Man went into solitude to prove we don't need companionship--help?

Question

I had a professor tell class a story about a man who moved to Alaska to prove that humans don't need companionship. The man did everything for himself, hunting, cooking, just in short, surviving in the wild. He made a home out of an abandoned bus and lived out of it for years. One day he broke his leg, which ultimately led to his death, however in the process he wrote letters on the sides of the walls of the bus to whoever would find him.

Do you know who the man was? What I really want is a link to the story, I'd like to look into this further. Any help is appreciated! And obviously, if you know the answer I'll pick it as the best answer.

Answer 1

He was Christopher McCandless. I'll save my opinions of him for another post. There has been a book and movie make about him both called "Into the Wild"

It seems your professor may have exaggerated or confused a couple stories. McCandless only lasted one spring and died of starvation.

Here are some links, I've tried to include both sides of the story:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher...

http://208.109.242.142/archives/archives...

http://nmge.gmu.edu/textandcommunity/200...

http://dwb.adn.com/outdoors/craig_medred...

http://www.mensjournal.com/feature/M162/...

http://outside.away.com/magazine/0193/93...

If you want a great story of someone who succeeded, I would recommend that you look into "One Man's Wilderness" the story of Richard Proenneke. There was also a DVD made about him called "Alone in the Wilderness." He built his own cabin on a remote lake using only hand tools and lived off the land for 30 years before returning to civilization at the age of 82

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pro...