Episode Transcript
[00:00:19] Speaker A: Welcome back to Colorado Crime. I'm Amanda.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: And I'm Kori.
[00:00:24] Speaker A: This week we venture deep into one of Colorado's most notorious and macabre legends. The story of Alfred Packer, the so called Colorado Cannibal.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: In 1874, a group of six men set out through the unforgiving San Juan Mountains. Only one returned. Packer.
He claimed survival, starvation and necessity. But what really happened in those frozen peaks?
[00:00:53] Speaker A: Tonight, we'll peel back the layers of myth and horror to find the man and the story behind the legend.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: This is the Colorado Cannibal, Alfred Packer's grisly tale.
Alfred Greiner Packer was born in 1842 in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
[00:01:14] Speaker A: As a young man, he moved around, working as a shoemaker, then later drifting west.
He served in the Union army during the Civil War, though his service was cut short by epileptic seizures.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: When the war ended, Packer wandered through the mining camps, prospecting and offering his services as a guide. But many considered him argumentative, unreliable and.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: Prone to lying, despite his flaws. In late 1873, he attached himself to a group of prospectors bound for Breckenridge, Colorado, claiming he knew the San Juan Mountains well.
[00:01:52] Speaker B: But as we'll see, claims and truths would diverge almost immediately.
[00:01:58] Speaker A: On November 8, 1873, the expedition set out from Bingham Canyon, Utah. The group numbered six included Packer.
[00:02:08] Speaker B: They planned to travel through the San Juan Mountains, but winter struck harshly. Blizzards, deep snow, freezing temperatures, conditions, flood far beyond what any of them expected.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: Provisions ran thin. Food dwindled. The men attempted to live off roots, rose petals, small animals and anything else they could scavenge.
[00:02:30] Speaker B: Packer's story would evolve over time, but in his first version, he claimed that some of the men had already died when the others turned to cannibalism for survival.
[00:02:40] Speaker A: He admitted that one man, Shannon Bell, he killed in self defense. According to some versions then, he claimed.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: To have consumed the flesh of the deceased men to stay alive.
[00:02:53] Speaker A: Multiple conflicting confessions followed, each adding or subtracting detail.
Motives, timing, method, they all shifted.
[00:03:03] Speaker B: The site where the bodies were found would deepen the mystery. Two miles southeast of Lake City, in a pine shaded gulch, all five of the missing men were located with evidence of butchering, skeletal remains and signs inconsistent with starvation or predators.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: What was first thought of as survival horror quickly turned into a moral and legal nightmare. We'll get back to Alfred Packer's dark story in just a moment, but first let's take a quick breather and talk about something a little less disturbing.
If tales like this one have you craving a change of scenery? I can help you find a home that feels a lot more comforting than the Colorado wilderness in 1874.
I'm Amanda Russell with Teeter Realty Co. A licensed Colorado real estate broker, helping clients buy and sell homes all across our beautiful and sometimes spooky state.
Whether you're searching for a cozy mountain retreat or a fresh start somewhere new, I'll help you find the perfect fit.
No survival skills required.
Visit www.amandarussellrealtor.com to start your home search today, because finding your next home should be exciting, not chilling.
And now let's get back to the episode.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: Once the bodies were discovered, suspicion immediately turned to Packer. He was arrested in Saguache and held in the local jail.
[00:04:50] Speaker A: But Packer escaped from that jail.
[00:04:52] Speaker B: He lived under aliases, moving across states, evading capture for years.
Eventually, in 1883, he was found in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and brought back to Colorado.
[00:05:03] Speaker A: To face charges in Lake City. He was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to death in 1883.
[00:05:12] Speaker B: But the Colorado Supreme Court reversed that verdict in 1885, citing a legal technicality, a law that had changed after the fact.
[00:05:21] Speaker A: In a second trial In Gunnison in 1886, Packer was convicted of five counts of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: However, he served 18 years of that sentence and was paroled in 1901.
[00:05:40] Speaker A: After his release, he worked modest jobs, trying to live quietly.
He died on April 23, 1907, in Jefferson County, Colorado.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: He's buried in Littleton, Colorado, in Littleton Cemetery, under a veteran's tombstone.
[00:05:56] Speaker A: Some say his remains may have been tampered with, and rumors persist that parts of his skull toured in sideshows.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: Was Alford Packer a madman, a murderer or a desperate survivor? The evidence is very contradictory.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: Archaeological investigations in later decades uncovered blunt force trauma on the skulls of some of the victims and signs of butchering inconsistent with Packer's more benign narrative.
[00:06:27] Speaker B: In 1989, forensic researchers exhumed the remains, trying to confront the legends. But they concluded that proving cannibalism is nearly impossible.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: Still, National Geographic describes Packer as a man whose motives and actions remain detailed, deeply contested, villainous for some, tragic for others.
[00:06:50] Speaker B: Even now, ghost tours in Lake City bring people out to Cannibal Plateau, the site where the bodies were found, and legends claim to hear some whispers, feel chills or see a lone figure moving through the snow.
[00:07:03] Speaker A: Whether you believe in ghosts, legends or the power of place, the story of Packer is one that haunts Colorado's history and perhaps its present.
[00:07:15] Speaker B: Alfred Packer's story is more than a gruesome footnote. It's a mirror into human survival, greed, law and how we interpret horror.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: He walked into those mountains as a guide and walked out as a monster in a legend, or a man who faced impossible choices.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: What we can't escape is the questions he left behind.
Who was he really? What did those men see? Do their voices still echo among the peaks?
[00:07:45] Speaker A: Thank you for joining us for this chilling episode of Colorado Crime.
[00:07:49] Speaker B: If you found the Colorado Cannibal, Alfred Packer's grizzly tale as haunting as we did, please subscribe and review. It does help us reach more listeners.
[00:07:59] Speaker A: Find photos, show notes and behind the scenes stories at Colorado Crime Podcast.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: Next week, we'll step into another corner of Colorado Shadows.
[00:08:10] Speaker A: Until then, stay curious and stay safe.
[00:08:14] Speaker B: Have the day you deserve.
