The last true hermit who spent 27 years in the woods and never spoke to anyone
Topics: US News
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: NYTimes/YouTube
Topics: US News
Over the years, there have been many stories of hermits, but it can sometimes be hard to discern what is reality and what is mere fiction.
Boo Radley of To Kill a Mockingbird fame is just one fictional example who has gained attention over many decades, but this story is very real indeed.
Christopher Knight left his home in Massachusetts, US, in 1986 when he drove to Maine and disappeared into the woods.
Knight did not tell anyone he was leaving, and his parents never reported he was missing to the police.
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Also known as the 'North Pond Hermit', Knight spent 27 years in the woods before he got arrested in 2013.
He lived in a tent for the whole time and lived off food he stole from nearby cabins.
It is highly likely Knight forgot how to interact with other humans when he got arrested, as he said he did not speak to a single sole during the 27 years he was in the woods.
After years of breaking into cabins for food and supplies, Knight was finally caught after trying to steal from a summer camp for the disabled in 2013.
The North Pod Hermit became quite the burglar in all his years in exile and he certainly needed to be.
When he left his home as a 20-year-old in 1986, he left with nearly no possessions.
Knight lived within a mile of summer cabins in a camp he built himself, which was obscured within a cluster of glacial erratic boulders.
He set up the entirety of it with items stolen from nearby cabins and camps.
It is reported that he committed around 1,000 burglaries against houses in the area in the 27 years, which works out at roughly 40 a year.
Knight had a close call when he was trying to rob someone in 2012, a year before he was eventually caught.
The hermit broke into a cabin where a man was sleeping, with Knight thinking it was completely empty.
There was no car on the driveway, so Knight decided to go in and see what he could take.
However, the man woke up, but without seeing Knight, he shouted "Get the hell out of here!", and then Knight quickly escaped.
After being pleading guilty to burglary and theft in 2013, Knight was sentenced to seven months in jail and ordered to pay $2,000.
He was also ordered to complete a Co-Occurring Disorders Court Program and three years of probation.