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At 20 years old, Christopher Knight drove into the Maine woods, abandoned his car, and vanished.He was found again 27 years later.It was 1986. Knight had worked for less than a year installing alarm systems for homes and cars near Boston when he quit his job and started driving.He had no destination in mind.He traveled from main roads to increasingly smaller roads until he found himself deep in a wooded area of ​​Maine. He abandoned his car and continued on foot with only a few belongings.Then he found a spot among enormous rocks and trees near North Pond.There he built his hideout.And he remained there for almost three decades.His isolation was so extreme that Knight claimed to have spoken to another person only once during those 27 years: he accidentally encountered a hiker, and they exchanged a brief "hello."Nothing more.But there's a contradiction that completely changes the story. Knight lived apart from society, yet he needed society to survive.He didn't grow all his own food, nor could he make everything he needed to endure Maine's brutal winters.So he went out at night.While the owners were away, he broke into cabins and seasonal homes around the nearby lakes. He looked for food, clothing, batteries, propane tanks, books, and other useful items.He tried to take only what he needed and minimize any signs that he had been there.He was methodical.He studied the owners' routines, avoided occupied houses, and adjusted his movements when he suspected the police might be approaching.According to his statement after his capture, he committed about 40 burglaries each year.For 27 years.Authorities estimated he may have committed more than 1,000.The residents of the area knew someone was breaking into their properties, but for years no one was able to identify him. Food, flashlights, batteries, tools, and fuel were disappearing.The unknown man ended up becoming a local legend:the Hermit of North Pond.His camp was so well hidden that it remained practically invisible among the rocks and trees.Until 2013.After years of investigating the thefts, Sergeant Terry Hughes of the Maine Warden Service, along with the Border Patrol, installed a surveillance system at Pine Tree Camp.In the early morning of April 4, 2013, the alarm was triggered.Hughes arrived while Knight was still inside.He waited for him outside.When the man came out carrying food and other items, a disappearance that had begun when Ronald Reagan was president of the United States came to an end.Christopher Knight was 47 years old at the time. He had entered the woods at the age of 20.He later pleaded guilty to 13 counts of burglary and trespassing, a small fraction of the crimes authorities attributed to him during those years.His story is often presented as that of a man who managed to live completely isolated from civilization.But that obscures the detail that makes it much stranger.For 27 years, he managed to almost completely avoid people, surviving on the things he found by silently entering their homes.