The Man Who Stepped Off the Earth: Chris McCandless

Due to complications with scheduling, this video was delayed and the Makeship campaign is no longer live, my apologies and thank you to everyone for supporting the channel. Y'all are a blessing.

Timestamps

Intro - 00:00

The Call - 1:13

The Wild - 12:11

Pointless analysis that ruins the mood - 26:11

Thank you all so much for watching and please let me know what you think!

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[AlexxKister]

I just did a project about this guy in high school like a year ago lol. I remember his name “alexander supertramp” was made that way because Supertramp was his favorite band

[ironwolf]

Remember: no matter how much you love nature, nature is a harsh mistress and you must always be ready for the worst.

[theresanoelle]

Him writing MOOSE! is so wholesome to me you can tell how excited and happy he was to see a moose and honestly I can't blame him

[c-enfi]

What I got from Chris' story is that he never intended to be seen as someone daring, he didn't commit himself to the wilderness to prove something of himself, I think he just genuinely wanted some sort of escape that he believed he would find in the immersion of nature, and I think that is a perspective that is lost to so many people and "critics"

[spinnigold]

Knowing nothing about this man, I clicked on the thumbnail thinking it was about a flat earther who claimed he had fallen off the side of the earth

[Babyboyliz]

I feel like Chris was definitely “ignorance is bliss” personified. It seems like it wasn’t his intent to be a nature survivalist, it was his intent to live life how he wanted.

[jtofgc]

You're missing the most important research on the starvation issue. Krakauer himself wrote an addendum to Into the Wild about research into ODAP and canavanine poisoning from wild potato seeds when eaten as a major part of one's diet. This type of seed was not known to be poisonous at the time and he had a guidebook on him that said they were safe to eat. ODAP poisoning leads to loss of motor function in the legs and canavanine makes your body unable to synthesize proteins properly. It's possible his poisoning was not due to his own ignorance or mistaken identification of a plant, but due to a gap in the scientific literature that was only closed in the last ten years.

[RocksterStudios-tteh]

I understand why Chris did what he did.
I’ve always had the inner urge to just drop everything and go road tripping, abandon all my ties to society. And I’ve had a happy childhood.
Chris had grown up in an abusive and materialistic environment; it’s no surprise he left. I just hope he died feeling happy and free.

[finsta]

My brother did similar thing as Chris. He travelled all over the US with just himself and few possessions, hitchhiking and relying on the kindness of strangers. He struggles a lot with addiction and mental health issues and we have tried to help him to no avail. My brother has been through many US states. He has friends everywhere. We have gone years with no contact with him because he was living on farms or in forests. He comes back to my hometown every few years, stays awhile with our relatives, then leaves again. We worry for him but he is happier this way than when he stays in one place and tries to live “normally”

[mythicalthings]

His sister claimed his father was a violent drunk, her half siblings also have said he was a violent drunk, even Chris said he was a violent drunk.

Gee, I wonder if the father was a violent drunk?

[Jay-njrq]

Some people may relate to the sentiment of not really wanting to kill themselves but not wanting to exist so wishing that they could just die some other way. I get those vibes from Chris. Like he didn’t want to actively end his life but he didn’t really care if he did in fact die. That’s why he didn’t want to spend time with gear and maps, he just wanted to get away immediately.

[BurningCandlewax]

I love these patreon names, like"Stephen, Marcy, Kebin, Cody, CUMRANGER, Xavier..."

[Alfiy_Wolf]

I believe Chris was simply trying to find himself, he didn’t want to die, he wanted LIVE, he died because he was not properly prepared no other reason.

[imjustaturtle]

When I was a senior in high school, my English teacher had us read "Into the Wild." We were supposed to compare Chris's life to the Heroes Journey and it was one of the worst lessons I've ever experienced. We weren't allowed to be critical and it felt like our teacher was trying to say "hey when you graduate high school you should be like Chris!' which is a HARD YIKES. Ironically enough I was also in a Wildlife Sciences class at the time and my teacher did his field work with bears in Alaska. He summed up Chris best for me, "It's easy for me to be critical of his entire approach, but what good is there in chastising a man who paid the ultimate price for his folly? When you are surrounded by nature, completely removed from the outside world, you walk the thin line between life and death. But you are also free, in the truest sense of the word. He wasn't seeking fame or book deals or any of the attention his story has since received. He just wanted to be free."

[sailor_indra]

Chris is not an example of survival, his intent wasn't to show how well he could survive in the wild, he just wanted to live his way. Living our life, the way we desire. Even when he was about to die he didn't fill himself with hatred and resentment, he thanked God for his life. He was a good person, innocent, not blinded by material stuff. He was an example of life, may he rest in peace.

[panamakira]

I first read the book "Into the Wild" about Chris' story in high school and it always stuck with me. I just felt really sad for him. He seemed like a nice person that was just lost in our world and wanted to live or die his own way. I do think the way of how careless he was in researching and having the proper gear to survive in the wilderness shows that he might have not cared enough about his life. Or who knows maybe he did believe he could survive off the land. I think if only he had a bit more experience.

[harrydsgn]

that line: "Happiness is only real when shared, " has stuck with me so hard since seeing the movie. Chris' story is so complex but something about that line cuts straight through and gets to the point of what life is about in such a concise way. Feels so much more tangible than platitudes like 'no man is an island.' Also a hard truth to wrestle with as somebody who struggles with socialization and isolationism.

[TrixieTreat]

I don't think Chris was an idiot, but he was definitely ignorant of the reality of the Alaskan wilderness. It seems like he had a lot of magical thinking about his journey which caused him to ignore the advice of those more experienced than him (like refusing to pack cold weather gear). He was so focused on the spiritual nature of his journey that he just ignored the physical realities of what he was up against.
In reality, had he not found "the magic bus", he would have most likely die much sooner.

[MeowmiXX_mmg]

The point people walk away with: Wow, the human condition and the evils we as a society create can lead innocent people down the road of insanity and self-destruction, but nature itself is far greater a challenge to overcome

The actual point of this story: Naming your child "christmas candles" will lead to inevitable derangement

[patriciau]

As a mother this story broke my heart. As I read the book all I could think about was how lost this poor child was and no one was there for him.