On September 6, 1992, a group of travelers found a bus. They had hoped to find food and shelter. Alas, they came up on the decomposing remains of a human being inside a sleeping bag. They belonged to Chris McCandless, an adventurer who had christened himself as ‘Alexander Supertramp.’ He is immortalized in the Jon Krakauer book, ‘Into The Wild.’
Chris McCandless had a privileged upbringing. Always academically inclined, he graduated from Emory University in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in the double majors of history and anthropology. With such accomplishments, the world seemed to be within his reach. So why did he give up everything for a trip to the Alaskan forests and end up dead?
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All About Chris McCandless
Chris McCandless was born to Walter and Wilhelmina Marie McCandless on February 12, 1968. He was born in Inglewood but spent his childhood in El Segundo, California. Throughout his schooling years, Chris’ educators saw his academic brilliance. They were also aware of how different he was from his contemporaries.
After graduating college, he donated most of his savings to Oxfam and left to become a vagabond. Throughout his trip, he made several stops and met people that inspired his travels. An avid runner during his college day, he was always chasing wanderlust. A true pilgrim, Chris paddled a canoe down a portion of the Colorado River to reach Alaska in 1992. Ultimately, he was found dead by a group of travelers looking for supplies.
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Why Did Chris McCandless Disappear? How Did He Die?
According to Chris’ sister Carine, their childhood was afflicted by their parents’ physical and verbal abuse. She believes the desire to disappear in Chris must have come from an interpretation of Jack London’s ‘The Call Of The World.’ Her parents have denied everything in the book as “fictionalized writing.”
In the summer of 1987, a visit to his relatives revealed a life-shattering secret to Chris. His father was bigamous and had another family. It’s believed that this knowledge might have fuelled his desire to disappear into the wilderness. From food poisoning to starvation, there have been many theories about how he died.
After his death, Chris’ bus, known as ‘The Magic Bus,’ became a shrine to his fellow travelers. While some have high regard for it due to Chris’ resolve to walk away from modern society, others don’t share a romantic view of it. Chris also left a journal behind, which provides an account of his travels. The death of Chris McCandless became a subject of Jon Krakauer’s non-fiction book, ‘Into The Wild.’ It was later adapted into a movie by Sean Penn, with Emile Hirsch playing McCandless.
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