On the eastern bank of the Sushana River, McCandless found an abandoned bus, Fairbanks Bus 142, which he used as a makeshift shelter until his death. There, he entered the Alaskan bush with minimal supplies, hoping to live simply off the land. McCandless is the subject of Into the Wild, a nonfiction book by Jon Krakauer that was later made into a full-length feature film.Īfter graduating from Emory University in Georgia in 1990, McCandless traveled across North America and eventually hitchhiked to Alaska in April 1992. August 1992), also known by his self-made nickname " Alexander Supertramp", was an American adventurer who sought an increasingly nomadic lifestyle as he grew up. Sources:, , nydailynews.Starvation, possibly brought on by poisoning Ĭhristopher Johnson McCandless ( / m ə ˈ k æ n d l ɪ s/ Febru – c. “It’s been a long time coming, but I’m finally ready.” “Over the years I’ve come to understand how important is it for people around the world inspired by Chris’ story to have the rest of the details that have remained unknown,” she says. She’s telling the whole story now after feeling she had done a disservice to Chris by keeping these details hidden. Chris McCandless poses for a self portrait with a porcupine before he died in 1992.Ĭarine was 21 when her brother died and kept quiet to protect the family. As the firstborn child, he was supposedly the reason his parents stayed together. It was a poisoned upbringing and one that was often pinned on Chris. According to her, the violence was usually directly related to the quantity of gin drank by their father. “Whenever we would hear elevated voices and slamming doors, Chris would grab me and get me out of the house and it was always an outdoors escape.” She says that when they didn’t get out, they would be called in to witness. “It wasn’t just the pull of his love of nature, it was the pushing away, this distance he felt he absolutely had to have and the separation from his past,” she said in a radio interview with CBC.
The book went on sale November 11.Ĭarine speaks of what drove Chris to leave home. Christopher McCandless’ sister and close confidant, Carine, has just come out with The Wild Truth-a book which tells of abuse and violence inside the McCandless household. Candice McCandless poses beside the bus where her brother, Christopher, passed away.Īnd though it’s been over two decades since Outside first captured the attention of readers, details of the story have been hidden until now.
INTO THE WILD BOOK SISTER MOVIE
It was later developed into a movie in 2007 directed by Sean Penn. The story, written by Jon Krakaeur, is better known in its expanded version: Into the Wild, a book published in 1996 which has sold over a million copies and has become required reading in schools across the U.S. This is the story.” McCandless lived out of an abandoned bus alone in the bush for months before getting hit with the illness that would cause his death. Printed in bold on the 1993 issue of the magazine, it said, “On April 28, 24-year-old Chris McCandless walked off into America’s last frontier hoping to make sense of his life. It’s been nearly 22 years since Outside magazine published Death of an Innocent, the story of a young man who left his home in a suburb of Washington D.C., travelled across the U.S., and disappeared into the Alaskan wild.