The Legacy of Christopher McCandless | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
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- Опубліковано 6 тра 2024
- "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..."
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TRANSLATIONS:
► This video is also available in German ( • Das Vermächtnis von Ch... )
SOCIAL MEDIA:
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CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
00:49 - Background
04:37 - The Death of Christopher McCandless
08:25 - The Aftermath
MUSIC:
► "Glass Pond" by Public Memory
► "Anomalous Hedges" by The Mini Vandals
SOURCES:
► "Does ‘The Wild Truth’ Tell the True Story of Chris McCandless?" by Alex Heard, published by Outside, November 2014. Link: www.outsideonline.com/culture....
► "How Chris McCandless Died" by John Krakauer, published by The New Yorker, September 2013. Link: www.newyorker.com/books/page-....
► "The Chris McCandless Obsession Problem" by Diana Saverin, published by Outside, December 2013. Link: www.outsideonline.com/adventu....
► "‘Into the Wild’ Bus, Seen as a Danger, Is Airlifted From the Alaskan Wild" by Michael Levenson, published by The New York Times, June 2020. Link: www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/us....
► "Return to the Wild" directed by Jeanmarie Condon and Ann Johnson Prum, February 2016. Link: www.imdb.com/title/tt4304292/.
#Documentary #History #TrueStories
When I was in HS I had a teacher that was of the opinion that McCandless was one of the greatest men to ever live. She had us write a 2 page report on him, I wrote a 4 page report on his follies, hubris and the realities of survivalism. Probably the best paper I ever wrote and she failed me for it. It was worth it.
I’m not going to lie, the more I think about this man when watching the video and reading the comments and Wikipedia article, the more he is the same as all those fake Instagram “influencers” who take pictures of themselves in these nature vistas and “roughing” it to get by. He is the embodiment of arrogance when he refused help and thought he was smart enough to know what he was doing. He wrote in his diary and took pictures of himself not to be free from civilization and his parents’ abuse; he did it for fame and notoriety. If he was born in the era of social media, he would be posting pictures of himself on Instagram. He is not a hero you should admire, but someone, as other people put it, chasing “clout” in the early 90’s.
@@KoopaBOOEY To me he was pretentious attention seeking and foolish. I don’t fancy myself some great outdoorsman in fact at the time I wrote my paper the year prior I had gotten myself lost on a hunting trip (was only lost a day) that incident taught me some extremely harsh lessons I never forgot, namely surviving in the woods is serious business that if you don’t know what you’re doing it will kill you very quickly. So heres this prick trying to do something more dangerous with less training and experience than I had been who strangely enough failed spectacularly and I was supposed to admire him for it.
Not a good teacher; if you supported your argument well, you deserved a better grade.
@@maryeckel9682 she was a very… opinionated individual, her excuse was I did NOT perform the task assigned. I can say that it was one of my very best reports if not the best and I usually got good grades when it came to reports (everything else I sucked at). I went from an A to a B in that class but it was worth it I think if I hadn’t done it I would’ve always regretted it.
Only a two-page report, in high school?
The whole story is full of Irony, Chris wanted to escape civilization; but found when he did he was actually trapped by the wild. The bus which was his home, tomb and memorial out in the wild was the cast-off of civilisation, and causing such a draw and danger to people after his death that it had to be moved out from the wild to a concrete museum, the very epitome of civilisation.
It's a hell of a thing to think about. I guess the biggest thing blocking that mind set with me is knowing I could've died as a baby from easily operable conditions, I don't want to be caught out in the woods needing surgury. There's a lot civilization has to offer but overstimulation and hubris in the modern world boils into this.
Was he trying to “escape civilization” or was he just anti-social?
@@kevin6293 - Good point. I'm a raging introvert who hates interacting with people. However, i recognize i am dependent on "society" and civilization for my survival.
@@christopherweise438 he didn’t even bring a map. Does he think any human in the past 2 million years has ever survived in the wilderness without supplies? He’s stupid.
@@enturnetrol7869 Ah yes, because heading off into the Alaskan wilderness to butcher moose is the ultimate goal of soy milk drinkers everywhere.
It's extremely ironic how one of his favorite authors was Jack London; but he never took away the chief message from "Call of the Wild," how unforgiving and dangerous the Alaskan wilderness can be for even provisioned people.
"To Build a Fire" is literally just about an inexperienced guy who dies after making every mistake possible
dude probably just read the badass ending
Was he too weak to hike up and down the river to find a place to cross? Also, fishing line and hooks are a must. They can fit flat into a pocket.
@@RideAcrossTheRiver he was broken and very weak. If he wasn’t then how come his instincts didn’t kick it and just walk out?
@@DSToNe19and83 Okay, by why no fishhooks and a line?
It's such painfull irony and so typically human that people heard about how this guy died because he was poorly prepared, went to visit his bus and then died because they too were poorly prepared.
The Alaskan man who wanted to drive Chris into town and buy him new gear was trying to save his life. That man knew that Chris was mortally unprepared and would probably die out there. Most Alaskans understand that the key to surviving the extreme wild is to take care of one another. If you pass by a stalled or wrecked vehicle on the highway you always pull over and offer aid, because it could be hours or days before the next vehicle comes along and it's likely that the person stuck on the side of the road doesn't have cell service. You don't shovel only your own driveway after a snowstorm, you help to dig out your neighbors even (especially) when the snow is deep. If you meet a stranger that clearly doesn't understand what he's getting into by wandering out into the woods unprepared, you do your damnedest to make sure he at least has basic survival gear. You give him the boots off your feet if you have to.
I was parked on the side of the highway like 100 miles from Fairbanks to hike to Tolovana hot springs and when I got back to the car and was clearing ice off it a native Alaskan pulled off to make sure I was alright cause there weren't tracks in the snow behind my car since it had been sitting there for a few days at that point, I was fine but having a random person pull off to make sure was awesome to see and not at all how people here in California are
Its the same in central Australia there are places that its like being on another planet and everybody watches out for and over each other and you learn to never to take it for granted that you will return and always tell someone where you are going and when you will be back, and if you don't return on time no effort is spared searching for you, the golden rule is always carry and epirb.
Mallory Dover, what if the stranger has different sized feet than I do? Wouldn't shoes too small or too big create a whole other problem the person would have to deal with?
@@jediknightjairinaiki560 it would but those problems are much preferable to losing your toes/feet to frostbite, my boots weren't waterproof enough and I'm amazed I didn't get frostbite on the hike I did up there and that was at the begining of the snow season when it's still like 20-30 degrees during the day, even still my feet have never been that numb before getting back to the car and that was only an 11 mile hike
I wish other states were as nice.....here you have to assume you'll be mugged or murdered if you try to help people.
I'm firmly in the "he was an idiot" camp. Only people who have money can afford to throw it away. God forbid you buy a tent and supplies with it first.
Agreed. There's a difference between leaving an abusive family and making something of yourself using resources you have at hand, and just going and burning it.
He had contempt for middle class families, and it was foolish.
Even characters in the novels he read were prepared. Huckleberry Finn may have had to deal with an abusive father who wanted to keep his son dumb, but Huck understood how to use tools, and wasn't against taking charity; he'd go as far as crossdressing to get food.
But Chris here... Stupid. Sheer idiocy.
Clearly he didn't truly read those books with a brain.
When someone has money, they don't understand its worth. When someone grows up not knowing what constant hunger feels like, they grow up not realizing how painful it is.
He was an idiot who went through life with rose colored glasses. If he grew up in any other circumstances, he wouldn't have died this way. It was the wealth he was born into that caused him to not understand the outside world, and it sounds like his parents didn't help, although if they did I doubt he listened.
@@Pbness Yes. Many today would scorn him for his opinions on middle class social status, considering how many would love to be in the middle class stable living.
You are not alone. I have been in that camp as well since I read the book. He was an arrogant and entitled. I don't see him as courageous at all.
Yeps. He was an idiot
It is odd that he never seemed to venture along the river to search for a crossing, I think that’s literally the first thing I’d do upon realizing the initial crossing point was unavailable.
The guy was totally unprepated and clueless. I hate to speak ill of a dead person, but truth be told, that was a royal fuckup.
You'd think that anyone with half a brain would do the same thing
@@anthonyjenkins2001 right? like he seemed to be not a total moron, very strange.
Probably an indication of how difficult the terrain was.
@@zarasbazaar I have no doubt the terrain was less than forgiving at times…but on the other side of that-he did go outside, walked around, hunted…
I always found it confusing how Chris was uncomfortable accepting offers of help
from others but was comfortable regularly burgling supplies.
He was living in a fantasy world he made for himself and died from a severe reality-check.
Why do people admire this fool?
@@planescaped because a person likes being able to admire someone who died an "adventure" and not someone who needed a serious reality check
I think they admire his intentions more than his actual actions. He was a good guy who made a terrible mistake. Many people do that all the time. Hundreds die every year in the Alaskan wilderness, even very experienced hikers and hunters.
Child abuse will do that. I had a similar life, similar timeline I was born in 1975. Father was an ex-military, alcholic wifebeater. Trust issues. Complex PTSD.
pride i guess?
He reminds me of some people my uncle saved year back, they were trying to “live off the land” and being completely unprepared & had a super unrealistic idea of how hard it was to do that. He found them starving & dehydrated miles from the Rez. He & my dad helped them & it turns out they had this idealization of Native people living off the land & wanted to be more “real” like them. My dad & uncle are Native Lakota & was talking to these people like everything you’re telling us you learned about how Native people lived off the land is wrong & how no Native person would ever venture out without any gear or preservatives. I think people romanticize the wilderness - it is beautiful- but they forget that nature is unforgiving & only the prepared & smart survive.
It's this weird paradoxical romanticization. On the one hand, idealizing Native people and wanting to emulate how they think they live... but on the other hand, totally devaluing all the knowledge, skills, and work involved, and assuming any fool can wander off on their own and be fine.
@@jakual339 Kind of also ignoring that they did have a civilization and that they did rely on one another in a cvilized manner,. you know, expecting things of one another and roles in society same as modern civilization. Yes, I realize civilized people can often be very uncivilezed but anyone who scorns others to live ultimate freedom is a fool. What did he base this on? Novels. Two of my favorite authors but funny I got quite a different impressin from those books. London's made me react with an oh my God but I'm so glad I don't have to try surviving like that. And Twain''s - well, he kind of uses humor to point out how we do need one another. Huck Finn isn't independent of his fellow man.
Red of claw and tooth - wish that were more in the foremost of people's minds than glorification of living off the land. There is no such thing as total freedom. We are limited by what our bodies need to survive Good on your father and uncle for helping them - though how could one do otherwise? There's a reaosn we have compassion. It's called survival of the species. Good on them for helping the survival of their fellow man. These people are lucky that they were found by good people, not bad.
Reminds me of the couple that went off to Alaska to live with the bears which worked for awhile until the bears decided the couple would make for a tasty meal and that was the end of that story.
@@BlazeDuskdreamer That's also a very good point! While ideas about individual vs. community obligation vary a lot among cultures, when you come from a climate that's challenging to survive in, mutual obligations become extremely important.
I’ve only ever visited Alaska and I personally cannot fathom the utterly staggering overconfidence this poor fool had to have to wander off into the wilderness without any gear
It's called privileged stupidity, dear
Egomania knows no bounds.
Could have been maniac, or pure ignorance
iirc, he had a little gear. Some fishing equipment, a gun, etc. The major problem was his lack of skills (which also meant he didn't know what gear he was missing, e.g. a bag of salt would probably have been helpful in preserving that moose), and his complete lack of a back-up plan when things went wrong (i.e. no map, no satellite phone, no one coming to check on him).
I lived there for 11 years (my son was born there and will never leave) and it's definitely not an environment to be taken lightly. I love AK, but it's nothing like the lower 48 - which is why I love it.
Based on the fact that he did not burn his money and ID and social security card, as it is indicated in the film ($300 cash and his ID cards were found among his belongings after his death) I think he had every intention of going back to the real world after he had some fun/adventure/experiences. And he was hardly in the wild, he was living in a bus with a wood stove, and there was a McDonalds 30 miles away. If only he had had a map, he would have been able to hike a mile up the river to that cable crossing. And the things he wrote in his journal at the end, about how being alone wasn’t what it was all about…I don’t get how he has been idolized. People say he died living his dream - but I’m sure at the end, when he knew he was going to die, he would have given anything to go back and make different choices.
They say he dies living his dream, but it’s more appropriate to say he died within his nightmare.
some people like living in the nature and some dont. it depends on the human.
I’ve never seen anyone idolise him. I’m confused at this. Why does everyone feel the need to state it is a cautionary tale??
Isn’t that blatantly obvious? Isn’t it redundant to have to state it
He rolled his dice and lost. You rolled your dice and won?
@@henrymorgan3982 I’ve rolled my dice many times. Have to say, I’ve been lucky, considering all the risks I took. But I admit, I never felt the urge to go off into the woods alone, with no provisions. I know my limits, taking a chance trying to live off the land isn’t something I would even want to try. But the gypsy life, that’s not so hard, lots of people do it when they are younger.
I grew up living the “outdoor life,” and that’s why I never attempted to live off of the land for more than a week at a time. We need balance in this life: wild craft skills are perfect for when the need arises, but modern conveniences actually add to overall longevity.
ua-cam.com/video/8Z9wB_NHcoc/v-deo.html
The thing I find funny is that Jon Krakauer wrote “Into The Wild” as a cautionary tale. The book (and movie naturally) is not a manifesto to convince youth to throw caution to the wind. It’s a sad story of a kid who let his intelligence overcome common sense, and it cost him his life.
Yes, exactly, thank you. "Into the Wild" is a terrific book but it is NOT an endorsement of living and dying as Chris McCandless did.
@@helengraves7850 The movie shamelessly romanticized it, especially the ending.
Exactly! The movie made him out to be some kind of sympathetic and romantic hero. There's nothing heroic about throwing your life away from a lack of common sense.
@@Gamble661 people throw their lives away all the time in society, working jobs they hate, buying things they don't need, having kids they can't take care of ect. Lots of wasted life here, we just find those paths "acceptable"
@@chrism8180 the problem is that Chris poisoned himself eating wild plants that he had no real knowledge of except reading about edible plants in a book. If he had taken time to lean from others he may have survived.
Humans: “Here’s a cautionary tale ending in a lonely, slow death. Don’t do it.”
Also humans: “that sounds great I’m gonna do it”
These people would die in stupid ways anyway, I believe...
With a few more safeguards.
Exactly. I don't get it.
People visiting the mount everest
It gets so romanticized in most retellings, unfortunately. For instance, the movie completely excludes the fact that there was a river crossing less than a kilometer away, and that he died because he'd refused his last ride's offer of a map.
Took a whole class on road scholars in college. Into the Wild was one of the books. That summer I worked in Alaska and one of the first things that happened was having a conversation with a very knowledgeable local. I remember asking him about Chris and the dude flat out saying he was an idiot. I’ll never forget that.
He was very far from being a completely inexperienced idiot as he managed to survive quite a while. He was just foolish and lost. In the end he did realize the severity of his decisions. It is just a shame that he allowed his pride and imagination to stop him from realizing sooner.
@@FunkiestMonke He was an inexperienced idiot. He has no experience of winter survival and he outright refused help from others. Making him inexperienced and an idiot.
@@StrazdasLT Many experienced people can make mistakes. It does not make them an idiot
@@internetconnection9290 he knew a lot about the local flora and fauna - and the berries that killed him. Can’t say about his drinking habit.
@@FunkiestMonke no, he was kind of an idiot. I think he would tell you that too. He had no business doing what he was doing, in the way he was doing it, but he was too drunk on his romanticism and people idealize him for it. I defended him against the guy in Alaska and in my essay, but there’s a point where you have to accept that what he did was stupid. Dying alone in the wilderness, unprepared and having eaten poisonous berries doesn’t make you a hero.
As a child and well into my teens, I used to camp with my family every spring and summer. We stayed in our fifth wheel. It taught me early not to f*ck with nature. I got to see it up close and personal but always had the trailer, stocked with food and water, to retreat into. This guy, pure as his intentions were, made every mistake in the book. He shouldn’t be seen as an inspiration but as a cautionary tale.
I remember when I lived in Alaska, anytime this guy and his story was brought up, people would usually get pissed about it. Especially people who had lived there their whole lives. Anyone with common sense knows you can't just wander out into the Alaskan wilderness with no gear and expect to survive. The guy was extremely naive and insanely overconfident, and his death was a totally needless one.
My brother asked people how they feel about him, and that's how he knows if they are from Alaska or not
man i must be from alaska at heart then, cause all i think anytime i see this guys story, is just how dumb he was. I heard it from my father to start with, and the second he said the guy went out into the alaskan wilderness i just interrupted him and said, " so he died" ..
I was in that area around 2014 and was taking a tour somewhere and this story/movie came up and the tour guide said everyone in the area considered him to be an idiot, so it would seem he was correct.
People who idolize him tend to be like him I would imagine.
I use to idolize him until I had more life experience. I think he was trying to escape pain. Troubled young men are often a threat to themselves
I am actually friends with Jim Gallien who was the electrician that saw Chris last. He gave his boots to Chris like you said in this video but what wasn't said was that Jim's name was in the boots so when they found Chris' body the police called Jim's dad and told his father that Jim was found dead. Jim actually had a warrant out for his arrest till it all got sorted out. Jim actually played himself in the movie.
Thank you very much for sharing that piece of very relevant information. Jim is a thoroughly good bloke it seems. Go well. I send my respects to your friend Jim Gallien.
Why would he put a warrant out
@@janelleg597 Because they thought Jim had done something to Chris. After he talked to the troopers he was cleared.
@@glensmall9194 Yes he is. He is now Retired and living here in Louisiana.
@@thehamelsduck1600 The way you wrote the comment made it sound like Jim had a warrant out for his arrest because they thought Jim was dead.
"He preferred to rely on his own resources".
And other people's gasolene, boots and food.
The only Legacy that this leaves behind is a story of what not to do this death was completely preventable and absolutely ridiculous
I remember reading his book in English class when I was 14. My teacher found his journey absolutely inspiring, but I personally found it wreckless. While I can understand an urge to break out of society, his way of doing so was plain dangerous due to lack of preparation, survival skills and gear. We also watched the documentary and it felt extremely forced that everyone interviewed claimed he was wonderful and insightful, with only one employer having the guts to say he was kinda obnoxious. I'm not saying he deserved his fate but 6 years after that class I still believe his tale is one of caution and not inspiration. I do feel pity for how hellish his final days/hours must've been.
You were smarter than your teacher.
I couldn't have worded it better. I would have said what a dumb ass in a Bevis & Butthead voice.
Hunger is the best way to die, or to kill yourself. Many do not know this.
@@elyzium because so few live to tell of it?
SAME! It was infuriating
This man's death has been studied countless times over the years. Recent conclusions and re-evaluation of the evidence proved he ate a poisonous plant that slowly killed him. He was too weak and unable to forage for food any longer. Sad but his inexperience killed him. I don't understand why people are idolizing him.
To be honest, this should be a message to parents about what abusing your kids does to them. To Chris, I believe it made him resent the things he had, and felt like he needed to do something, anything on his own just to spite his parent's Middle class wealth. You gotta remember, he graduated with good grades from Emory, that's not small task. Do I believe it was foolish to try and hike through Alaska as ill equipped as he was? Yes. I also believe he saw it too, hence why he stayed in the bus. I do think it's sad he had to choose what he did to prove to himself he didn't need the things the parents who had abused him had, and I think it's dumb. However, I can understand it.
Most wouldn't.
I believe people idolize him for his fearless spirit knowing full well he was not that prepared … I can understand people wanting to be like that , but that’s absolutely no reason to risk your very life to experience something so mundane
@@craigdurso3005 There's a difference between being brave and being foolhardy. This guy was definitely the latter. And there's nothing inspiring about willingly going into a situation unprepared. The people who should be admired are the people who were prepared and knowledgeable and thrived because of it.
@@nerdstop5025 most of us formerly abused kids do not go on to die in the wilderness to spite our parents.
"I want to live free from society" but he was quick to use the abandoned bus, the first sign of civilization he found in the forest. It shows why we moved out of wilderness
Society doesn't mean to him what society means to you. If not, he wouldn't have hitchhiked or wore clothes
I read the book, watched the movie. He seemed like a cool guy but he must’ve been super depressed. Walking off into the woods without adequate amounts of supplies seems like a guy whose given up
No, I'd say he was a young man who thought he was bullet-proof, a common malady for males especially under 25 years old as the brain is not full formed yet. Also, a victim of his own prior successes of rafting down the Colorado River and other adventures; I'm sure he caught some good breaks on those adventures that might have otherwise killed him, but his good fortune ran out in Alaska.
3rd generation local to area he died in. Growing up we called “the bus” a Venus Flytrap for the out of touch. It seemed like every summer multiple people would need rescued and ever couple of years people would die. You’re hard pressed to to find anyone within a 100 mile radius with a positive opinion of the guy.
I can imagine. It is a shame that Chris' arrogance made him refuse help. It sounded like that Electrician would have been willing to spend money and time to help Chris survive. the Electrician is the true hero of the story.
Congratulations on its recent removal. I agree that it was bait for a particular type of guy with something to prove, and now it's where no one can do stupid self-destructive crap in it again. Well, I mean, okay. Now without someone noticing in time to help. My best wishes to the staff who might eventually have to deal with some other joker trying to die in it now that it's harder to do.
What is perhaps equality as dumb is the curious who wanted to see the bus tomb and had to be rescued and some died.
Why does the previous two generations living their lives in the region have to do with you living your life in the region?
@@BlueButtonFly ? they were just giving context lol
The irony, of the ideation for escaping social constructions for the wild, symbolized and memorialized by a city bus
Indeed!!!!
A bus that was, eventually, removed from the wild by significant technology and brought to be enshrined in a safe warm museum to be looked at by presumably paying tourists.
Too many adverbs
@@johngoldsworthy7135 they removed the bus, and placed it in a museum.
@@animasternorris6508, you forgot "helicopter go brrrr."
In the summer of 1991 I was hiking solo southbound along the John Muir Trail in Yosemite. Being solo, one tends to stop and chat with just about anybody you see on the trail. Most everybody is very talkative and very helpful. Except one northbound guy I met who was also solo who had a very bushy beard and amazingly said he has started in Mexico. I asked him about the trail ahead where he had just come from, and he had very little to say. He was different from anybody else I met being so quiet. I was amazed that he had come all the way from the Mexican border. I’ll never forget that. I don’t know for a fact that this was McCandless, but the timing and the behavior of this person, and his trail history, has me convinced that it was him. I have a vague memory of what this guy looked like that I met, and it’s very similar to what I see in the pictures of McCandless in Alaska.
Did he seem like an over blown narcissist jackass who spent all his time minimizing everyone else and couldn't even be bothered to check out a river a mile up and down from the camp he lived for months?
"He lived life by his own rules"
No, he didnt. He lived by nature's rules, and under those rules, he didn't last a year.
Honestly asking someone if they admire this man is a fantastic test case on finding out who will actually be a responsible adult.
I've read a lot about Chris's story, and it sounds like he was a very charismatic young man- nearly everyone that interacted with him claimed to like him. That being said, he was a pretty terrible survivalist- he really had no idea what he was doing. There were ways he could've easily preserved the moose to make it last him much longer, learned more about the area he was in, and learned what plants were and were not safe to eat. Like I said, I think he was probably a very charming and likable young man, but once he was out in the wild on his own, none of that mattered.
Given how naive and unprepared he was, I find it really impressive he survived as long as he did.
I agree with your positive comments on him. And also your negative. He was nice and all, but he was a dumbass. To be blunt.
He is still used as an example of a very stupid outsider back home in Alaska.
Great young man? I think the worlds you’re looking for are cocky, underprepared, no respect for the power of nature and a complete and utter lack of care for all his friends and family that loved him. There, I fixed it for you. Dude couldn’t tell the difference between an elk and a deer. This kid shouldn’t of been allowed outside of his house by himself let alone in the middle a forest by himself.
And that’s even more supported by the fact that the surrounding city has removed the bus because tons of other ignorant, under prepared kids lacking a shred of respect for nature were getting stuck and needing rescuing SO OFTEN that they need to increase their tax rate to fund the obscene number of morons they kept having to rescue. The surrounding areas HATES these idiots.
I have zero respect for anyone who thinks what this kid did was courageous or even remotely intelligent. He is the definition of a psychopath. No empathy whatsoever even for his own loved ones, thinks he knew everything about the wilderness and ignored everyone who told him not to do this. It drives me absolutely insane that this kid has been turned into some sort of hero to look up to. No, no he wasn’t. He is the perfect example of how easily you can get yourself killed doing something you didn’t have a shot in hell at completing and leaving your loved ones to pick up the pieces their lives because their sons childish immature decisions.
Stop idolizing him.
I agree. That's why I've always found it odd that he has become a sort of folk hero
i'm alaskan. everyone i ever knew growing up HATED this guy. he was essentially a joke about how outsiders foolishly underestimate and romanticize the harshness of our wilderness. we are literally raised from birth not to contend with the elements unprepared the way that he did, because even seemingly innocuous activities like a mountain hike or a quick trip on a fishing boat can become life or death at any moment. my parents saw mccandless as an idiot too, even though they also lived that nomadic hitchhiking lifestyle themselves for many years. it wasn't until i moved to the lower 48 that i met people who genuinely idolized him or found his story inspiring, and i couldn't believe it.
also: funny that he went to emory, i didn't know that. i go to emory now. weird coincidence
Kinda Figured that Locals would feel that way. Hell I have the same feelings
Its the same in central Oz there was a time when not a summer would go by with out one or more tourists underestimating the dangers of the death valley heat and over estimating there ability's, then they get bogged in sand and do the worst thing you can do and leave the vehicle, what you do is dig a hole and set fire to the spare tire in it and wait for some one to come and find out what is burning.
I don't get the hate. Pity sure.
One need not be a local or describe themselves as naturalist or familiar with the wilderness to see the "problems" with this guy’s thinking. It’s not just his unpreparedness because even if he had survived out there, he’s not proving any worthy point against civilization, because under the weight of a thoughtful argument (he probably was never put under) he simply is just as bad and nothing more than a mini-representation of the ills of civilization.
He was just looking out for number one, selfish, and destructive. The fact he was solitary didn't change that. He was living an illusion of independence, and in no way truly free of civilization. He was merely off-the-grid, but still very much dependent on benefits of civilization. He basically just didn't want to be told what to do and take the credit of too much about his being alive. The simple test is if thousands of people did the same thing, would it be horrible, and clearly it would have been. The only thing that fooled him into thinking there was anything "valid" or sustainable or laudable about his life was that almost nobody else follows it. To put it simply, he basically was a city boy shitting in a reserve.
When it got to the part he killed a whole moose and the whole thing spoiled, that's frankly despicable and claiming to live off the land is absolutely no excuse. Native peoples would kill game, but they truly WERE at one with nature (as best they could) and a moose would have gotten entirely used or not taken down. Anyway, I agree with all your locals’ opinion, but where you live give it no more weight at all. Anyone anywhere would agree.
@@seeingeyegod I think he is quite off putting in his writing and general world outlook. I wouldn't wish harm on the guy or glory in his tragic end, but I find his outlook and hubris to be annoying.
I lived that way during those same years. Hit the John Muir, Appalachian, PCT...most of what's the "American Discovery" trail now. I relate to the wanderlust. I still have it. I still live a life that puts others on edge. But that's their limitation, not mine.
As a life long Alaskan, thank you! Senseless!!I hated when people were idolizing him.
Noting highlights more that he was just a kid than that journal entry. It's all song and book quotes strung together. For instance, the lint "No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes." It is from the song "King of the Road," with one modification of the last words in the song are "ain't got no cigarettes." It's so freaking tragic and even more tragic that so many kids try to emulate him. You can live away from civilization, you can live off the land, but you have to be prepared and have the knowledge on how to do so.
Richard Proenneke had the same idea, but he was a skilled woodsman and spent years preparing. He successfully lived alone in the Alaskan wilderness for 30 years.
And Richard, I respect. Chris, not even a little bit.
Richard was a legend. Great skill with his hands. He could fabricate almost anything.
With supplies flown in.
@@thebirdee55 Ask anyone who lives in Alaska what they really think about people like that and they'll tell you, they're a pain in the ass. This kids story convinced people that he was some sort of martyr and they should emulate him. If you have the experience to do it fine! If you do not know how to survive in the wilderness and go anyway, you are creating an unwanted burden for the people of that community to bear!
@@rkow8508 That's one thing that people don't realize, is that Dick had supplies flown in. Still, his craftsmanship, was second to none.
Based on his last entry, I think he may have eaten some Nightshade berries thinking they were blueberries. Nightshade can cause paralysis which may be why he stopped being able to forage. Day 107 he says "Beautiful Blueberries."
esp in his state that would finish you off
Beautiful smarty pants
Either way he was a moron.
Thats nightlock Peeta!
@@indiabee8073 ffs that made me laugh
To have the audacity to think you’re just gonna go into the Alaskan wilderness having never lived there and thinking you can make it with nothing is insane.
The reason for his doing it?....hubris.
Very sad - he refused multiple attempts by people who were starkly warning him he was un-prepared and even offered to buy him all the necessary supplies before dropping him off. Those facts really change the glorification of his "free spirit adventure" that this is often made out to be. Many people do what he did and survive because they aren't completely stubborn and idiotic
This is a reminder of what "leftists" are prepared to do to prove their immature points. Today by 2020s this kind of realism is brought to the very gates of society itself.. Consequences are already terrible and will get worse by time.
idiotic, is living in the modern world and having the ignorance to ignore the sheer destruction of our planet and the filthy greed which we think we are entitiled to.
@@bujfvjg7222 the fact that he died proves he was idiotic. many people do what he does and live simply without falling victim to delusional thinking. the opposite of consumerism isn't throwing your life away in pursuit of idealism, that's the definition of stupidity.
@@bujfvjg7222 Ay, bish, we can have electricity and not burn the planet down. We don't have to strip down buck nekkid and leave all our man-made structures behind to stop climate change. Cut down on the excess, vote appropriately, drive less... But if you wanna follow the lead of good ol' Chris, then be my guest. Have fun eating a poisonous plant and wasting away all on your own while I survive within walking distance of a store and my backyard garden.
Many congratulations Fascinating Horror on episode 101! 🎉
101 ??? Can't believe I watched them all!
@@lahodal and many 2, 3, 4 times! FH really is a great channel.
Yesssss!!!!
@@lahodal I've just remembered... there is one episode I've never finished: nutty putty caves... 🤢
Thank you! Finally a positive comment not bashing this poor boy who met his fate following his heart. A widely told story because of the person and events leading up to his death. And it was well documented by Chris.
He didn't go into the wild to die, he went to find life. Unfortunely he died after realising what life means to him. Tragic in every sense of the word.
He was simply a black sheep who didn't feel like he fit in anywhere in this world. I can relate. He just wanted to live life on his own terms and not be bugged by people trying to tell him what to do. He had a great dream to live in the wild but unfortunately, he underestimated mother nature. The wilderness is incredibly beautiful but it won't hesitate to swallow you whole if you aren't well prepared to face it. He was a very young man who died because he didn't know any better (ignorance) and that's really sad. R.I.P. Christopher MCcandless.
It’s stories like his that make me feel better about being that one guy in my group who obsesses over maps, weather reports, and packing 3 days of food and water for a day hike or boating trip. The knowledge base was there for him to learn as he gradually made his way to Alaska. It’s the foolishness of not taking advantage of resources that did him in.
I only join groups that include a guy like that. Nothing wrong with being that guy.
I would never go tramping/hiking with you. Are you an accountant?
And you're correct in doing so.
yeah he had an over-romanticized view of living off grid and survivalism. he didn't realize that we built society and creature comforts to escape the brutalities of nature. it's too bad he didn't realize how truly cruel and indifferent life is without societal establishments.
…… ……. Shut up.
The fact that he didn’t even have a map of the area makes me wonder what he was thinking, usually when people underestimate the gear they need they at least have a map with them.
He had no real goal or destination, he was lost in more ways than one and after leaving the path didn't care to return to it anymore.
This is why some people speculated perhaps he went out there to die (suicide)
He shunned maps on purpose because he liked the "challenge" of finding his own way, pretending he was the first person to ever cover that ground. I think if he knew ahead of time there was a bus out there, he would have avoided it on principle, but since he stumbled upon it, he loved it. He didn't recognize the hypocrisy of living off the land in the shelter of a man-made bus.
I think it's possible to admire what he tried to do while aknowledging his faults and shortcomings.
This was a really solid summary of the whole topic, while introducing many of the themes that make his story so relatable and controversial. Thank you!
I have never understood the fascination of this man. He went into one of the most inhospitable lands in the world completely under prepared both physically and mentally then died.
Instead of looking up this this man, we should all point and say, "don't be this guy!"
Dude had plenty of money to just move to Alaska and live there, restart his life but he gave it away and lived like a hobo, a hobo who died in a van down by the river ...🤦♀️
Do people really look up to him? There are less deadly ways to rebel against your parents, hmm?
@@lornarettig3215 I would mostly assume it's younger kids- That's how I was lol. Now I realize how much of a stupid idea it is.
I think he must be tired of his normal life.
The only legacy his story should hold is one of warning. His choice in literature shows how unprepared he was for his little adventure, nowhere do I see him reading actual accounts of wilderness survival, just romantic works of fiction. He either forgot or was never told the #1 Rule of the Wilderness, Never Go Alone. His story is exactly why this is the rule, there is nothing inspiring about it, he was a fool who died because he made very foolish decisions that could have been avoided if he had chosen his reading material a little more thoughtfully.
lol pipe down Archibald
A bit harsh, but absolutely true. Confidence is simply arrogance if you don’t have a plan.
What confuses me was he read Jack London and while Jack London romanticizes the wild he also repeatedly writes about dumbasses who think they know better and wind up getting themselves killed. He wrote a whole short story about a guy freezing to death. There's a bit in _Call of the Wild_ about a city couple who mount an expedition into the wilderness and wind up on a grueling death march because they planned poorly and didn't ration their food right before eventually drowning in a freezing river. Jack London ****ing traumatized me with stories of poorly prepared people who died in the wilderness.
This guy was definitely warned.
In Oz rule one is tell the local police where you are going and when you will be back and if you don't return no effort will be spared looking for you, because we all know that one day it might be you that needs help.
If he was a Jack London fan, surely he read that short story, “To Build a Fire”? That story is a cautionary tale about going into the Alaskan wilderness unprepared & unknowledgeable!
I live in Alaska and one thing we were taught in Boy Scouts is the importance of being prepared in the wilderness of Alaska, He was not prepared at all. I’m glad the state moved the bus because so many people had to be rescued by ether Alaska State Troopers or the Coast Guard because the got trapped by rising water or weren’t prepared like this guy wasting our tax dollars. I also believe that the bus should be scrapped instead of the bus being saved, why should the bus were a guy died because of his stupidity be saved.
His sister had arranged to get the bus moved to another location. Too many people were taking to high a risk to get to it to pay their respects. Corrine wrote another book called The Wild Truth that goes deeper into details about her family.
she never planned to get the bus moved the cause even her was surprised to hear that they were moving it. She even participated in a mouvement against it .
His sister doesn't have the authority to get the bus moved. It was a collaboration between the state government and the National Guard.
I remember hearing about Chris and learning about his story and I thought that he was pretty cool and I kinda looked up to him because I wanted to do something similar. Not erase my whole identity and burn my money and social security card, but go off the grid for a bit and live alone. Then I read the book by Jon Krakauer and realized that Chris was a total idiot and no longer looked up to him. He went out into the wild, especially one as unforgiving as Alaska with zero knowledge of the terrain, no survival skills, no tools or weapons to protect himself and or properly kill for food. He was totally ignorant and died because he had no idea what he was doing. What he did wasn't bold or cool, it was really stupid and careless. If you're going to go off grid you got to have the proper tools to survive, especially in Alaska or you die. That's just the truth, you die. Not making fun of him or talking trash, but he made me mad because he didn't have to die. He was just dumb.
The fact that he suffered and died scared, alone, is the tragedy here. Just sad.
+Rhett Regan Many idealists still look up to the guy and want nothing more than to be like him. They glorify the guys’ unfortunate but preventable death and see it as him going out on his own terms. Makes me sad to think about.
I find him pitiable. Especially after reading "The Wild Truth", the book written by his sister detailing the horrific abuse by their parents. They drove him to do something this insane and moronic. They messed him up badly.
@@darylesells19 Sorry to tell you, but those are NOT idealists. Anyone who looks up to the guy is a fool.
Look, I'm not about to tell you "Don't go trying your hand at living off the land or off grid... as wild as you like... I'd be a hypocrite to try. I went... I did it. Been out for more than a year without so much modern convenience as electricity.
It turns out, I rather like electricity and the internet. It was a damn good break, to be sure... simplify things a bit, learn what it is to be hungry, to be FOR REAL cold... to worry about where a meal's going to come from... if there's even going to be a meal.
BUT it's not all a horrific shit-show, either. If you're up for it, it's magical... BUT you BETTER be up for it. You'd best have those essential skills and at least SOME primitive equipment to manage. It's never easy... BUT it can clear your head. It really CAN cleanse you of most of the BULLSHIT that society heaps on you like it's a fact of life when it isn't... It's opinion, social constructs, and a question of whether or not you agree to it.
Nature doesn't suffer fools. That's plain old Darwinism... and there may be plenty to hold against the man, but you better respect what he wrote about. He was onto something, there.
There REALLY ARE professionals and courses and camps where you can go and LEARN what you need and what to do. There are steps along the way to take before you plunge "all in" as it were for even an Alaskan weekender... which can definitely kill you, if you're unprepared. The guys to look up to in an idealistic fashion are a LOT more like Cody Lundin, simple and straight forward, without a whole lot of hooey about special forces this or expert marksmanship that... They're humble and constantly concerned about doing things the best way, with safety among the top 3 concerns, alternatives to "Plan A" and the knowledge base to think on their feet and improvise. They aren't show-offs or searching the latest flashy disgusting way to twist your face at home with something gross or morbid. They don't take two steps and dive off the deep end. They're not well known for "woo-hoo" either... It's business until the basics are covered, and then maybe... if time and daylight allows... a little fun or mischief might be okay.
It's just too damn easy for your "luck" to turn sour on a dime and give you the last change you'll ever see in your life. ;o)
@@darylesells19 People do the same with Timothy "Grizzly Man" Treadwell.
I find it very strange how many people, intrigued by Chris's story, journey to the site of his last days...and often get stuck or injured in the process.
That's literally the reason he died. He didn't plan far ahead, and trapped in the wilderness sadly was killed by the unforgiving elements of the very thing he was so infatuated with.
Same reason people climb Everest, solo sail the globe, drive race cars etc
They're living life
@@MrAshyb87 I mean getting stuck in the exact same scenario. By all means, hike out to the spot he lived, but at the least PLAN ahead.
He assumed all outdoor locations were the same and he could live them in all in the same exact manner. Ignoring someone who lived there and believing he knew better was the earmark of his ultimate arrogance.
@@williamlydon2554 I bet he wished he did, but he wanted adventure and so do others. Who are you to or I to tell anyone else that they can't live as nature intended
Yeah, that's why the National Guard moved it; so people would stop risking injury to go see it. It's at University of Alaska Fairbanks now.
Excellent encapsulation of the Chris McCandless story - I read the whole darned book Into the Wild, and you provided as engrossing and satisfying a report in less than 12 mins.! Sterling stuff!!!
All these years after watching Into The Wild I still hold the same sentiment: this man was infuriatingly nieve.
He was so unprepared that he didn't even make it to the Alaskan fall let alone winter. I was expecting bears to get him.
Nah that's Timothy Treadwell.
@@Spearca Yeah, true. And to continue being fair to Treadwell, he does seem to have realised that what he was doing was extremely dangerous - in a clip from one of his videologs, he says "Come here, try to do what I do - you will die." He just thought he had figured out a way to live safely among the bears.
I read “Into the Wild” for high school summer reading. It was quite fascinating to hear about this person. The saddest part to read was that McCandless couldn’t take the family dog with him, and the dog was still waiting for him to come home. Though considering how ill-prepared he was for tackling the Alaskan wilderness, his story probably would have been more tragic than it already was if the dog came with him
The dog dodged a bullet and lived a longer more pleasant life. It probably missed him, but we've all got people we miss.
He would have been driven to eat his own dog if he brought it. No way a person starving to death would pass up on eating a pet. That pain will drive you to eat other humans nevermind a dog.
The story resonated very deeply with me when I read it in high school. Still does to an extent. It helped me put words to a lot of the challenges that I felt in my life at the time. In some ways, I wanted to emulate him. At the same time, I think his story may have helped steer me away from that kind of self destruction. I didn't realize he was ~24. I've just surpassed him in age. Weird to reflect on
"Into the Wild" is fantasy invented by Krakauer. If you want the facts, read Alaska journalist Craig Medred's reporting.
Read his sisters book..it explains a lot about their upbringing it was a nightmare
As an indigenous Alaskan this is both sad and amusing to me at the same time
It's sad that some people don't understand how Alaska Natives survived for centuries by relying on community and learning from people who are more experienced.
I’ve hunted the Stampede trail, ran into a bunch of tourists hiking out to the bus. People don’t seem to realize he was never more than 12 miles by trail from a gas station. The trail isn’t bad, muddy and swampy, but fairly easily passable. The Teklanika river is the real danger, it would have been doable to swim across if it was life or death.
Interesting that he was only ever 12 miles from some form of civilisation.
His life is inspiring to dreamers who don't want to put in the work and who endanger those who have to save their asses.
Your comment should have been written on his tombstone!
Exactly! Why people are inspired by this life is beyond me. If he had lived he would’ve looked back on himself and said I can’t believe what a fool I was. Why do people admire dying so needlessly?
Imaging dying, trying to find a bus of a guy that underestimated the wilderness, by underestimating the wilderness
Reminds me of the explorer Percy Fawcett. Before he and his group went off into the Amazon he told everyone, if we disappear don't come looking for us or more people will be lost. They ignored him and over 100 died searching for them.
The bus was moved to a safer place.
@@ellenbedford3888 it was. It’s was airlifted out and redone to be put in a museum.
@@samanthaspeckman6648 I follow his sister - moving it will help preserve it, and hopefully keep people from risking their lives to see it.
@@shrimpflea that's an tale only one man died in reality
I had to read a biography on this guy for Sociology class 20 years ago and I never quite understand the lore behind him.
He came from a home of upper class wealth and he eschewed society so he could be a homeless bum. He had all the tools to succeed but he threw them all away for wanderlust.
I guess maybe thats why his story lingers to the point they made a movie about him. He had a Silver Spoon and all the tools but he threw it all away so he could die alone and unprepared in the Alaskan wilderness.
SMH. I wasnt inspired by reading his story, I saw it as a cautionary tale.
Such a great film and book I have been intrigued with the story for many years and now my 17 year old son carries the mantle of fascination
"He was a courageous young man." Perhaps in other escapades of his, but that final trek? No. Courage is facing danger that cannot be avoided. Stupidity is putting yourself into danger for no reason. It's pretty obvious which one he was. 🤦♀️
Thank you for saying that!! Too many people think it's not that hard to go off the grid, and they always ascribe those who do it with some sort of depth that they may or may not have.
Exactly.
👏👏👏
Totally agree. It is sad that the tenacity he had for adventure was not balanced with understanding self preservation.
He won his Darwin award
I've never met a single person who's actually been in any actual wilderness that finds this tale anything other than cautionary and induces head shakes about his stupidity.
Wanting to get out of the cities and live rough is fine, and very doable. You can't just wander into the wilderness and assume you'll be fine though. Did he skip over the parts in all those Jack London novels where people died due to lack of knowledge? It happens quite a lot actually.
He must have skipped "To Build a Fire."
@@maryeckel9682 I always figure he was sort of self sabotaging. LIke how some see dying on a war as heroic, he too saw going to the forest and dying by nature as a way to die.
I've lived in Alaska my entire life. I used to feel the way you characterize people who have lived in and around wilderness feel, but I've come to admire his desire to purge himself of the narratives many of us affiliate with. I wish I had met him.
@@maryeckel9682 That's what I was thinking too. That story didn't have a happy ending either.
@@islandblind There's a convicted killer (who stabbed her ex bf to death in 2018) who'd legally changed her surname to "McCandless" because she so admired Christopher. (Erza McCandless).
this video is excellently prepared. thank you.
This man's examples helps shed light on the plight of ancient human exploration.
"He wanted to find his own, more meaningful path in life"
What he didn't realize is that finding your path in life is a luxury reserved for those with a full stomach.
And it ended in a bus left by society 😬
Couldn't have said it better myself. While I admire wanting to be around nature, this guy was arrogant, overconfidently foolish.
This story reminds me of the guy who was obsessed with bears and was eventually eaten by one. (Grizzly Man) It doesn't matter how much love and respect you have for nature, the feeling isn't mutual. Nature doesn't give a shit about you.
I very much regret looking into this one, I don't know if that audio was real or fake but it was horrifying.
@@alicerose512 luckily for you, it's fake. the real audio was never released. you could also look at the series of events/description of the real audio
Same would apply to society regardless of how much “safer” you think you are in it. Society could truly not care what happens to you and you will 100% be left living in survival till death unless you are wealthy. At least animals are reacting according to their nature. Humans go around it just to do heinous things. Just pick a struggle.
when I was fifteen years old, I got myself involved in school bullying and unhappy family relationships. I thought my real life is meaningless and became addicted to book reading and self thinking.I want to got out of control from society. It was at that time I saw this movie. I also regard freedom as my “lifelong” belief. But being twenty years old now, I realize it was not for the freedom but for escaping from those damages from real life. However I still love this silly boy and his story. Just like he said, if life was determined only by rationality, it will be meaningless.
'No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes' is a reference to the song King of The Road by Roger Miller
He also references ‘The End’ by the Doors with The West is the Best.
I watched Into the Wild with my partner (whose parents are refugees and struggled with poverty) and how can I say -- it was a different experience. My coworker (middle-upper class) suggested this movie, hoping it would inspire us, like it did to her. My partner was frustrated the whole time. We both agreed that it was a very sad fate, but let's say that type of behavior wouldn't happened to someone in a third-world country...
Exactly. The people who actually have experienced real hardship and starvation appreciate the luxuries of modern society.
Or even someone who grew up in the environment that Christopher died in. Ppl that grow up in Alaska know exactly how dangerous the wilderness is and how being prepared and knowing the surrounding area can be the difference between life and death. I don't understand why ppl find it inspiring. It seems like a cautionary tale more than anything else to me.
His story reeks of privilege and ignorance, the type of thing that only someone who knows nothing but a comfortable comparatively easy going lifestyle would want or hope for
@@SadisticSenpai61 I agree, I'm just from Michigan, and already respect the wilderness way too much to try something like that. Alaska is nuts. I guess some city people are like that though, I was surfing with my friend and a baby sea lion started playing with us (turns out they do that) and my first thought having grown up with bears, was "GET OUT!!! WILD ANIMAL BABY!!! DANGER!!!!" and she was "Aw cute it's playing with us!" I'm not exactly afraid of a sea lion baby, but I also didn't want to unintentionally anger a giant sea creature protecting her young, who can definitely swim better than I can.
@@MsAngrybutterfly 1000% NEVER get between a mama and her baby!
I enjoyed most of the books I had to read in high school. I recognized that they contained life lessons that I maybe didn't understand yet, or that I wasn't old enough to fully appreciate.
One of my English teachers loved this guys story, he idolized him. My district was rather poor and rural. Some families here hunt for food, others grow a lot of their own out of necessity. Even the people who didn't have to generally knew plenty who did, or grew up having to. That section of English class did not go over well, telling a bunch of people who relied on each other during hard times that we should look up to this guys independent spirit was a tad tone deaf.
That is interesting. I find idolizing this guy off-putting for other reasons, but yours makes sense, also.
It's a terribly sad story, but I think there is a tendency for people to romanticise this sort of lifestyle. When you look at people who appear to have 'dropped out' of society, you generally find it's exactly the opposite - they have an infrastructure and a support system who they can turn to for help. People are so quick to dismiss community, yet we see time and time again what a wonderful and essential thing it is. I live in Scotland, and even with our milder weather, it's easy to die from exposure outside, people get killed while out on the hills in winter, and you couldn't survive by foraging alone. I can't help wondering if the ascetic experience was so important to him that he pushed himself beyond the limit that anyone could survive at. I wouldn't recommend that to anyone.
Thankfully my English teacher didn’t romanticize his choices
I also grew up in a small rural community with a big hunting and agricultural focus, everyone knows everybody and tries to help when someone needs it
Yup. He was privileged. Even choosing this "drop-out" lifestyle over his family's wealth is privileged.
@@missmays4933 Yes. Absolutely privileged and arrogant. Both led him to have a naive, ignorant view of the world as being less difficult and dangerous and his own capability as far greater that it was. Never occurred to him that people who lived off the land had skills, knowledge, knowledge of the area... or that people rely on each other to survive, even if you hate daddy, it's still human-normal to rely on others. But no, I'm super-man, and everything I want will be easily attainable as I reject kindly help from everyone and write lofty heroic prose about myself and my personal greatness of being spiritually reborn a child of the wilderness... unlike assholes who like cities, or people who can't literally being 100% independent like me...
What's so unfortunate is that, because of his vitality and drive and the impact he had on people, he had ALL the tools and support to do this right. He could have learned and truly loved the life he was after, but instead decided to be stubborn and live off dreams only. Sad
This surely defines “a sad and tragic tale”. You cannot be obstinate refusing to lean the ways of wilderness survival. It will not often show you mercy in the face of adversity. Death will be the worst part of your legacy. He really was a true good person and I wish he had learned how to survive as I think he had the makings of a good writer and could have affected many people about nature’s adventures in a more positive way rather than through his death. You are missed McCandless, you left us way too soon. Your memory will haunt many of us.
His story only gets more tragic when you see how narcissistic his parents are, and how far into denial they are. It's clear that all Chris wanted from them was real human love, but they just kept giving him *things* instead of giving themselves. I have a hippie friend who reminds me a bit of Chris, although this friend is way too smart to attempt what he did. But this person also has a narcissistic parent. They seem to always be looking for something they cannot find. It is super sad. They have a hole in their heart that cannot be filled.
His sister has straight up been cashing in on the whole thing
The apple didn't fall far from the tree, sadly, because Chris' own narcissism drove his delusional belief that he had the ability to live out there with no survival equipment.
@@damonroberts7372 Hear hear ! I could not agree more with what you said. I find so many who think like Chris did to be unbearable to be around. Very pompous and arrogant to be so critical of society and yet they still rely on it. eg. If it wasn't for other people working and spending their hard earned money on vehicles Chris could not been to half the places that he went to. This notion that so many have, that they can call it quits and remove themselves from society and 'live off the land' is just so naive and very urban. People who live near nature, understand just how brutal and unforgiving nature can be. You don't wander off into the Alaskan land scape without even proper foot wear and think you will do just fine, that you can beat nature at it's game. There is a good reason why man lives in proper housing and have invented heat sources and figured out how to have a constant food source even if it means not being 'real' or 'authentic', to quote Oprah the day she cannonised him, "Saint Chris, patron saint of the bush. Zzzzzzzzzzzz. In the end was just a silly boy who was running away from life and responsibilities because he was too weak and fragile to deal with them. I hope youth will someday grow up and come to the same conclusions and no longer worship his foolish dreams.
@@shaannun I think you’re right, it is an urban mindset.
I look at it a bit differently. I see parents who are realists and tried to promote the need to be active, productive members of society so that you can be financially stable through your adult lives. He rebelled. Didn't want anything to do with that life style because for some reason he wanted to be a rebel, be his own man following his own rules. To ignore that life can be extremely cruel and if you don't have the resources to weather hard times you pay the price.
I'm not even sure he learned his lesson even as he reached the end of his life. He learned that this was a bit too much for him to take on. But had he survived this due to some human intervention, he likely would have only taken from it that he needed to stay in the continental US. He would have told people not to try life in the Alaskan frontier but he would still be that guy living on the streets as a hobo. Working just enough to make money to keep his basic survival needs met. At some point somebody would probably come across him in the woods in Oregon. Living in a makeshift camp on property that he doesn't own but was too remote for anybody to care. Only civilization eventually finds and he becomes bitter that civilization won't leave him alone to live that hermit lifestyle. He chose Alaska because he knew he could probably spend the rest of his life being left alone. And that is what he wanted.
When i watched the film, i admired his self sufficiency and his desire to break from society and to just disappear, however ''going it alone'' in the Alaskan wild is just suicide, he may as well had put a gun to his head. Alaska and Siberia are the second most hostile environment on the planet and not planning ahead makes his demise predictable.
Make no mistake berries, animals there may be but it is a coniferous wasteland and strong rivers that deserves respect.
Right? Whole families that have been there for generations are constantly finding work to make sure they’ll survive.
My wife is from Alaska, we took a hike a few years ago to see Bus 142. What a story, and an experience I am grateful for. They removed the bus in 2020 for safety 😥
Probably because people like you kept hiking to it.
ua-cam.com/video/8Z9wB_NHcoc/v-deo.html
I never met him but feel sorry for him. I don't know why some hail him as a hero, when his mistakes should be seen as a cautionary tale because of how he died. May he rest in peace
Dude, who reads Jack London and goes out into the wilderness unprepared? I've read maybe all of two things by him and what I remember most vividly were the stories of unprepared people going out into the wilderness and dying. In particular he wrote a short story about a guy who travels when it's way too cold out and freezes to death. That traumatized me a little man.
Nods. I only remember two assigned books: The Interlopers by Saki & To Build a Fire by London.
Let's pretend his passion was Nascar driving...
Christopher McCandless sets off, from California in an old car he rebuilt himself (he replaced the fenders and painted it), on a trip to the Daytona 500. He only gets across the state line when he runs out of fuel because he forgot to fill it up. Instead of simply walking to the nearest gas station or flagging down help he decides to push his car over an embankment and set it on fire. He then proceeds to walk on foot to the nearest car lot (which happens to be in Mexico for some reason, mostly because he burned up his map in the car and he's been taking backroads.) He finds an old bicycle in a garbage dump and uses that.
He finally gets to the car lot and buys a fixer-upper for $50. Before leaving the car lot he has to change a tire, which he replaces with the solid rubber donut. He buys fuel and heads off to the Daytona 500 again. Only he's heading deeper into Mexico and eventually ends up broken down in front of, "Autodromo Internacional de la Jolla" due to no water in the radiator. The engine block has seized up. Luckily, there's a race about to start. Christopher...er "Alexander Superspeeder", who changed his name, pays the $125 entry fee for the race.
Unfortunately, Alexander Superspeeder doesn't have a race car. He does however have an old bicycle still. He uses the bicycle to race. He makes it only 3 laps before he is too tired to steer straight and veers off into a race car and is killed.
Some Jew picks up his story and writes a book about his life and how he followed his dreams. Another Jew makes a movie about it. Armchair racers around the world adore him.
The End.
My teacher read my class “To Build a Fire” when I was in the 3rd grade. I was kind of afraid to go out and play in the snow that winter.
He thought he was too smart for that to happen to him.
@@whiteyfisk9769 now why are we being antisemitic rn
He may have cast off civilization for two years but he certainly wanted what it had to offer near the end when he was getting weak and ill. Live your dreams but there's nothing wrong with preparedness and a backup plan.
Chris was a 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
Yes. It would have been avoidable if he had brought enough supplies and knowledge in survival skills. You can live similarly to Chris as long as you bring enough recourses and knowledge of what you need and how to do things, and a way of access back into society to obtain medicine or in need of a hospital if you ever need it. That way you can go back and forth in-between the wilderness and civilisation however much you like, and live a more “wild” life without such a high risk of death from starvation, dehydration or injury.
There's a story of a woman older woman she did the same thing she decided to go live off the land out in the woods not needing any money or anything bartering for anything she couldn't do herself unfortunately she had to put that all to an end because you can't barter for cancer treatments so she had to rejoin society to save her life
I've seen maybe 6 videos on this individual and in 10 mins you cover info that 6 hours worth of documentaries didn't even include. Once again, fascinating stuff chap!!
Went to the Alaskan wilderness unprepared because "civilization bad"
But as soon as shit hit the floor he tried coming back. The stupidity of some people smh.
@@free_balloons I'm younger than him, he was in his mid 20's, I'm 19. Still a teenager. And yet I'm smarter and wiser than him. That's why I'm still alive and will probably be alive after I reach 24. There is no excuse for stupidity.
My husband could have been this young man. He loved the outdoors, was a boy scout, learned hiking and camping in the rough. Later as a young man of about 20 he took off on his own. He wandered around the country, living in Louisiana, New Mexico, Colorado to name a few hitching rides and occasionally picking up jobs. He lived this young mans life up and even he says that if Christopher was truly as experienced as everyone says, he would never have gone into the wilds of Alaska with the meager preparations he did. It is very possible to do what Christopher wanted to do...go off grid, live off the land in the wild. But to succeed in doing it, you HAVE to be prepared unless you are willing to die like this young man. To go so ill prepared is foolish. His wanderings can be an inspiration...to live free with no set schedule or rules. Many people dream of that. But once he stepped into the wilds of Alaska with the small preparations he had made...he was already over his head and was too blind to see it. That was his major misstep...confidence is good but when it becomes over confidence, that's when things can go terribly wrong.
Sounds like he got over confident on his skills and how the needs/skills to survive in one location are the same to do so in others. Easiest would be to ask a local "what is the minimum to survive doing x" and often they would say it. Biggest is knowledge of the area.
Seems like your husband knows the scout motto by heart! “Be Prepared”
I've seen this story in different forms over the years, and it still shocks me. Not the naivety of one man, but the fact that there are so many other people who think this is "inspirational" and want to be like him. One man making bad decisions that led to his tragic death is bad enough. But realizing that there are so many others like him just paints a grim picture of our species in general.
There's always been morons. We need fewer things saving them from themselves.
I can understand it being inspirational. I want to get the hell away from society myself. But I'm not going to just traipse off into the Georgia wilderness just to get bitten by and cottonmouth and die. I'm going to stack cash, buy a farm, and GTFO.
@@Firevine that comment made me laugh! Fair play!
~ the weekend warrior whose never taken a risk in his life
Yeah, I feel like I'm being cruel, but I can't bring myself to feel sorry for him.
He was so arrogant.
I am a sophomore in my English class we are reading Into The Wild which gives a whole aspect on Chrises journey in the wild and life as a whole. I can’t wait to watch this video.
As an an avid outdoorsman, I admire Chris on so many levels. He is both a cautionary tale and someone whose intentions were admirable, albeit poorly executed. It is possible to view him from multiple points all at the same time. At 10:47: everything Chris was railing against. Let’s move the bus to make it easier for people. We have lost our adventurous spirit in this time of instant gratification. He would have hated having the bus in a museum.
I don't get it... dude shrugs off the blessings he had to trekk out into the wild and play bushman and people think he's a prophet or something. . . to the point where people literally died going out to the same place he did.
cautionary tale on more than one level, mostly being that you shouldn't follow some nu-age spiritual guru nonsense. Truth comes from Christ, not his creation. This isn't about adventure or instant gratification, this dude callously walked into the wilderness unprepared, was too proud to accept any help and got himself killed.
If anything this story should serve as what not to do, he shouldn't be looked up to... this is why they had to move the bus lol.
I think the younger we are, the easier it is to romanticize this story. As we get older, it becomes a warning, a tragic tale....not so romantic anymore.
I thought it was stupid when I was 19 and the movie came out back in 2007. Not the movie it was pretty good, I just don’t see how he could have done this what was he thinking?
@@Tommy88- I'm not making a blanket statement that EVERY young person found it romantic or inspirational. Just that it's easier to find it all appealing, to go off and live a dream, damned the consequences. Just that, as we get older, we see that life is intricate. And sometimes, what we want isn't what's best for us in the long run. Life creates skepticism. And while I would've been one to try this adventuring in my younger years, and did to some smaller degree, it left me with deep psychological scarring. And now, my adult self, sees this story now as a warning.
@@GenXfrom75 I have found generally, that the people who enjoy his life have led either fairly horrible or fairly happy lives in comparison to reality of the situation. He was a young man who wanted to adventure but could have done so with more preparation and perhaps done better as a freelancer and filmographer instead of going out to the woods underprepared and over confident. They either want to escape what they need, (ironically, therapy and more interpersonal help) or what they don't realize was a privilege and a blessing. Aside from his parents, whom I believe should only be complimented as far as the fact that they had children. His siblings ,at least, were closer and happier than they could have been. Even if their parents never acknowledge the situation, with time, they could have grown together and experienced some healing, which to a certain extent they will never do again.
Their brother is dead, running away from his problems in an attempt to find freedom, when wild living does not breed loneliness but civility. The rules of the desert are often that you take in your enemy and house your family because at all else everyone would die if they were alone. Only when they have harmed you in an irredeemable way do they usually get thrown out into the wilderness to die, and die they usually do. So far as human existence, themes, and culture go, hospitality and sociability are two of the key characteristics of every human culture because people die when they are alone.
The book "Into the Wild" was assigned to my freshman year class for composition 1 (University) in 1999. As was/is my custom, I read it in a day. At that age, I admired his ability to walk away from controlling parents and disappear, but his trip to Alaska seemed rather foolish to me. All in all, I thought was he did was cool until after we took our exams for the semester, when our professor revealed she thought he was a spoiled brat. It's funny that you posted this, as Friday I was just talking to someone about having read it and that it was--at the time--the only non-fiction book me and a lot of my peers at a US state university had read that wasn't a text book and it was so compelling that we all talked about how deep it was. The following year, all the freshman talked about the book they had to read, and the same the year after (Nickel & Dimed), and the year after that (Super Size Me). In reality, it was just the first non-fiction book we had to read was in Freshman Composition in College. But I digress---I don't know how I feel about this guy now that I'm 40. At 18, it was easy to admire him, at 25, when the movie came out (I never saw it), I saw that he was arrogant....and well, now, I know lots of upper-middle class and upper class kids & younger people who reject money, only because they have never truly had to live without it and they romanticize the reality. Self sufficiency in humans is an illusion.
Self sufficiency isnt an illusion
He was a spoiled brat that didnt know what he was getting into. He was throwing a tantrum. Actual self sufficiency is attainable it had been the main mode of human living for centuries until very recently.
Learning and preparation is key. Chris was a child playing make believe pioneer and was just homeless not self sufficient
When I watched the film I thought he was a spoilt bratt too.
Me too.
@@chrismanaloe3507 Self sufficiency has not been "the main mode of human living until recently." Humanity has lived in family & other groups since the beginning. It's only now that we have become isolated and believe that we can wholly support ourselves as a single human---we can easily get sick and die, as evidenced. I agree that Chris was cosplaying a pioneer, and preparation, knowing one's environment does help, but ultimately, we need each other to survive. We are pack animals.
@@heidibock1017 great comment!
This is a story i will never forget ,i watched the documentary long ago . He will alway be my heart . Any child could go camping and eat something POISONOUS just walking down a trail . So this young man died alone . It's so sad . My son died alone too. I often wonder if he cried out for me . Il never know . God bless his family .
So sorry for you and your son. Must be very hard.
That editing from train track to the sun looked awesome mate👍🇦🇺🍻
Christopher's life just became a fruitless rebellion against his parents' aspirations they had hoped for him. I think he hated his father and did not want to be like him even in the face of losing his health and his dignity. Could you imagine graduating from a prestigious University and then becoming a Homeless Traveler eating out of dumpsters half of the time to survive? I feel sorry for this man, but his story should never be looked upon as something virtuous and/or desirable.
He wasn’t going to live under the boot of the “maaaaan”! Lol I think you hit the head on the nail dude.
Yeah but if he did what his dad wanted he could have been the next Martin Shkreli. Really just proves that prestigious University education is just for prestige.
I wish more people understood that hating your dad is not a virtue. I find especially with young men their hatred of their father is simply a projecting of hatred for themselves. They see their father as the embodiment of every masculine sin that they themselves engage in.
@@isabellind1292 I have good intuition
Being your own person and seeing your own path is admirable. Dying because of your own arrogant stupidity is not.
I was fascinated by the story when I was younger but as I've aged I realized Chris was a complete idiot. On the surface, living off the land sounds like the adventure of a lifetime but when you find out Chris knew next to nothing about how to do that, and even less about planning the story sounds utterly ridiculous. The movie glorified Chris's life and travels like some kind of romantic trip to experience life unchained but all I could see was a kid haphazardly roaming the land in what could only end in disaster. There are countless stories of idiots feeling they can take on the world only to end up having fate slap them down for their stupidity. This story should be a learning experience and Chris the poster child of the 'don't let this happen to you crowd'. I know I'll get shit on for this but only by those who romanticized this story and probably need some help themselves.
I think the people who look up to this guy are like minded fools. I mean his whole story isn't even that compelling. It reads like a kid who's read too much romantic wilderness fiction and thinks becoming a hobo is some great moral journey. I think he was full of himself.
You are right.
Nothing to follow as an example here.
@@ericbustamante1064 Exactly right. What's the take away. What is the lesson. Lesson is; don't be a fool who gives away a golden opportunity his parents offered him to be a complete idiot who winds up commiting suicide. What made this suicide worse is he didn't mean to or think he'd die. Now that's worth of some kind of achievement.
What? And society is all that great, I give him thumbs up on escaping a horrible society, just wish he learned a little more about survival before he took on this path, but he had it 100% right on society, don't believe me, just look around at today
@@doreenolsen3259 No one person can control todays society. You either find your place among it or move out of the way. But once you've reached what I like to call 'the age of reason', you control your own destiny, leaving your guardians teachings behind you. There are plenty of success stories out there of people beginning their life from far less and accomplishing something others can look up to or aspire to be like. Chris's path is not one of those cases. Great that he felt he was part of an unhealthy environment and attempted to find a path to happiness, but his lack of ambition and direction turned his life story and final outcome into a life lesson parents can teach their kids to avoid.
The pep in your voice is loving ❤️👍
Good work @Fascinating Horror
I've never understood the need to either canonize or demonize Chris. I can relate to his desire to forge his own path and transcend the consumerism and shallowness that has become common in our society. I can also see that he was woefully unprepared for what he tried to do in Alaska and died because of it. And those things don't conflict at all.
People dislike him for good reason, he had every opportunity to learn of where he was going, refused help early on, and his naivety did him in. I don't think there's demonizing him as much as disliking his choices. His death was needless and pointless, and was entirely his own fault. It's hard to feel sorry for idiots when they are as over confident as him
100% agree. The people who followed his legacy and died are just as tragic and disappointing but there's no need for animosity. Just educate people, y'know?
thank god for this comment. i deeply relate to McCandless in a lot of ways (we both had a similar upbringing and i also live a semi-nomadic life now, albeit with a sort of income and a reliable car) but while reading his story i also took it as a lesson in what not to do when facing nature. he wasn’t a bad person, even his harshest critics can only call him “annoying” and “unprepared” - he was a young man who was overly brash and searching desperately for something that he was missing, whatever that was. his story is tragic in a variety of ways and i think it’s okay to look back at him as both a well-intentioned free spirit and a lesson as to how harsh this world can be to those who are unprepared for it.
He was disrespectful of Alaskan land and specifically the wildlife (moose are protected in this state, and what he did to that moose was a crime) PLUS he inspired others to do the same stupid thing and multiple people died trying to get to the bus, these tourists endangered themselves and rescue crews doing this. The bus had to be removed to prevent people from following in his arrogant foot steps.
@@nikolachiara9285 but don’t hate him. The need to demonize him just because he was naive makes no sense. He made stupid decisions in a tragic amount of times, and that’s literally it.
I remember reading "Into the Wild" when I was in high school, and it was basically McCandless's diary. I resonated with the story somewhat, and I think that's fine to do, as long as you remember how it turned out for him.
While I can more than sympathize with his frustration with the complexity of modern society, he simply took it too far...to the point of having no respect for civilization, while still living off it. The trains he jumped, the cars he got rides in, the processed food he lived on; they all exist bc other people are making them and living the life he despised. He even ended in a city bus, placed there for construction workers. Now that's ironic.
His 'legacy' is reinforcing the message that there's an obvious reason human beings don't live all alone in the wilderness...
I guess all the people who have ever lived alone in the wilderness never got that message.
@@meself349 🤣🤣🤣 "All the people"? Name three without Googling it. People form communities for a reason.
I remember watching the film with my friends many years ago, it was polarizing even among ourselves, some of us thought that even when his actions were reckless, he did live a full life on his own terms that sadly ended with his chaotic idealism, but some of my friends thought about how stupid he was and needlessly threw his life away. This story reflects a lot about people's perspectives on life, specially who is willing to sacrifice commodity for their ideals.
That's the double meaning of yolo right there.
You only live once, so do everything.
OR
You only live once, so be careful.
yep. no one can judge others' lives based on their own idea of life
What was the movie's name? The narrator never identified it, which I think is appropriate, this is Chris' story not a promo for the film, but I am curious.
This story reminds me of the life of Timothy Treadwell. The tragic end of his life has also inspired polarizing analysis.
@@Unownshipper The movie is called Into the Wild (2007)
Don't think boo boo here think this was cool.if he had been homeless for instance.
He was a poacher who wasted the animals he shot. If he'd used that whole moose he'd have been set, but he didn't even know how to do that, another area in which he wasn't prepared. Beyond not being prepared, he shot that animal not even intending to be out there long enough to use it if he *had* known what he was doing, and I think that highlights his arrogance and how little respect he had for the situation, the land, and the wild.
...about as respectful as your YT handle is.
I’m just guessing off of your comment but I don’t think you have any idea how you would have “used that whole moose” because I don’t think you can live off a carcass for extended periods unless it’s sub-zero.
@@benamor22 I mean... you can preserve meat if you know what you're doing, and are adequately prepared.
@@benamor22 *that's kind of the point*. it's not just my pov, many hunters, game wardens, indigenous people in Alaska, survivalist, etc. have commented on this. don't shoot a huge animal you can't preserve *and don't intend to use anyway*. He could have at least smoked some small amount of it, but he didn't even do that. He shot it intending to waste it. I don't know if you are referring to my YT handle being disrespectful.... It's literally my name haha
@@jakual339 agree. We managed quite some time before modern refrigerators.
A good example of a almost, free Soul.
... But he was trapped in the same ancestral trap as the majority.
Taken the example of his parents and his society as a reference, he tried to liberate himself from that world, but he wasn't prepared to introduce himself in another completely strange to him, and with their own natural rules.
Despite that, we need to recognize that in his innocence, he go away with a fate that the must people just can't even imagine.
Thank you for your example, Mr. Christopher.
"Despite that, we need to recognize that in his innocence, he go away with a fate that the must people just can't even imagine."
Starving and freezing to death, scared and alone?
I can imagine that just fine, and it's a horrible fate.
Reminds me of a classmate I had growing up. He left after our first year in high school down to South Africa where he would eventually start selling drugs. After he came back he almost immediately crossed the Russian border and traveled Russia east by train. He then came back a couple of years later and I learned he had been serving in the Foreign Legion. Not sure where he is now but safe to say he’s probably doing something crazy. We’re both only 25 years old but he has already lived a more exciting and meaningful life than I will ever lead. Crazy how some people just have a knack for traveling huge distances impromptu, big respect to that guy and also to Chris. Living on their own terms.
Highly unlikely he was in the french foreign Legion:-) . Sounds like the classic looser telling you crap. Few get into and minimum is 5 years enlisting. No army with more pretenders than the FFL.