W 1986 roku, w wieku 20 lat,Christopher Thomas Knight opuścił - bez pożegnania - dom rodziców i zaszył się w lasach stanu Maine (USA). Spędził w nich 27 lat, prowadząc samotniczy żywot i stawiając czoła przyrodzie - szczególnie ostrym zimom. O szczegółach tego wyczynu oraz o technikach survivalowych stosowanych przez pustelnika z North Pond - traktuje podlinkowany materiał, do którego lektury zachęcam.
Jakkolwiek Knight niechętnie wypowiadał się na temat motywów swojego postępowania oraz wrażeń i doświadczeń z tak długiego okresu życia w odosobnieniu - dopytywany przez ciekawskich dziennikarzy oświadczył, iż "Odosobnienie obdarza przyrostem czegoś bardzo cennego...mojej percpecji. Ale...gdy odniosłem moją wyostrzoną percepcję do samego siebie - straciłem moją tożsamość. Nie było żadnej publiczności, nikogo dla kogo można by występować...Romantycznie rzecz ujmując, byłem całkowicie wolny."

"Knight was captured by game warden Sergeant Terry Hughes on April 4, 2013, while burgling the Pine Tree Camp in Rome, Maine.Knight was sentenced to seven months in jail on 28 October 2013, of which he had already served all but a week while awaiting sentencing. In addition to the jail sentence, Knight paid $2,000 in restitution to victims, completed a Co-Occurring Disorders Court Program (designed for people with substance abuse problems and mental health disorders), and completed three years of probation.Knight has described deep-felt ethical misgivings about the burglaries committed, saying that stealing is wrong. Even the prosecutor said that a longer sentence would have been cruel. Judge Nancy Mills believes it is very unlikely that Knight will re-offend. After release, Knight met with the judge every week, avoided alcohol, and secured a job with his brother.Knight was largely reluctant to express any inkling of motives or insights gained through his experience, but he did offer that "solitude bestows an increase in something valuable, ...my perception. But...when I applied my increased perception to myself, I lost my identity. There was no audience, no one to perform for...To put it romantically, I was completely free." Finkel compared this observation to similar statements by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles de Foucauld, and Thomas Merton.Many have expressed admiration for Knight's outdoor survival skills, especially in the harsh Maine winters. Some also expressed doubt, believing instead that Knight broke into and took refuge in vacant cabins.Journalist Michael Finkel met with Knight for nine one-hour sessions while he was in jail. This was the genesis for first an article in GQ magazine in August 2014, and then the book The Stranger In The Woods, published in March 2017."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Thomas_Knight