![]() Stay on the dirt road because the bluff is mostly private property with various homes located near the memorial. The site is very small and is literally just five crosses, a plaque, and a historic marker on the side of the dirt road: The large sign designating the turn off can be seen just a short distance passed the turn off to Lake San Cristobal:Īfter traveling a very short distance on a dirt road that drives across a bluff overlooking the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River down below another sign becomes visible that points towards the massacre site: The site is easily found by traveling 2 miles south on Highway 149 from Lake City. Today the site of the massacre is preserved as a memorial to the five men that perished there in February 1874. Picture of Alferd Packer in 1886 via Colorado Life magazine. No one really knows what the true story is, but the facts that are clear were that five people were dead and that Packer was alive after eating them to survive. He would later change his story to claim that Bell killed them all and tried to kill him too, but then fought him off and killed him instead. He said he killed the guy in self defense and then only ate the bodies to prevent his own death from starvation. He then claimed it came down to him and Wilson Bell and that Bell tried to kill him. He however, claimed he only did so after his companions had already died off or were murdered by other companions to eat. If the matter is as I suspect, you are more to be pitied than blamed.”…….Īfter minutes of silence, Packer finally made a cryptic, disturbing observation: “It would not be the first time that people had been obliged to eat each other when they were hungry.” “I believe these men are dead and you know something about it,” the investigator told Alfred Packer. They were eventually able to get Packer to confess to eating his companions. They found that the money he had was stolen from his companions. He made up excuses that they left him, but after a couple of weeks of inconsistent stories and the fact he suddenly had a lot of money to gamble with authorities in the city of Saguache arrested and interrogated him. When he arrived in April 1874 at the Los Pinos Indian Agency without his companions other prospectors from Chief Ouray’s camp who recognized Packer immediately asked him where they were. One thing led to another and Packer eventually ended up eating his five companions to survive. ![]() Lake Fork of the Gunnison River just north of Lake City Colorado. Since the town was not founded until 1875 the area was still a remote wilderness when Packer and his men arrived. This wrong turn caused them to become stranded in deep snow just outside of present day Lake City in February 1874. Packer obviously wasn’t a very good guide since the party proceeded to get lost by making a wrong turn and following the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River deep into the San Juan Mountains instead of heading further east towards the Los Pinos Indian Agency. So they left Chief Ouray’s camp to reach their next destination, the Los Pinos Indian Agency just south of present day Gunnison. Most of the group decided to stay, but Packer and a group of five other men could not wait until spring to start looking for gold and silver. In January 1874 the party made it to the area near Delta, Colorado where the famed Ute Chief Ouray told the party to stay in his winter camp until spring time when the conditions would improve enough to allow safe travel through the mountains. The man’s name is Alferd Packer who’s horrific tale began when he agreed to serve as a guide for a group of about 20 prospectors who set out from Utah to mine in the San Juan Mountains back in the winter of 1873. ![]() However, one of Colorado’s most well known historical figures is famous for just that, being a cannibal. Update: The site located on private property has reportedly been closed.Ĭannibalism is not what comes to mind when one thinks about Colorado’s Old West past.
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