Rumors Of ‘Hermit’ Stealing From Locals For 27 Years Turned Out To Be True As Man Arrested Near Woods

Residents of North Pond, Maine exchanged theories regarding the "North Pond Hermit" for many years. They discovered they were correct only when a man was caught in the woods in 2013.

Credit: WMTW-TV

The infamous 'North Pond Hermit' was known to steal various items such as food, clothing, and batteries from campers situated near North Pond in central Maine.

He had been working on it for years, but nobody ever saw or heard him. Every now and then a man would be seen on security footage, but he would always get away with it, leaving hardly even a boot print.

For almost thirty years, the North Pond Hermit evaded civilization. However, at the beginning of April 2013, security footage from Pine Tree Camp in Rome revealed that someone was in the kitchen.

When Terry Hughes, a Maine Warden Service Sergeant, arrived on the scene, he immediately arrested the individual.

Credit: Maine State Police

Christopher Knight said more than a single word to someone for the first time since he'd run into the woods.

Knight was twenty years old in 1986 when it all began. He had no complaints about his upbringing having grown up with "good parents," and he went on to work installing alarm systems in homes and cars.

After working for less than a year and purchasing a new automobile, Knight decided to take a final look around his hometown before heading north to more remote regions.

After being taken into custody, Knight told GQ the following: "I drove until I was nearly out of gas. I took a small road. Then a small road off that small road. Then a trail off that. I had a backpack and minimal stuff. I had no plans. I had no map. I didn’t know where I was going. I just walked away."

Credit: Maine State Police

Knight quickly became confused and began to lose track of time as he began to hike and camp. Two years later, he established a camp near Belgrade Lakes.

Knight slept only in a tent for the next twenty-five years. He claimed to have committed more than 1,000 break-ins throughout his stay in the woods, but he never started a fire for fear that it might reveal his location. Instead, he stole food.

"I was always scared when stealing. Always," he said. "It was usually 1 or 2 A.M. I’d go in, hit the cabinets, the refrigerator. In and out. My heart rate was soaring."

A bed frame, a mattress, sleeping bags, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, razors, and novels were all taken by Knight. Fearful of leaving traces, he hardly left his tent in the winter and tried putting on weight in the fall to assist him withstand the bitter cold.

At least fifty break-ins occurred at David Proulx's vacation cabin in the neighborhood.

"My grandkids thought I was losing my mind," he told GQ.

As residents in the neighborhood grew more and more anxious about catching the elusive thief, Sergeant Hughes set up a motion detector of the highest caliber in the Pine Tree kitchen. This allowed him to arrest Knight for food theft.

At first, Hughes wasn't sure if the well-groomed man with glasses could be the elusive Hermit, but he didn't want to take a chance and pulled a gun, telling Knight to kneel.

Knight admitted to authorities that he lived in the woods after being apprehended. He had not spoken to anyone in 27 years, not even a hiker he'd passed in the woods, and he had no idea if his family was still alive.

After being taken into custody and facing charges of theft and burglary, Knight slept indoors for the first time since the beginning of his twenties. He was unsure of the duration of his stay in the woods, only knowing that he had departed during the year of the Chernobyl disaster.

When Knight was apprehended, Pete Cogswell, whose jeans and belt he was wearing, said: "The legend of the hermit lived on for years and years. Did I believe it? No. Who really could?"

Knight entered a guilty plea to 13 counts of theft and burglary in October 2013. After that, he appeared in mental health court and was given a seven-month sentence to serve in the Kennebec County jail.

Knight never provided a convincing explanation for his choice to live in the woods, although he did pay over $2,000 in restitution for the items he took from individuals in order to survive.

"I don’t have a reason," he said, as well as saying, "It’s a mystery to me, too."

Having spent his early years surrounded by people and finding it difficult to find contentment, his home in the woods merely offered him something different.

"I found a place where I was content."