00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:53,960 Speaker 1: the free bird. Yeah. Sorry, he got crazy into the 511 00:27:54,040 --> 00:28:00,680 Speaker 1: junk food. Flashlights, batteries, rope, chocolate bars, frozen Burritos's this 512 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:07,000 Speaker 1: thing turn on and turn offs, deodorant, boots, duct tape, spices. Okay, 513 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:14,920 Speaker 1: thermometers or as they say, thermometers, hand sanitizer, clothes soap, 514 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:19,399 Speaker 1: which is what I call laundry detergent I do, and 515 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:25,080 Speaker 1: it annoys everybody whatever watches pillows, mouse traps, and these 516 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:26,760 Speaker 1: are just things. We all both know what they are. 517 00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:30,280 Speaker 1: This is what he's stealing. I got this shampoop. He 518 00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:34,639 Speaker 1: would quote unquote borrow a canoe to steal big stuff. 519 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:37,960 Speaker 1: So he would like take a canoe out, steal the stuff, 520 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:40,680 Speaker 1: bring it back, and then he'd sprinkled pine needles all 521 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:42,560 Speaker 1: over it so it looked like it hadn't been moved. 522 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:45,520 Speaker 1: But anyway, he used the canoe to steal a mattress 523 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:49,320 Speaker 1: in a box spring what and a bed frame. Yeah, 524 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:51,000 Speaker 1: so he had that all. He had a bed frame, 525 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:54,360 Speaker 1: mattress and then his tent and tarps. Wow, no wonder, 526 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:58,080 Speaker 1: he's judgment and no wonder. The locals are like goodness, 527 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:02,400 Speaker 1: like my bed's gone. Yeah. So yeah. He kept a 528 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:06,000 Speaker 1: bugout bag with backup supplies away from the campsite and 529 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:07,640 Speaker 1: never in like if he ever got made and he 530 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:10,920 Speaker 1: had to get out of there as winter would approach, 531 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:13,560 Speaker 1: he'd ramp up his supply heist. It wasn't just the 532 00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:16,240 Speaker 1: cold weather that kept him from journeying out in the winter. 533 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:18,760 Speaker 1: He didn't want to leave tracks in the snow. Yeah, 534 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 1: that would lead right back to him. People meanwhile start 535 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:24,800 Speaker 1: getting burglar alarms. Don't forget that Chris's one and only 536 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,960 Speaker 1: job had been installing burglar alarms. So much for that, 537 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:31,440 Speaker 1: so people bought dead bolt locks. They kept guns in 538 00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:33,560 Speaker 1: the house. There was this one guy, Neil Patterson. He 539 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:36,640 Speaker 1: stayed up at night with a three fifty seven magnum 540 00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:39,840 Speaker 1: lying in wait for the hermit. He stayed up for 541 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:44,440 Speaker 1: two weeks straight, every night shoot and then he gave 542 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:46,600 Speaker 1: up because you know, it's like, he can only do 543 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:50,000 Speaker 1: that for so long. The anger only so long. Chris, 544 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:53,800 Speaker 1: he kept stealing and staying one step ahead. One jackpot 545 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:57,080 Speaker 1: for him was the Pine Tree Camp. And here's how 546 00:29:57,080 --> 00:30:00,640 Speaker 1: the camp has described on its website, quote, Tucked along 547 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:03,600 Speaker 1: the shore of beautiful North Pond in Rome, you will 548 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:06,640 Speaker 1: find what, at first glance looks like a quintessential Maine 549 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:10,120 Speaker 1: camp under a canopy of pine trees. Look a bit closer, 550 00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:11,959 Speaker 1: and you'll see why many refer to this place as 551 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,160 Speaker 1: heaven on Earth. It's Pine Tree Camp. Pine Tree Camp 552 00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:17,640 Speaker 1: opened its gates in nineteen forty five as a summer 553 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:21,000 Speaker 1: camp for children with physical disabilities. Over the years, it 554 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:23,520 Speaker 1: has evolved into a place where children and adults with 555 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:27,320 Speaker 1: disabilities are able to participate in all the recreational activities 556 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:30,760 Speaker 1: for which Maine is known all year long. The barrier 557 00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:33,959 Speaker 1: free setting, along with an amazing staff, ensured that activities 558 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,920 Speaker 1: like swimming, fishing, kayaking, hiking, boating, and even camping in 559 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:40,960 Speaker 1: a tent under the stars are all completely accessible to all. 560 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:44,760 Speaker 1: Participating in activities that take people beyond their disability has 561 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:48,360 Speaker 1: a tremendous impact. It builds self esteem and self confidence. 562 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:52,080 Speaker 1: That experience, coupled with meeting friends who understand and experiencing 563 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:57,080 Speaker 1: the feeling of acceptance, is transformational. This blaze sounds amazing, 564 00:30:57,160 --> 00:30:59,440 Speaker 1: and I'm pretty annoyed that he stole from them. So 565 00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:01,600 Speaker 1: I have to admit that I made a donation to 566 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:04,720 Speaker 1: them as I was researching this, because I felt guilty 567 00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:07,000 Speaker 1: about cutting up about it and then finding out that 568 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:12,400 Speaker 1: he took from kids with disabilities. Are you kidding me? Yeah? Whatever? Surprised? 569 00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:14,080 Speaker 1: I mean, like, I'm not going to reck wag my 570 00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:17,080 Speaker 1: finger out him. I liked that he's an equal Opportunities Yes, 571 00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:20,080 Speaker 1: but I was just that's a line to fire. Look, 572 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:23,320 Speaker 1: I'll steal from handicapped children, stand over your grandmother. I 573 00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:25,600 Speaker 1: don't care. I'll steal for anybody. He crossed the line 574 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:29,600 Speaker 1: for me on that, So anybody my favorite Elizabeth. If 575 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:32,160 Speaker 1: you want, you can donate to Pine Camp. Just google 576 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:38,320 Speaker 1: it anyway. Pine Tree Camp was a prime target of his. 577 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:40,520 Speaker 1: Though they okay, if it's repeated, I'm with you. Yeah, 578 00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:42,480 Speaker 1: it was repeated. It was a one time thing. I'm 579 00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:45,920 Speaker 1: not weird. They had lots of supplies. Obviously, I have 580 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:47,640 Speaker 1: all these people. They were going to have tons of food. 581 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:49,880 Speaker 1: They'd been hit by him before, they knew it was 582 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:52,560 Speaker 1: only a matter of time before he came back. They 583 00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:57,240 Speaker 1: did not raise a child army to go after him. 584 00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:01,440 Speaker 1: He would hit properties multiple times, so average about forty 585 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:06,080 Speaker 1: burglaries a year. That's a lot. That's like obviously, you know, 586 00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:08,320 Speaker 1: a little less than one a week or like three 587 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:11,760 Speaker 1: a month. Basic. You know, he's pretty active. It's not 588 00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:14,000 Speaker 1: like he's doing big you know. Anyway, Yeah, I mean, 589 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:16,160 Speaker 1: but that's like I'm just thinking about the travel. Like 590 00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:17,640 Speaker 1: if you like, got like a listen, does you have 591 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:19,800 Speaker 1: a natural like on Wednesdays I like to shot. You know, 592 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:23,200 Speaker 1: he didn't know what day was what He completely lost 593 00:32:23,240 --> 00:32:25,200 Speaker 1: track of time. He had no idea. Does he keep it? 594 00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:26,800 Speaker 1: Did he create his own count? No, he didn't keep 595 00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:28,160 Speaker 1: it journal, He didn't do any of that. He was 596 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:31,160 Speaker 1: just he was just in the moment, right, yes, of course. 597 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:33,520 Speaker 1: So this one local guy, he said he was hit 598 00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:36,520 Speaker 1: about twice a year. Quote, I'd leave him a note, 599 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:38,920 Speaker 1: don't break in, just tell me what you need. I'll 600 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:41,479 Speaker 1: put it by the side of the road. And he 601 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:43,360 Speaker 1: never did. He never left him a note. And he's 602 00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:45,240 Speaker 1: just like, whatever, I'll tell me what to do. Free. 603 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:50,440 Speaker 1: So there's this game. Warden Sergeant Terry Hughes determined to 604 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:52,920 Speaker 1: put an end to the looting. Of course, he's yeah. 605 00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:56,200 Speaker 1: He sets up a high end motion detector alarm behind 606 00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,840 Speaker 1: the ice machine in the kitchen of Pine Tree Camp. Okay, 607 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:02,240 Speaker 1: the alarm didn't ring at the camp. It rang at 608 00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:06,040 Speaker 1: Terry's house. So when we get back from this break, 609 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:28,880 Speaker 1: I'll tell you if Terry's trap worked. Tonight. Hey is Aaron, 610 00:33:29,880 --> 00:33:32,600 Speaker 1: Welcome back? How are you doing? Lad? Sit down all right, 611 00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:37,240 Speaker 1: I'm sitting. Close your eyes. Oh, I want you to 612 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:41,600 Speaker 1: picture it. It's the wee hours of April fourth, twenty thirteen. 613 00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:44,720 Speaker 1: The number one song in the country is Thrift Shop 614 00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:49,920 Speaker 1: by McLamore and Ryan Lewis featuring wands or wands or somebody. 615 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:54,280 Speaker 1: None of this matters to you. You're a giant Costco 616 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:59,320 Speaker 1: sized bag of large marshmallows, and you're on a shelf 617 00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:01,920 Speaker 1: in the pantry of the Pine Tree Camp in Rome, Maine. 618 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:08,359 Speaker 1: You hear a noise creaking floorboards. It's that guy. He 619 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:10,120 Speaker 1: was here a couple of weeks ago and he stole 620 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:12,400 Speaker 1: a key chain off a hook in the hall. You 621 00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:15,600 Speaker 1: could see him from your spot on the shelf. He's 622 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:18,400 Speaker 1: whistling to himself as he walks to the shelves and 623 00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:21,600 Speaker 1: starts putting stuff in his backpack. Last time he took 624 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:25,640 Speaker 1: your buddy the value pack of Hershey Bars. You and 625 00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:29,080 Speaker 1: the Graham Crackers stared helplessly as the chocolate was whisked 626 00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:32,440 Speaker 1: away into the night. Gone was the promise of the 627 00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:37,000 Speaker 1: Melty Union. The three of you were waiting for a 628 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:41,560 Speaker 1: little melty thrubble. You watch as the man grabs bag 629 00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:45,480 Speaker 1: of Smarties candies. He giggles into light. You consider smart 630 00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:47,319 Speaker 1: he's a lesser candy. But you know what, who are 631 00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:50,919 Speaker 1: you to talk? You're a marshmallow. He takes his time, 632 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:54,240 Speaker 1: He peruses the shelves. He grabs some cans of coffee 633 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:57,040 Speaker 1: and bags of potato chips, and then he uses that 634 00:34:57,080 --> 00:34:59,040 Speaker 1: purloined key from the hook in the hall to get 635 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:01,920 Speaker 1: access to the walking and freezer. He's in there a 636 00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:05,279 Speaker 1: while illegally shopping. He comes back out with his arms 637 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:10,640 Speaker 1: full of hamburgers, sides of bacon hot dogs, and as 638 00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:14,279 Speaker 1: he passed the shelves, he reaches out and he grabs you. No, 639 00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:20,200 Speaker 1: his rough hands squeeze your bag and you gasp. You 640 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:23,040 Speaker 1: didn't think it would end like this. You look over 641 00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:25,200 Speaker 1: and you see a pair of eyes peeking in the window. 642 00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:28,560 Speaker 1: You let out a little squeal. You recognize them. It's 643 00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:32,120 Speaker 1: the game Warden Terry Hughes. The door to the kitchen 644 00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:34,279 Speaker 1: flies open, and you and the hermit are blinded by 645 00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:37,080 Speaker 1: a flashlight. You, though, can make out a barrel of 646 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:40,560 Speaker 1: a gun behind the light. Terry, you know the bags 647 00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:44,000 Speaker 1: of marshmallow have great vision, great night vision. Get on 648 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:48,080 Speaker 1: the ground, yells Sergeant Hughes. The hermit complies, He drops you, 649 00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:50,600 Speaker 1: and you slide along the warm wood floor and come 650 00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:53,799 Speaker 1: to rest against an industrial oven. This is all too 651 00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:57,800 Speaker 1: much for a bag of marshmallows. Sergeant Hughes then calls 652 00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:02,600 Speaker 1: main state trooper, a woman named Ian Perkins Vance and 653 00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:05,240 Speaker 1: she's on the scene almost immediately. She's also been waiting 654 00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:08,279 Speaker 1: for this moment. She's just hepped up. The cops are 655 00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:12,080 Speaker 1: stunned that this is their hermit. Super clean cut, very 656 00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:14,880 Speaker 1: put together, you know, no facial hair thanks to all 657 00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:17,759 Speaker 1: the stolen razors. He had really nice clothes on, very 658 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:20,960 Speaker 1: well taken care of. It took them a while to 659 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:23,480 Speaker 1: get him to open up, but he finally told them 660 00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:25,880 Speaker 1: who he was. He said, I don't have an address, 661 00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:28,040 Speaker 1: I don't have a car, I don't have a job. 662 00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:30,920 Speaker 1: I got nothing. They asked him how long he'd been 663 00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:33,520 Speaker 1: in the woods. Here's how Michael Finkel put it in 664 00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:37,120 Speaker 1: his book. Quote. Night thought for a bit, then asked 665 00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:41,799 Speaker 1: when the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster occurred. He had long 666 00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:45,160 Speaker 1: ago lost the habit of making time in months or years. 667 00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:47,800 Speaker 1: This was just a news event, he happened to remember. 668 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:50,840 Speaker 1: The nuclear meltdown took place in nineteen eighty six, the 669 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:53,360 Speaker 1: same year Knight said he went to live in the woods. 670 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:56,279 Speaker 1: He was twenty years old at the time, not long 671 00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:58,719 Speaker 1: out of high school. He was now forty seven, a 672 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:01,879 Speaker 1: middle aged man, Oh my god, he spent the entire 673 00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:06,600 Speaker 1: twenty seven years. He was in the woods for twenty 674 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:11,640 Speaker 1: seven years, years his formative years, not his reclining, retiring years. 675 00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:14,799 Speaker 1: He wasn't the old man in the woods. He's out there. 676 00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:17,319 Speaker 1: I just really like trees. You know, who needs to 677 00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:22,120 Speaker 1: date or crime. He committed well over a thousand break 678 00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:24,520 Speaker 1: ins in that time. Good on him, and they think 679 00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:28,759 Speaker 1: it's probably way more than that except for Pine Tree Camp, yes, 680 00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:32,760 Speaker 1: of course obviously. So he was having a tough time 681 00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:35,680 Speaker 1: with this sudden reimmersion into society. He didn't know how 682 00:37:35,719 --> 00:37:37,880 Speaker 1: to talk to people or how to act. Oh. Yeah, 683 00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:40,280 Speaker 1: it's like when I first started seeing people in person 684 00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:43,200 Speaker 1: after the COVID lockdown, Like I had zero small talk 685 00:37:43,239 --> 00:37:45,880 Speaker 1: skills were pretty feral. I would just sort of short circuit. 686 00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:48,520 Speaker 1: I was more awkward than normal, Like I don't know 687 00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:51,160 Speaker 1: what okay, I gotta go like, don't pet me. Why 688 00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:57,359 Speaker 1: I'm not a cat? So like quit. No, Chris Knight 689 00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:00,920 Speaker 1: hadn't spoken to anyone in nearly thirty years. He was 690 00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:03,960 Speaker 1: still wearing the thick gold rim glasses that he had 691 00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:06,280 Speaker 1: on as a young man when he walked into the wilderness. 692 00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:07,800 Speaker 1: This is a man who went out to them on 693 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:13,000 Speaker 1: his own, who wears prescription. You know what, that's an inspiration, 694 00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:16,640 Speaker 1: totally brave Bold. While he was awaiting trial, two of 695 00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:19,040 Speaker 1: his brothers came to see him, and obviously none of 696 00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:22,520 Speaker 1: them recognized rised each other. Um, I mean the brothers 697 00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:27,840 Speaker 1: recognized themselves, but one of them like was like, Okay, 698 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:29,839 Speaker 1: I gotta prepare for this. I gotta meet my brother. 699 00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:33,279 Speaker 1: And he goes into the washroom and splashes water on 700 00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:35,040 Speaker 1: his face and he was like, wait, who are you? 701 00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:40,239 Speaker 1: Who is anybody? He like he got that clarity from 702 00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:45,560 Speaker 1: his brother telepathically. It was so awesome and it was 703 00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:49,720 Speaker 1: a ghost. Um. We don't know about like the family's 704 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:53,239 Speaker 1: relationships because obviously they're so terribly private. We do know 705 00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:56,920 Speaker 1: that his father passed away before his arrest, before he emerged, 706 00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:00,680 Speaker 1: and Chris was listed as a survivor in the bituary. 707 00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:04,080 Speaker 1: So they kind of just imagine somewhere this. Did you 708 00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:06,680 Speaker 1: ever have friends? Like? I don't know, maybe it's just 709 00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:09,160 Speaker 1: I've never had friends. If you have some friends, you 710 00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:11,600 Speaker 1: will usually have a dude. Usually it's a guys and 711 00:39:11,719 --> 00:39:14,600 Speaker 1: I just not take anybody, but you know offensive guy 712 00:39:14,880 --> 00:39:16,840 Speaker 1: who's just you can tell like I'm just gonna go 713 00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:19,279 Speaker 1: off to Alaska types I'm gonna go off to you know, 714 00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:22,440 Speaker 1: Goose Lake. And in Canada, it's like you can just tell. 715 00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:24,319 Speaker 1: And then they go off and they do it and 716 00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:26,799 Speaker 1: you never see them again, and everything's cool, and the 717 00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:29,120 Speaker 1: family's like, well, we always knew he was gonna do it. 718 00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:31,760 Speaker 1: This was like, yeah, I've I've known a few guys 719 00:39:32,080 --> 00:39:35,120 Speaker 1: and the families are you done to people? But it's 720 00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:37,800 Speaker 1: like they were just not meant to be a human, 721 00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:40,000 Speaker 1: Like they got the wrong body. You know, It's like 722 00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:43,040 Speaker 1: they was meant to be like a stork or or something. 723 00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:45,759 Speaker 1: So bag of marshmallows or in my case, a bag 724 00:39:45,760 --> 00:39:50,840 Speaker 1: of marshmallows. So in October twenty thirteen, Chris pleaded guilty 725 00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:54,759 Speaker 1: to thirteen counts of burglary and theft in the Kennebec 726 00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:58,759 Speaker 1: County Superior Court. He got seven months in jail, and 727 00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:00,959 Speaker 1: he'd already served most most of it, so he only 728 00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:04,239 Speaker 1: had a week left on his sentence and he had 729 00:40:04,239 --> 00:40:06,000 Speaker 1: to he still though, he had to go meet up 730 00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:08,359 Speaker 1: with a judge once a week when he was out, 731 00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:10,440 Speaker 1: and he was told either get a job or go 732 00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:12,360 Speaker 1: to school. How wow would it be? That we go 733 00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:15,360 Speaker 1: to prison after living in the main woods for twenty 734 00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:17,680 Speaker 1: seven years. Right, Well, that was hard for him. I 735 00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:20,520 Speaker 1: think that is the worst punishing thing you could probably be. Yeah. 736 00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:23,640 Speaker 1: He talked about how it was like all this noise 737 00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:27,080 Speaker 1: totally that was just like so foreign to head. Yeah, 738 00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:29,239 Speaker 1: I couldn't sleep by that. Yeah. Oh yeah, and like 739 00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:32,040 Speaker 1: eating and everything. Now back at the camp site, they 740 00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:34,680 Speaker 1: had to spend a ton of money cleaning it out 741 00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:37,520 Speaker 1: because he had like this I'd say, I don't know, 742 00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:40,520 Speaker 1: half acre or so of his garbage dump that he 743 00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:43,719 Speaker 1: made his own nidden, yeah, basically, And so they had 744 00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:45,680 Speaker 1: to go and like clear all that out and kind 745 00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:47,680 Speaker 1: of move it. But it's so rugged to get in there. 746 00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:50,680 Speaker 1: It was hard. From what I read in the book 747 00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:52,960 Speaker 1: and then a bunch I read all these newspaper and 748 00:40:53,040 --> 00:40:55,840 Speaker 1: magazine articles, it didn't seem like he had a substance 749 00:40:55,880 --> 00:41:00,840 Speaker 1: abuse problem. It did not know, but he was. He 750 00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:03,600 Speaker 1: had to agree not to drink again, and I didn't 751 00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:05,719 Speaker 1: quite understand. He drank a lot to prep for the 752 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:08,719 Speaker 1: winter and get fattened up. And he actually worried because 753 00:41:08,719 --> 00:41:11,120 Speaker 1: he was eating so much sugar and drinking to fatten 754 00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:12,800 Speaker 1: up that he worried he was going to get diabetes, 755 00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:15,920 Speaker 1: and then he did kind of tip some back, But 756 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:18,080 Speaker 1: it wasn't like he was an alcoholic in terms of 757 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:19,719 Speaker 1: everything I read, so I thought it was a weird 758 00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:21,759 Speaker 1: detail that he had to kind of report in. It's 759 00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:24,840 Speaker 1: so interesting. He chooses the life of a bear pretty much. 760 00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:29,239 Speaker 1: He now lives a very quiet, private, light life in Maine, 761 00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:33,520 Speaker 1: inside indoors. I thought that this passage from Michael Finkel's 762 00:41:33,560 --> 00:41:37,080 Speaker 1: book was fascinating. Quote. At a homeowner's meeting in two 763 00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:39,919 Speaker 1: thousand and two, the hundred people present were asked who 764 00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:43,920 Speaker 1: had suffered break ins. Seventy five raised their hands. Camp 765 00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:47,400 Speaker 1: Fire hermit stories were swapped. One kid recalled that when 766 00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:50,320 Speaker 1: he was ten years old, all his Halloween candy was stolen. 767 00:41:50,719 --> 00:41:55,120 Speaker 1: That kid is now thirty four, So Zarin, what's her 768 00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:59,480 Speaker 1: ridiculous takeaway? I bet they miss having the hermit, right. 769 00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:03,160 Speaker 1: You know, they hated it when it was happening. One 770 00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:05,359 Speaker 1: dude want to get us three fifty seven and spend 771 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:07,480 Speaker 1: two nights up. But I bet now that he's gone 772 00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:10,400 Speaker 1: and done and over with, they miss him. Yeah, yeah, well, 773 00:42:10,440 --> 00:42:11,960 Speaker 1: I think that's the thing. Like it was so much 774 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:14,319 Speaker 1: intrigue and it's exciting and it's story, and it's like something. 775 00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:16,480 Speaker 1: The bonds them all, they all have their stories. He 776 00:42:16,520 --> 00:42:19,120 Speaker 1: becomes the legend of the area. Yeah. One guy, he 777 00:42:19,239 --> 00:42:22,080 Speaker 1: was Chris Knight, was wearing like some of the clothes 778 00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:24,520 Speaker 1: that this one guy had had stolen from him and 779 00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:26,480 Speaker 1: he just didn't He's like, all right, well whatever, those 780 00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:29,799 Speaker 1: are his clothes now? Yeah, exactly. So that's it. That's 781 00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:32,279 Speaker 1: my story. That's great. You can find us online at 782 00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:35,680 Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime on both Twitter and Instagram. Email us at 783 00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:39,520 Speaker 1: ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com, download the iHeart app 784 00:42:39,600 --> 00:42:42,200 Speaker 1: and leave us a talkback. It's a thirty second voicemail, 785 00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:54,239 Speaker 1: totally anonymous, totally legal tool. Do it next time. Ridiculous 786 00:42:54,239 --> 00:42:57,320 Speaker 1: Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaron Burnett, produced 787 00:42:57,320 --> 00:43:01,359 Speaker 1: and edited by Dave Cooston. The Chattahoochee River Reeper researches 788 00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:04,759 Speaker 1: by four service three star General Marissa Brown, an outraged 789 00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:08,320 Speaker 1: cabin owner, Andrea Song sharpen Tier. 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