At the age of 20, Christopher Knight parked his car on a remote trail in Maine and walked away with only the most basic supplies. He had no plan. His chief motivation was to avoid contact with people. This is his story.
Knight had been working for less than a year installing home and vehicle alarm systems near Boston, Massachusetts, when abruptly, without giving notice to his boss, he quit his job. He never even returned his tools. He cashed his final pay cheque and left town. He did not tell anyone where he was going. 'I had no one to tell,' he says. 'I didn’t have any friends. I had no interest in my co-workers.'
He drove down the east coast of America, eating fast food and staying in cheap motels. He travelled for days, alone, until he found himself deep into Florida. Eventually, he turned around and headed north. Driving through Georgia and the Carolinas and Virginia, he sensed an idea growing into a realisation, then solidifying into resolve. All his life, he had been comfortable being alone. Interacting with others was so often frustrating.
He drove north to Maine, where he had grown up. He didn’t stop. The last time he saw his family home was through the windscreen of his car. He kept going until he reached the shore of Moosehead Lake. 'I drove until I was nearly out of gas. I took a small road. Then a small road off that small road. Then a trail off that.' He went as far into the wilderness as his vehicle could take him. Knight parked the car and tossed the keys on the centre console. He had a tent and a backpack but no compass, no map. Without knowing where he was going, he stepped into the trees and walked away.
'To the rest of the world, I ceased to exist,' said Knight. Following his disappearance, Knight’s family must have suffered; they had no idea what had happened to him. His final gesture, leaving his keys in the car, was particularly strange. 'The car was of no use to me. It had just about zero gas and I was miles and miles from any gas station,' he said. As far as anyone knows, the car is still there, half-swallowed by the forest. Knight said that he didn’t really know why he left. 'It’s a mystery,' he declared.
