Alfred Packer

Oh, no.

And back in the winter of 1874, it bore witness to one of the darkest, most stomach-turning tales the American frontier ever produced, the grim saga of Alfred Packer.

Now, it started in Provo, Utah, in the late autumn of 1873.

Gold fever, you see, was sweeping through the mining camps, with wild rumors that rich veins of silver and gold had been struck near the Los Pinos Indian Agency in the remote San Juan Range.

So, a party of 21 eager greenhorn prospectors decided to make the push east into Colorado Territory.

They needed a guide who knew the high passes, and that's where Alfred Packer stepped in.

Now, Packer was a drifting Civil War veteran, a man with a wild beard, shifty pale eyes, and a severe case of epilepsy.

He talked big, boasting that he knew every deer trail, creek bed, and mountain gap between the Great Salt Lake and the Rockies.

What no one could have anticipated was that this stranger, this seemingly harmless individual, had resorted to cannibalism.

The only question was, Was it premeditated or an act of desperation? This week, I'm diving into the story of Alfred Packer.

Who was he? What happened in those Colorado mountains? And was he a cold-blooded killer? Grab your cup of coffee, peeps.

Let's do this.

Alfred Packer, who sometimes went by Al-Ferd Packer, was born on November 21, 1842, near Pittsburgh.

A man who always seemed to be a bit shifty, Packer sometimes took to using the birth date of January 21st.

For what reason remains unclear.

Preston Nutter, one of the men in the group, was there to identify what was left of the remains.

Oh, no.

And back in the winter of 1874, it bore witness to one of the darkest, most stomach-turning tales the American frontier ever produced, the grim saga of Alfred Packer.

Now, it started in Provo, Utah, in the late autumn of 1873.

Gold fever, you see, was sweeping through the mining camps, with wild rumors that rich veins of silver and gold had been struck near the Los Pinos Indian Agency in the remote San Juan Range.

So, a party of 21 eager greenhorn prospectors decided to make the push east into Colorado Territory.

They needed a guide who knew the high passes, and that's where Alfred Packer stepped in.

Now, Packer was a drifting Civil War veteran, a man with a wild beard, shifty pale eyes, and a severe case of epilepsy.

He talked big, boasting that he knew every deer trail, creek bed, and mountain gap between the Great Salt Lake and the Rockies.

And back in the winter of 1874, it bore witness to one of the darkest, most stomach-turning tales the American frontier ever produced.

The grim saga of Alfred Packer.

Now, it started in Provo, Utah, in the late autumn of 1873.

Gold fever, you see, was sweeping through the mining camps, with wild rumors that rich veins of silver and gold had been struck near the Los Pinos Indian Agency in the remote San Juan Range.

So, a party of 21 eager Greenhorn prospectors decided to make the push east into Colorado territory.

They needed a guide who knew the high passes, and that's where Alfred Packer stepped in.

Now Packer was a drifting Civil War veteran, a man with a wild beard, shifty pale eyes, and a severe case of epilepsy.

He talked big, boasting that he knew every deer trail, creek bed, and mountain gap between the Great Salt Lake and the Rockies.

The Don-

By the way, Alfred Packer is the Donner Party, right?

I saw, I saw you the other day.

Where?