Readers I have an update report to follow-up on an article I wrote about a Maine Legendary Hermit that hid in the wilderness for 27 years in Maine and who is known as the North Pond Hermit.
In the article I had indicated I would love to know why Christopher Knight fled into the wilderness for so many years without anyone knowing the reason for him doing so.
According to abcnews.go.com, his former classmates remembered him as a quiet, smart but a nerdy student.
It has been reported by the onlinesentinel.com also that since Knight has been in custody for more than a week, it "still" remains uncertain what exactly led him to hide away for so many years.
Behavioral experts who talked with Knight have declined to diagnose Knight’s motives or psychological makeup without him first being examined.
According to the onlinesentinel.com it indicated, "Knight is bright and you’ve got to give him credit for that," a psychology professor at the University of Southern Maine, Bill Thompson said.
Thompson also stated, "It’s impressive he was able to go undetected for such a long period of time and to know that people who had cottages and camps in the area were not home when he burglarized their homes.
It was reported in the onlinesentinel that police believed Knight committed more than 1,000 buglaries by stealing food, camping supplies and propane gas tanks before he was caught in the early part of April in the Pine Tree Camp in Rome. They aslo indicated this was one of Knight’s favorite spots to hit.
They also said that Knight was carrying a large wad of cash in his pocket that was molded because he had "no" reason to spend it. He evidently never ventured into a local store to purchase anything for fear he would be caught.
It reported too that Knight told police that he went into the woods after the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Soviet Union in April l986. He said that he remembered the event date more than his motivation for becoming a hermit.
The report indicated a sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, John DeLamater, a specialist in intimate relationships and communication, made a statement by saying, "It’s possible Knight had childhood and early adulthood experiences that very possibly could have led him to disengage from society."
Years ago society wasn’t as tolerant of and educated about many of the challenges children faced in their every day childhood and their adolescence days such as sexual identity and orientation issues, learning disabilities and other types of behavioral disorders. All of these issues could have possibly led Knight to seek out total isolation according to experts.
The report stated that the police said Knight has described behaviors that could possibly indicate an obsessive-compulsive disorder or an extraordinary ability to focus that is common with people having autism spectrum disorders, Thornton had stated.
The report said Knight had told police he did not leave his camp during the day but only after dark. He did not want anyone to notice him.
This article was written by Barbara Kasey Smith based on articles published by ABCNews.go.com and onlinesentinel.com/news.
Sources:
(1) abcnews.go.com
(2) onlinesentinel.com/news/knights-reasons-could-go-back-27-years_2013-04-11…