BY: TED BARNABY

For 27 years, canned food, propane tanks and odd clothing articles had been disappearing from the houses of the quiet town of North Pond in Central Maine. Rebellious teenagers were the first suspect, and a few of the older townsfolk were dismissed by their families as senile—but after so many years of constant disappearances, it became clear that adolescent rebellion and Alzheimer’s weren’t to blame.

As it turns out, the culprit for these disappearances goes by the name of Christopher Knight, who has since become the world’s most infamous hermit. At 20 years old, Knight decided he was sick of the modern world and hiked off into the seemingly endless Maine woods. And until he was caught stealing coffee and potato chips in the middle of the night from a nearby summer camp’s dining hall, this is where he remained for 27 years.

Over the years, Knight developed a tight supply-collecting routine. Careful not to leave any footprints, he would move through the forest, treading lightly across the rocks, roots and stumps that covered the ground, armed with a backpack of break-in tools. Knight would creep through the streets of North Pond in the middle of the night, searching for empty houses to raid, before returning to the woods without a trace besides the missing food he stole. The funniest part of this whole predicament was the testimonies of the North Pond townspeople. One man reportedly even waited for 14 days in his house with the lights off, and a .357 Magnum in his hand, hoping to catch “the hermit.” You can imagine the distress and confusion the families felt upon 27 years of unexplained missing batteries, forks and canned tuna.

Knight lived in rough and tumble conditions in a tent that he had constructed deep in the woods

Knight—better known in North Pond as “the hermit”—was legend to the confused locals. Campfire stories developed, and town meetings were called. Some even left notes on their doors, saying things like “tell me what you need and I’ll leave it out for you, just please don’t break in!”

In 2013, Knight was finally caught cold handed stealing from the pantries of Pine Tree summer camp. Setting off a silent alarm in the camp’s freezer—alerting the home of Sergeant Terry Hughes—Knight was arrested outside of the camp, without struggle or resistance. On April 4th, 2013, he was finally taken into police custody where they attempted to put him under interrogation. Having no point of human contact for the last 27 years, he remained understandably silent.

For a hermit, Knight looked remarkably well put together—shaved face, clean clothes and a harmless middle-aged demeanor. Surprisingly well dressed, Knight was clad in new jeans, expensive looking boots and a Columbia jacket. Police could not find identification, and without a house, car, or mailing address, Knight had legally vanished from the earth long ago.

In a private session, officer Perkins-Vance removed Knight’s cuffs, gave him some water, and he started to open up. He told Vance his silence wasn’t the product of animosity or an accustomed surreptitiousness, but instead, that he was simply ashamed. Knight admitted to committing about 40 robberies each year in order to sustain himself. They were all done in secrecy, while no one was home. His list of stolen items is also fairly innocuous: food, cookware, propane and books were the majority of it. However he also confessed that his wardrobe was entirely shoplifted—along with everything else he had ever owned, aside from his glasses. He claims he knew it was wrong, but he did it anyways—and for that he is eternally remorseful.

There was a major divide in thinking when it came to the question of how to punish Knight. Many believed that Knight was nothing more than an accelerated introvert—after all he was never violent. The other half is furious over Knight’s persistent thievery, and the fear he cultivated within the town.

All of the materials he used in his camp, including clothes, sheets, food and propane, and tarps were stolen.

In the end, Knight was charged with burglary and theft, sentenced to time in the Kennebec Country Jail in Augusta, Maine. However, he was released only seven months later in November—under the conditions that he seek weekly counseling, and enroll in work, school or volunteer initiatives.

Having spent nearly 30 years in the woods, Knight had never before heard about the Internet or iPods or smartphones. He didn’t even know if his parents were still alive. He had also gone the last three decades without medical assistance. According to Knight: you have to be near other humans in order to get sick. Knight also slept in a tent, and never built fires for fear of drawing attention or getting caught. He only travelled at night.

Moreover, one can’t help but marvel at the insanity of spending 27 consecutive winters in Maine, known to be America’s third coldest state. According to Knight, he barely survived some winters, stating that meditation was the only thing that kept him alive and sane. Winters got so bad, he’d occasionally contemplate suicide. He conditioned himself not to sleep too long, as too long of a sleep in negative 20 weather could mean never waking up.

Knight was caught on a CCTV camera during a raid. He became known locally as the North Pond Hermit.

So why did he do it? What lead Knight into the woods at 20 years old, and what kept him there for the next 27 years? After all, Knight claims to have had a good childhood, excellent grades in school— just no friends. It turns out that Knight’s reasoning for the ordeal is fairly simple: everyone searching for contentment—and to him, this meant the serenity of the woods.

Although I don’t condone his thievery, and the fact that he spent 27 winters in the woods—without once considering the possibility of moving to a forest in a warmer climate—makes me question his sanity, Knight did have some profound words to share with GQ’s Michael Finkel:

“Solitude did increase my perception. But here’s the tricky thing—when I applied my increased perception to myself, I lost my identity. With no audience, no one to perform for, I was just there. There was no need to define myself; I became irrelevant. To put it romantically: I was completely free.”

Sources: dailymail.co.uk