Man-Eater: The Life and Legend of an American Cannibal by: Harold Schechter
Non-fiction: History, E-book
E-book Count: 36
Book Count: 72
This book goes over the story of Alfred Packer, who was part of an ill fated group of gold prospectors who do to: bad planning, bad weather, and him not being as good of a guide as he said ended up almost all dying. He in a small group of the men set out in the bitter cold of Colorado in winter in the hopes of making it to an Indian Agency, that they thought was just a couple of days away. The 5 men with him all ended up dead and he ate some of them. Although, the cannibalism was seen as horrible, what ended him up in jail for most of his life was the possibility that he killed all the men and then took their money. Packer's story was that Bell (one of the other men) killed all the others while he was out looking for food, and then he had to kill Bell in self-defense. (And that the money was doing no good in the pockets of dead men.) However, Packer was known as a chronic lair, and a number of the details of the story changed the different times he told the story. The book covers all of his life as well as the legacy of him and his story including people attempting to get him exonerated and those trying to prove his guilt.
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