On this day, Jan. 7, in 1901, confessed cannibal Alferd Packer was paroled. In April 1874, Packer emerged alone from a gold mining expedition in the Rocky Mountains, suspiciously fit after a brutal Colorado winter.
Packer explained that he lost the other five men in a blizzard, but later confessed that four miners had died naturally and the starving survivors ate them. He later changed his story to say Shannon Bell had killed the other four with a hatchet, and Packer shot Bell in self-defense and eventually ate his corpse to survive.
Recommended Stories
Print subscriber? Click here to login/register your account
Digital subscriber? Click here to login/register your account.