If you’re anything like me, you, too, probably crave the occasional murder mystery book or crime scene investigation (CSI) show. As unfortunate as it is when gruesome crimes like this occur in real life, it’s often that more captivating. The investigator inside us all starts begging for more information, but sometimes the crime scene gets too close to home. During the 1970s the safety of people living in the Adirondacks crumbled as Robert Garrow, of Dannemora (Clinton County), NY went on a vicious killing spree, using the park’s bountiful resources to prolong his terrorizing streak.
Garrow took the lives of four people in 1973, including a high-school aged camper in the Adirondacks, which sparked a 12 day manhunt for him. Police set road blocks throughout the park, checking for the killer in car trunks, and warning drivers to not stop for any hitchhikers for fear that Garrow was posing as one. According to a 2009 book recounting the story, Garrow disrupted the peacefulness of the park, leaving people in complete fear as they armed themselves and locked their doors. Meanwhile, Garrow lived off the land to survive by eating snakes, burying himself in the ground to hide from police officers, and stealing food and soda from Adirondack hunting camps. Eventually, however, a Conservation officer tracked down and subdued Garrow in the woods. He survived and was sent to prison for 25 years to life, but escaped in 1978, and was quickly killed by correctional officers who saw him just beyond the prison walls.
People in the Adirondacks have always found ways to live off the land’s natural resources. Whether that be through logging, mining, or vacationers trying to take in the park’s natural beauty, everyone has a connection with the land. Garrow’s use of the land, however, gives rise to questions relating to morality and the use of the land, begging us to ask and explore if there is such thing as good or bad use of the park’s natural resources.
http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Adirondacks-Serial-Killer-Robert/dp/0979574137
Definitely a freaky scenario. While obviously we don't like hearing about murder and death of innocent people, cases like these are fascinating to analyze and hear about - especially because we don't tend to hear about these happenings in small rural communities that often. Also, I can't believe he ate snakes! I suppose in order to survive you gotta do what you gotta do.
ReplyDeleteThere is certainly something about the way wilderness lends itself to hiding a criminal on the loose that can make a manhunt in a remote area like the Adirondacks extra frightening. The area went through a similar situation just this summer with the escaped convicts that eluded the police for long enough to have anyone in NYS thinking twice before driving north. The last days of the manhunt were the first of the summer season for the camp I work at, and the other staff members and I definitely wondered (rather nervously) about how easy it would be for someone dangerous to camp out in one of our more distant unused cabins, just a short walk away from a camp full of kids, without us noticing. Freaky indeed.
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