The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit (Audio CD)

In 1986, twenty-year-old Christopher Knight drove his car into the Maine woods, abandoned it, and disappeared into the forest. He did not speak to another human being for twenty-seven years. Knight survived by establishing a hidden encampment and committing approximately one thousand burglaries of nearby summer cabins to secure food, propane, and supplies. Michael Finkel utilizes interviews with Knight and residents of the North Pond community to document how Knight maintained his solitude, the specific physical tactics he used to survive brutal winters without fire, and the eventual police sting that led to his capture.

Readers of modern social history and biographies of recluses find here an account of total isolation within a populated area. The narrative provides an analysis of the psychological effects of silence and the ethical friction between a man's desire for absolute privacy and the property rights of the community he pilfered. By the end, the reader understands the logistical reality of living entirely outside of the modern economy and the difficulty of reintegrating into a society defined by constant digital and social noise.