In 1874, six men set off into Colorado San Juan Mountains in the middle of winter

with the hopes of reaching some newly discovered goldfields on the other side.

Two months later, only a single man emerged from the mountains, but instead of being emaciated

as early explorers were often later found, the man looked to be weirdly fed.

This is the story of Alfred Packer, also known as the Colorado cannibal.

On the morning of April 16, 1874, the men who worked at Los Pinos Indian Agency near

Sawach, Colorado, were sitting and eating breakfast when the mess hall door suddenly flung open.

In the doorway, surrounded by howling wind and a fierce snowstorm was a man dishevelled and

clearly distressed.

He had rags over his feet instead of shoes, a long beard, a coffee pot hanging

from a strap on one side, and a rifle over the other. After standing there for a second,

he began to beg them for help. This man's name was Alfred Packer. General Charles Adams,

who oversaw the agency, got his men to help Alfred to a table with some food, and because he

was starving, ate so quickly that he threw up. Then over the first of many whiskeys he told them about his horrific journey over the mountains.

He explained that the others with him had become too exhausted to continue, that he got snow blindness and frostbite and he'd been left behind to fend for himself.

For months afterward, he'd eaten rabbits, roots, and rosebuds, and it was only his experience

as a guide that got him out alive.

Several months earlier, when the party that Alfred eventually joined, set up from Bingham

Canyon in Utah, November 20th, the 1873, they were part of a group of 20.

They didn't know each other initially, except for the fact that they all wanted to be rich.

This group was traveling to the newly found goldfields near Breckenridge in Colorado, which was a place where the newspapers

claimed anyone with any sense could make a fortune. And in fact, when they started out,

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