Just in time for a nightmarish snowstorm. They were set to start the long journey late in 1873. Reports vary on their final destination - most reports say they were bound for the Los PiГ±os Indian Agency outside Saguache, others say they were headed for present-day Breckenridge.

In his early 30s, Packer volunteered to guide a group of 21 men through the Rocky Mountains starting in the area around Salt Lake City, Utah, despite having no weapons, little food or provisions, and limited skills. Gulliford said Packer was just one of the thousands of drifters who decided to embark on that journey. He apparently embraced the typo and ended up adopting the name, though his first name, legally, remained Alfred, per court records.Д«etween 18, Packer moved west to pursue multiple jobs varying from hunting and trapping to guiding and mining, according to the Hinsdale County Museum in Lake City. In an unproven story, but one widely spread, a young Packer visited a tattoo artist who made the permanent error of inking вЂњAlferdвЂќ instead of вЂњAlfredвЂќ on PackerвЂ™s skin. While he re-enlisted in another regime, he was discharged for the same reason, according to the City of Littleton. The Washington Post wrote in a Jarticle that Packer was discharged from the Union Army in 1862 for epilepsy. 21 of that year.ДЄndrew Gulliford, a professor of southwest studies and history at Fort Lewis College in Durango, said Packer was вЂњa little bit of a drifterвЂќ and possibly a Civil War veteran. 31, 1842, though other reports list his birthdate as Nov. According to the Apedition of the Lake City Mining Register, he was born on Jan. PackerвЂ™s story starts in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Introducing Alferd Packer, ColoradoвЂ™s Cannibal These documents have preserved countless moments from the case, such as PackerвЂ™s statement about his alleged crimes as he stood in front of a courthouse packed with people who were no doubt fascinated that a cannibal was in their midst and wondering if heвЂ™d get his just desserts.Д®ven in those moments, just before his sentencing, it was not absolutely certain if Packer had planned to eat the men through a twisted, murderous mind or if it just unfolded that way in an equally desperate and reluctant struggle for survival.Д«ut either way, he had surely bit off more than he could chew. To dig up what happened, we turned to the details in official court documents and the ink-smudged columns of the local newspapers, both from the late 1800s. And those details are now buried - and in some instances, altered - under 150 years of history. Packer was the only one from the group to live to tell the tale and he told several. The particulars around what actually happened are foggy at best. Of course, under the silliness is the much darker story of how those five men met their horrific demise in the freezing, lonely mountains.

Unabashedly embraced it.ДЄn article from April 1984 in The Washington Post captured the absurdity in one of its opening paragraphs: вЂњIn the days before bean sprouts and granola, when the West was raw and men ate men, Packer chewed his way into the hearts of Coloradans by devouring five gold-seeking companions.вЂќ People learned of his story and instead of turning away in disgust, they leaned into it. Recognize the name, or perhaps know his story? He became somewhat of a Colorado celebrity in the mid-1900s, when you could find the Packer name in everything from a wilderness cookbook title to a festival name to a musical created by CU Boulder students. ItвЂ™s a tale as puzzling as it is horrific, and somehow, from the safe distance of about 150 years, humor has wiggled its way in. HeвЂ™d quickly become known as the Colorado Cannibal. As the first fingers of spring started to peel back winterвЂ™s hold in 1874, a man staggered out of the mountains and into Lake City, ready to spill a story - or two, or three - that few would believe.

Cooking companions deaths