IS THERE MORE TO THE CHRISTOPHER MCCANDLESS STORY???

[GoNorth]

His brief entries look to me to be more like reminders for him of certain episodes for expanding on later.

Right, that's how I see them as well. Especially regarding his thoughts and feelings, we do not learn much from these notes, however he must have felt and thought a lot during those months.
But for the possible injury I still think he would have written at least a word or so, on the day he recognized it. There is this mysterious entry "disaster" twice, one at the beginning of May on his way west to the Toklat river and one at the beginning of July just before reaching the Tek. One of them might mean some kind of problem like an injury, and of course it's still possible that he wrote some word about it which seemed meaningless enough to Krakauer and the others so that they didn't publish it. Why not.

Its the kind of soft tissue injury that won't show up in an autopsy of a decomposed body, if they would even look very hard for that sort of injury.

That’s a possible explanation. However the photos show that he could not have arm problems for a longer time, at least not from the day of the sleeve-photo to the SOS-note. But perhaps we should just wait for the new book to come out in April, with hopefully more journal entries and more photos.

I heard something interesting in this clip of Alaskan locals talking about Chris . . . according to Victor Hopka, "I know that people knew that there was somebody in the bus that didn't have much of anything."

This statement, if it's true, directly contradicts the idea that Chris' presence in the wild went unnoticed by the locals. Whether he ever met any of them or not we don't know, but according to Hopka, at least some people knew he was out there at the bus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzoEeoRZtRc&NR=1

Wow, that’s interesting! Thanks for the link. I mean, if the guy in the video is right, this is really new – I mean, for us… And even more to think about…

i came across an article written by Cole Dermot. Who happens to be in the documentary, The Call Of The Wild. The article, which shares some views i don't personally agree with, contains a small interview with forsberg. heres the part i found very interesting, and kind of changed the views on my ideas of forsberg.

...

Thanks a lot for sharing that. I mean, you never know, but probably Forsberg just told the truth in that interview.

[Ascetic]

I've said all I'm going to say about this fucking thread. If you guys want to continue speculating about Forsberg, or anything else, have at it.

[ellisd]

I've said all I'm going to say about this fucking thread. If you guys want to continue speculating about Forsberg, or anything else, have at it.

thank you for your approval.

[SteveSalmon]

~SS

[ellisd]

Do me a favor and figure out a way to drop the gloves and add to the conversation without the attitude. You've got some great points of view sometimes.

i agree, i'm not ganging up against asctetic at all, his posts are always packed with wonderful info and great insight. But he should relax a bit, all these threads are only conversations. you can respectfully add a comment, or you can respectfully keep it to yourself. IMO, i'd much rather just get along with everyone on here.

Anywho, the write up by dermot cole certainly changed my views on Forsberg, I have alot more respect for the man now that more facts are in the light.

[bobenns]

I'm kind of shocked at what Ascetic wrote on Forsbergs Paoramio page.

Ascetic said:

Mr. Forsberg,

My name is John, and I go by the name "Ascetic" on the "Into the Wild" forum, a discussion forum about Chris Mccandless. I'm writing you because I think you should know that there are several people on this forum speculating that you were somehow criminally responsible for Chris' death. I decided to contact you and invite you to visit the forum, and consider perhaps sharing your story. Even if you decide not to, I thought you may want to be aware of what some people are alleging about you.

John.

http://www.christophermccandless.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3190

I think that's a pretty extreme statement to make about people you are conversing with here.

Is this supposed to be some kind of a contest? See who can be put down harder? People are just here to share their thoughts and ideas, there is no right or wrong to most of it, and the troopers did look to see I there was evidence of a crime scene etc. Its sad and unfortunate that it has come to this.

Now that I have learned a bit more about Forsberg my concept of him is evolving, he's obviously more wordly that I originally gave him credit for.

[scooby]

just my thoughts on the posts.

i think your barking up the wrong tree,the troopers probably did'nt spend to much time landing the helicopter a distance away as they probably already had a good idea what was going on.i presume they were told there was a corpse in a sleeping bag,and may be told there was a sos note and or a farewell note.i have to agree i would feel this was a open and shut case at this point if you were that same statetrooper.its not as though he had anything there to steal(at this point did they connect or know about the wrecked cabin).it seems highly likely that it was chris that broke into the cabin,and maybe he never wrecked the place just took some things(or looked around)left and did'nt secure it so some
sort of wild life wrecked the place.or maybe he did wreck it and did'nt care.

you see i think the point is we have no way of really knowing anything about what alex was feeling
as his journal seems to be more a reminder to alex of what point in his expierience he is at,than a narrative for anybody to follow,there just is'nt the detail in his entries to be able to conclude that.

as for fosberg, he seems to be a down to earth guy,and to imply he is jealous of the fame chris found by dying in the enviroment he himself resides in,really seems a little short sighted.he may be angry at the attention this death caused,but thats not the same thing.i feel there is more chance fosberg feels
this was a silly man who died because he underestimated the enviroment.

the pocket you mention the wallet being found in is desribed by some as a secret or stash pocket( given the contents cash/id it seems reasonble to presume it could be a small behind a flap/zip pocket)
why should or indeed would it be found.it seems that for what ever reason he checked to bag and discovered the pocket,not unreasonable.

you see to many of the people who hear of this story and it inspires something deep inside and thats why we want to know more,and we dont want any stone unturned until we know everything about it.
to others it means very litte.

you can just as stongly debate/argue, that chris was a free spirit not held back by mans and societies rules and regulations,as you could point out that chris was selfish and put anyone elses feelings before his own.you can say his spirit of adventure knew no bounds and his intelligence shone through upon meeting him or you can say he was naive and woefully ill prepared for what he quite obviously must of known was going to be an extreme challenge.

at first i found chris awe inspiring and wanted him to make it and be succesful,but after watching the film,reading the book and researching the internet i find myself being almost annoyed with chris.he seems to walk out on people rather than face them and tell them farewell.as much as he hates society it is infact a contributing factor in his survival,indeed when he leaves it he ultimately dies(sadly).he really does the same level of preperation as i do before i take a bath(grab a book),and walks of into one of the harshest enviroments in the world.he use(or some say have)a map that would of shown him how to get out,indeed just by exploration up or down river he could of discovered the means to save himself.by the end of it ai was a litte gutted the guy did'nt make it,but not really that shocked.

for me strangely,the focus of my attention in this story is shifting towards the bus.without this i dont think he would of lasted anywhere that long.when he found it he must've felt it truly was magical to stuble across a bus to survive in.great site.

i always wanted to visit canada/alaska for the beautiful look of the countries (that is infact the only reason i watched the film),no i know i must.

[GoNorth]

I'm kind of shocked at what Ascetic wrote on Forsbergs Paoramio page.

Me too! Thanks for posting it.
I mean it’s a real shame that one single person with whatever problems goes discrediting this great forum by transmitting twisted facts to outsiders!

People are just here to share their thoughts and ideas, there is no right or wrong to most of it

Exactly.
Now we can only hope that Forsberg will really show up here and get to know the truth about this discussion. Ok, I doubt he will, but who knows.

Anyway, it would be nice if we could come back to the initial topic of the thread: "Is there more..."?

2 things:
1. This probably got lost during this hot discussion: Does anyone have an opinion about what I wrote and asked on page 1 regarding the state of decomposition?

2. I am still a bit puzzled by the statement made by this Alaskan Victor Hopka in the youtube video. If they knew that he "didn't have much of anything", someone must have been at the bus in that time. But probably while Chris was absent? A while ago, after having seen the movie and re-read the book, I thought a bit about this SOS-note and why he had put it there at that time. Had he come back from a hunting or berrypicking trip and felt like someone had been there in the meantime? I mean, he had come to the bus on a trail that had been used by other people before and the bus itself had been used as a shelter by other people before, so of course there was hope until the end that someone else would pass by in time (I sometimes imagined how he might towards the end have interpreted every single unclear sound as a human voice or steps or motors or whatever). And now having heard Hopka's statement, it seems there had really been someone at the bus. So the theory that Chris noticed this and wrote the note in order to not miss the next visitor might be right? Or was there still more about it? I don't mean a fight or whatever and I honestly rather don't think that Chris met anyone there. But the question is: how much did those "people" exactly know about his stay in the bus? Apparently they didn't suspect that he was in trouble. Or did they, but too late? Like the hunters who arrived 2 1/2 weeks after his (presumed) date of death? They might also have had a look at the bus during their trip intentionally, in order to have a look if that guy is still there or so. Just some theory again, probably as weird as the others, but that's what we're here for (in this thread), aren't we?
Any other ideas or theories?

[SteveSalmon]

~SS

[SteveSalmon]

~SS