Alferd Packer

Alferd Packer (1842–1907) was an American frontiersman and prospector whose name became synonymous with one of the most notorious cannibalism cases in American history. In 1874, Packer was hired as a guide to lead a group of prospectors from Utah to Colorado during winter. When the party became stranded and snow-bound in the San Juan Mountains, the members died under circumstances that remain disputed. Packer emerged as the sole survivor, claiming the others had died of starvation and natural causes, but evidence suggested he had killed them and consumed their flesh to survive. He was arrested, tried, and convicted of murder, though the legal proceedings were chaotic, and he was eventually released under mysterious circumstances. Packer lived much of his later life in relative obscurity in Wyoming and Colorado. His case remains one of the most famous American examples of survival cannibalism, though historical accounts remain contested regarding his actual guilt versus self-defense. Packer's legacy lives on in Western folklore, regional history, and dark American crime narratives.