Maine Hermit / Serial Thief

Stuart Siddons, RAP24, passed this incident on to me, it was a story I hadn't heard.

Periodically someone will just take to the wilderness (such as it is) - they frequently turn out to be bandits, like this guy, Claude Dallas (actually a murderer), Eric Rudolph (ditto) or the Barefoot Bandit of the Northwest, whose name escapes me.  Other times they turn out to be more than a little naive about what living off the grid is really like; see Chris McCandless or Timothy Treadwell, sort of.  And then there are the ones that may be more show than go - Naked in the Woods: Joseph Knowles and the Legacy of Frontier Fakery

It's an interesting story, though I don't think it really counts as "survival" when you are routinely ripping people off for fuel, food and clothing.  Not exactly a Nessmuk/Horace Kephart/Bradford Angier level of self-sufficiency. The takeaway is just how close we/they can be to each other and still stay hidden, the last example being Christopher Dorner hiding in a cabin within sight of the command post set up to find him.

‘He’s surreal’: Officers amazed at ‘hermit’ burglar’s survival in Maine woods for 27 years
‘Hermit’ burglar compound littered with batteries, ‘tons and tons’ of propane tanks
‘North Pond Hermit’ encampment dismantled
(That trash isn't going to remove itself)
The North Pond Hermit song  Obligatory romanticizing of an outlaw, an American cultural theme.

Stuart also said that he'll be spending his summer at Katmai captaining a boat and guiding bear watching trips.  Another example of a person getting paid to do what I'd pay to do.