Man Arrested After 27 Years of Solitude, Burglarly

This is incredible. Christopher Thomas Knight went into the Maine woods in about 1986, two years after graduating high school, and wasn’t seen for 27 years. In that time, he committed over 1000 burglaries, according to his and police estimates. Seems like all of it was basically to survive. In fact, a legend was built up about a hermit who was stealing from the people in the area Knight lived in.

Why he went into the wilderness? He doesn’t know. And neither do we. What his fate will be in the Maine judicial system is also unknown, though Knight has been extremely cooperative.

The details are interesting. He had a stack of money, some of it moldy, stored in case he needed to go buy something from a store. He didn’t use anything shiny, for fear it would attract attention. This means he hadn’t seen an image of himself for 27 years, except for his reflection in the water a few times. And he never built a fire, even in the cold Maine winters.