The Legacy of Christopher McCandless | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror

[Music] on the 6th of september 1992 a group of hunters on the stampede trail near healy in alaska came across an abandoned city transit bus thinking that it might make a convenient shelter for the knights they ventured inside only to be repelled by a terrible smell that permeated the vehicle's interior suspecting the worst the hunters radioed local police who came out and searched the bus they found the remains of a man who would later be identified as christopher mccandless an individual with

a fascinating life and a legacy which has lasted for decades after his death christopher mccandless was born on the 12th of february 1968. even from a very young age he was a bright and energetic boy he read widely with his favorite literature being the stories of jack london and mark twain outdoor adventure was a common theme in these books and also a massive part of christopher's life from as young as eight years old he took part in hiking and camping expeditions that would challenge children

twice his age although there were happy parts to his childhood it is clear that christopher's relationship with his parents was not a good one his siblings report that his father was a violent alcoholic and that there was often physical violence in the family home christopher's parents dispute these claims but even setting any domestic violence aside christopher frequently found himself at odds with his mother and father he abhorred their materialistic ways and felt stifled by the vision they ha

d for his life he complained that they were detached from reality he didn't want to live the comfortable middle class life they had planned for him he wanted to find his own more meaningful path through life by the time he turned 22 christopher was determined to get away from home after graduating from emory university in georgia with excellent grades he finally put his plan into action without telling anyone of his intentions he donated the vast majority of his savings around 24 000 to the char

ity oxfam then burned the small amount of cash he had left he packed a few possessions into his car a much-loved yellow datsun and set off on a road trip across the country for the next two years christopher drifted from place to place enjoying a life of freedom and adventure he lost his car in a flash flood and resorted to hitchhiking he spent some months working on a farm before taking off for the open road again he kayaked along the colorado river all the way to mexico and then was briefly ar

rested when he tried to re-enter the united states on foot and through it all he left a distinct impression on everyone he met some people found his determination and enthusiasm inspiring while others were unsettled by his restless energy throughout these years christopher lived with very little money he often foraged for food and would get around by hitchhiking and stowing away on freight trains he tended to refuse offers of help from other people preferring instead to rely on his own resources

even when this caused him significant hardship he repeatedly noted that he wanted to escape from society and live his life to the fullest out in the wild during this time he went by an assumed name alexander supertramp in his journal he wrote a third-person description of his new identity two years he walks the earth no phone no pool no pets no cigarettes ultimate freedom an extremist an aesthetic voyager whose home is the road escaped from atlanta thou shalt not return because the west is the

best and now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure the climactic battle to kill the force being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual revolution ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the great white north no longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild the wild that christopher referred to was alaska a place where he intended to live off the land for a period of several mont

hs by april 1992 he had hitchhiked his way there securing one final ride to a trailhead outside the town of healy with a local electrician on hearing that he planned to hike off into the alaskan bush the man became worried by christopher's lack of equipment and supplies and offered to drive him into town and buy him more equipment christopher refused this offer but did accept a sandwich and a pair of waterproof boots adding these to his meagre supplies he marched off into the wilderness never to

be seen again after three days of hiking christopher came across an abandoned fairbanks city transit system bus the vehicle had been hauled out there in the 1960s to provide shelter for labourers building a road in the area and had been abandoned when the project fell through after sitting empty for several decades the bus was now to become christopher's home living off the land even with the shelter provided by the bus wasn't an easy task christopher foraged berries hunted local wildlife and a

t one stage even shot a moose although he was only able to eat a small part of its meat before it spoiled a few months on with hunger setting in christopher made an attempt to return to civilization only to find that the teclanica river which he had easily waded across on his way out was now swollen to the point that he could not possibly cross it he was he realized trapped in the wilderness tragically although christopher didn't know it salvation was only a very short distance away just 800 met

ers or half a mile along the river was a cable crossing that he could have used to get safely to the other side unfortunately with no maps and little knowledge of the area he would never discover just how close he had been to a possible way out stymied christopher returned to the bus and soon posted a note on the door attention possible visitors sos i need your help i am injured near death and too weak to hike out of here i am all alone this is no joke in the name of god please remain to save me

i am out collecting berries close by and shall return this evening thank you chris mccandless august over the next few weeks he began slowly to starve to death there are various theories about how christopher met his ultimate demise some believe that he may have accidentally ingested a poison that made him too weak to forage others that he simply couldn't find enough edible plants or game whatever the cause though in the end it was a lack of food that ended his life he kept a diary until the ve

ry end writing a few brief words to describe each day his entry for his 100th day in the wild paints a grim picture day 100 made it but in weakest condition of life death looms as serious threat too weak to walk out have literally become trapped in the wild no game there is no entry for day 113 it is likely that this is the day when christopher passed away just 19 days later hunters would stumble across his body in the bus the police would be cooled and by close examination of his writings and p

ossessions the full sad story would emerge the death of christopher mccandless this tragic narrative has been told the world over numerous books have been written and in 2007 the story was adapted into a phenomenally successful film many thousands of people have described the way in which christopher's story resonated with them noting how it spoke to their desire to live more freely to escape the constraints of society or to reconnect with nature and the wild at the same time his actions have dr

awn criticism some people including alaskan natives who live near the stampede trail have described him as foolish and naive they point out how severely underprepared he was to live off the land and how his vision for his life may not have been realistic given his knowledge and abilities there is nothing that illustrates christopher's complicated legacy as clearly as the bus in which he sheltered during his time in the wild it remained in place on the stampede trail for several years after his d

eath during which time it became a popular attraction for people who had heard christopher's story hundreds would hike out to visit it each year writing tributes on the shell of the vehicle and leaving behind objects and messages in memory of christopher mccandless reaching the bus was however no easy feat and over the years many would-be visitors got into difficulty while trying to find it some were simply under-prepared for the hike and had to be rescued after getting lost on the way out other

s reached the bus but became stranded in exactly the way that christopher had with the river rising behind them to cut them off from civilization in 2010 a visitor drowned while attempting to cross the teklanica river nine years later another tourist also lost their life by drowning in the same spot by this time local police and rangers were spending a significant portion of their time rescuing people from the trail and it was concluded that something would have to be done about the bus in june

2020 an operation was mounted to move the bus it was airlifted off the trail and transported to a safe storage location before finding a permanent home in the museum of the north at the university of alaska there tourists who admire christopher's philosophy are able to visit the bus without taking on the risks and dangers of the stampede trail the legacy of christopher mccandless is an unusual one he was a fiercely independent and courageous young man who lived life by his own rules but he was a

lso extremely idealistic and underprepared for what he wanted to do something which ultimately sealed his fate his example tragic though it is has proved hugely inspiring to many but deadly to some who have tried to live by it you