Into the Wild... Well sorta, McCandless followed a broken trail (Metlakatla: home, dangerous)

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by PcolaFLGuy

Let me start by saying, since I didn't even know about this story until about a week ago, you can't classify me as a one putting him on a pedestal. But I must say that I find all of the hate surrounding this guy's death in Alaska very sad.

The Chris McCandless story is an Odyssey with only the final chapter being in Alaska. Disputing the Hollywood-version of this story is one thing. Yet, being hateful about someone that seems to inspire many folks is unfortunate.

Hate? All what has been said is that McCandles was stupid enough not to survive his ordeal, and that the reason why we hear about him so much is because of a movie that idealizes him.

[krazykids]

i think hating mcandliss is an overstatement.. people seem to hate the fact that he was glorified as a hero, which then springs numbskulls from all over to want to try the same things he did.. unfortunately this brings out other issues like them getting stranded, killed, or pilfering somebody else's cabin or trashing that bus. the glorification of the Bus has led to actual isues. All these guys subconsciously want to go out and get famous too..
so its not the hatred of the death it the Hollywood spin making it seem like he was such a great dude.. such a prolific .. life changing hero or something.. If it wasn't reported and made a movie of he wouldn't have impacted any of us and I would have never heard of the dude..

[gobrien]

I was moved by the story but you sure won't see me tromping out into the wilderness with a bag of rice. There are many tragic stories of real life adventures such as the race for the south pole. Scott used ponies and Amundsen used dogs. Amundsen won and Scott died. The book compared Chris's fatal quest with other fatal quests and attempted to explain man's desire to do unorthodox things that may lead to death. Even Chris admitted his journey to Alaska may "prove fatal" in a postcard. In no way, shape or form was the book a glorification of what happened, even with its known misstatement of the facts.

On a side note, autosies are not infallable. I once saw one by the chief medical examiner in a state that listed cause of death as extreme intoxication by marijuana that caused the diceased to pass out on train tracks and be ran over by a train. To me it sounds more like suicide.

[Harrier]

There is no evidence that shows McCandless burglarized the nearby cabins.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by Harrier

There is no evidence that shows McCandless burglarized the nearby cabins.

Unfortunately, this is some thing else that you've gotten wrong. Really, I appreciate what you are trying to do here but you're just spreading a lot of false information that you've gotten from the book and the movie.

[PcolaFLGuy]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Unfortunately, this is some thing else that you've gotten wrong. Really, I appreciate what you are trying to do here but you're just spreading a lot of false information that you've gotten from the book and the movie.

Well, where is your evidence of this? Not saying it didn't happen. I'm truly curious. First I've read of that.

[gobrien]

The book did mention the burglarized cabins.

[PcolaFLGuy]

Originally Posted by gobrien

The book did mention the burglarized cabins.

Ahh. OK.

[Harrier]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Unfortunately, this is some thing else that you've gotten wrong. Really, I appreciate what you are trying to do here but you're just spreading a lot of false information that you've gotten from the book and the movie.

The book mentioned the burglarized cabins and stated that there was no evidence that McCandless had been the culprit. One of the owners of the cabins opined that he didn't think McCandless had been responsible. Is he a suspect? Yes. Do we know he committed the crime? No. It is those who matter of factly say he was the burglar who are spreading mis-information. As for what I am "tryng to do here" - I'm not sure what this means. Perhaps you mean I am making sure the record is kept straight.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by Harrier

The book mentioned the burglarized cabins and stated that there was no evidence that McCandless had been the culprit. One of the owners of the cabins opined that he didn't think McCandless had been responsible. Is he a suspect? Yes. Do we know he committed the crime? No. It is those who matter of factly say he was the burglar who are spreading mis-information. As for what I am "tryng to do here" - I'm not sure what this means. Perhaps you mean I am making sure the record is kept straight.

I'm not sure what you're trying to do here. You've mentioned both the book ad the movie as definitive sources here, and it's widely known that they were both full of fallacies.


He may or may not have burglarized the cabins. I don't know. I wouldn't have blamed him if he had. He was starving.

It's probable that he did, though I'm not someone who would consider it a "crime". Many Alaskans who have remote cabins purposefully leave food in them in case someone else needs it.

By spreading false information, I'm alluding to your repeated statements that he did not have map. You conveniently dropped that, though, when you were proven wrong about it.

At the same time, you continue to refer to the book as some sort of gospel truth concerning the situation---when so many of the so called facts in it have been proven wrong.