You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
11<br />
My goodness. Knight had created from <strong>the</strong> chaos a liv<strong>in</strong>g-room-sized clear<strong>in</strong>g completely <strong>in</strong>visible a few<br />
steps away, protected by a natural Stonehenge of boulders and a thicket of hemlocks. Tree branches l<strong>in</strong>ked<br />
overhead to form a trellis, mask<strong>in</strong>g his site from <strong>the</strong> air. This was why Knight’s sk<strong>in</strong> was so pale—he’d<br />
resided <strong>in</strong> perpetual shade. “I’m from <strong>the</strong> woods, not <strong>the</strong> fields,” he’d said about his pallor. <strong>The</strong> room was<br />
large, about twenty feet on each side, with ideally flat ground cleared of stones and situated on a slight rise<br />
that allowed just enough breeze to keep <strong>the</strong> mosquitoes away but not so much as to cause severe w<strong>in</strong>dchill <strong>in</strong><br />
w<strong>in</strong>ter. It felt to me as if a cube of forest had disappeared.<br />
“If he wouldn’t have shown us his site, we probably never would have found it,” said Hughes. “He just<br />
darted between <strong>the</strong>se big rocks, and I’m th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g, What <strong>the</strong> heck is he do<strong>in</strong>g? <strong>The</strong>n, boom, <strong>the</strong>re’s <strong>the</strong><br />
open<strong>in</strong>g.” <strong>The</strong>re were o<strong>the</strong>r ways <strong>in</strong> and out of <strong>the</strong> site, but <strong>the</strong>y were effectively blocked by dense tangles of<br />
downed trees and piles of boulders. <strong>The</strong> elephant rocks provided <strong>the</strong> only sensible entrance, and certa<strong>in</strong>ly<br />
<strong>the</strong> most dramatic. “We came around <strong>the</strong> rocks,” said Vance, “and my mouth hit <strong>the</strong> ground and I’m go<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
Oh my God, it’s real.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> police had removed much of Knight’s stuff, enough to fill two pickups, and ripped down his tarps<br />
and dismantled his tent, which sat crumpled <strong>in</strong> a sad ball, a couple of poles stick<strong>in</strong>g out like knitt<strong>in</strong>g<br />
needles. First, though, everyth<strong>in</strong>g had been photographed <strong>in</strong> its orig<strong>in</strong>al state.<br />
“He set his tent east-west,” said Hughes, bobb<strong>in</strong>g his head <strong>in</strong> reluctant approval. “That wasn’t an accident.<br />
That’s based on survivalist tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g. His site is not on top of a hill, not <strong>in</strong> a valley. It’s halfway between. He’s<br />
follow<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> pr<strong>in</strong>ciples of Sun Tzu, <strong>in</strong> <strong>The</strong> Art of War. But this guy was strictly out of high school <strong>in</strong> a<br />
small town, with no military experience at all.”<br />
Knight always kept <strong>the</strong> place fastidiously clean, rak<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> leaves and shovel<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> snow, though it was<br />
now, nearly five months after his arrest, covered with p<strong>in</strong>e needles and downed leaves. By clear<strong>in</strong>g off a<br />
small area, <strong>the</strong>n scrap<strong>in</strong>g away some soil—Hughes had suggested this—I could see, faceup, faded and badly<br />
waterlogged, <strong>the</strong> familiar yellow-bordered cover of a National Geographic magaz<strong>in</strong>e. <strong>The</strong> cover l<strong>in</strong>e was<br />
still legible (“Zaire River”) as was <strong>the</strong> date: November 1991.<br />
<strong>The</strong> pages flaked away, but <strong>the</strong>re was ano<strong>the</strong>r issue underneath (“Florida Watershed,” July 1990). <strong>The</strong>n<br />
ano<strong>the</strong>r, and ano<strong>the</strong>r. A foot down, <strong>the</strong>re were still more. <strong>The</strong> magaz<strong>in</strong>es had been bound with electrical<br />
tape <strong>in</strong>to thick bundles that Knight referred to as “bricks.” Elsewhere, <strong>the</strong>re were buried bricks of People,<br />
of Vanity Fair, of Glamour, of Playboy. Knight had recycled his old read<strong>in</strong>g material as subfloor<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
creat<strong>in</strong>g a platform that was perfectly level and also permitted decent dra<strong>in</strong>age of ra<strong>in</strong>water.