This man lived alone in a forest for 27 years

He had a tent and a backpack but no compass, no map and very limited food supplies.

“I can’t explain my actions,” he said. “I had no plans when I left, I wasn’t thinking of anything. I just did it.”

As the days went by he realised he would need food and someone where to live and liked the idea of foraging but in the forests of Maine, Massachusetts, fruit and berries were hard to come by and he had no way of hunting or catching his own food, so he turned his attention to the 100 or so holiday cabins around ponds not far from where he was. He started to steal from them.

The authorities inspect Christopher Knight's camp in a remote, wooded section of Maine. (Photo credit: Portland Press Herald)

Not much, some batteries, some food, a camping stove, some fuel for his stove and some clothes.

He was careful – meticulously watching the comings and goings of the inhabitants and recalling their routines, stealing at night in bad weather so he was unlikely to be seen and trimming his beard so he didn't arouse suspicion.

Like this and across three decades he is said to have committed 1,000 burglaries.

When Knight was caught at Pine Tree Camp he was carrying candy, potato chips, ball cap, poncho and a wrist watch that were all stolen (Photo credit: Portland Press Herald)

He stole what he needed to survive.

He accumulated $395, most of it in single dollar bills, in case of an emergency, but he never spent a dollar – when he was caught some of money had gone mouldy.

 

Christopher Knight's camp site located in a remote woodland (Photo: Portland Press Herald)

He listened to talk radio, played handheld video games, and even watched a miniature Panasonic black-and-white television, charged with stolen car batteries.

People knew what was going on and left him food or asked him in notes what he needed but he ignored them.

Rudimentary kitchen in Knight's hidden camp where he lived for 27 years (Photo: Portland Press Herald)

Often he would approach by canoe – stolen but returned so as not incur police reports – and paddle for hours in the rain and darkness along the edge of the lake so as to remain hidden.

He always wore a watch so he knew how long he had been in a place for and carried a lock breaking kit – a gym bag full of screw drivers.

During a burglary, there wasn’t a moment’s ease. “My adrenaline was spiking, my heart rate was soaring. My blood pressure was high. I was always scared when stealing. Always. I wanted it over as quickly as possible.”

The authorities had to trek through rough terrain to find Knight's camp (Photo: Portland Press Herald)

In a later interview he said he was never once bored.

“I was never lonely,” he added, “If you like solitude,” he said, “you are never alone.”

He was finally arrested, after 27 years of complete isolation, while stealing food at a lakeside summer camp.

Everything Knight accumulated in his camp was stolen or found (Photo: Portland Press Herald)