Fan of ITW movie found dead
CJMST3K
Posts: 9,722
I'm not sure if this belongs on AET or The Porch. I'll let Kat decide.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/27/us/into-t ... ?hpt=hp_t2
(CNN) -- Before he went missing, Johnathan Croom had developed an obsession with the movie "Into the Wild," in which a young man leaves society to go live off the land.
The movie's main character dies. So did Croom. The 18-year-old's body turned up in rural Oregon Monday, authorities say.
It was 1,000 feet away from his abandoned car, which officers found last week.
They suspect no foul play and are investigating the death as a suicide, said Dwes Hutson, public information officer for the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. Hutson didn't say why investigators suspect Croom took his own life.
In the movie based on Jon Krakauer's 1996 nonfiction book, a young man by the name of Chris McCandless disappears.
Emulating 'Into the Wild'
Over the past six months, Johnathan's father, David Croom, said his son had shown a growing interest in the movie and possibly wanted to emulate McCandless' actions.
"He's been watching the movie a lot," Croom said before his son's body was found. "Maybe he said, 'I want to do it.' That's our theory, because he kept talking about the movie."
Johnathan's green Honda CRV was found on a lonely road in the quiet country town of Riddle, Oregon, on Wednesday, two days after he was supposed to start college at Mesa Community College.
He was last seen at a friend's home in Seattle, where he'd been visiting. His father assumed he was driving back to Arizona through Washington and Oregon before he went missing.
The teen has been a main topic of conversation in Riddle, a logging and ranching community of about 1,300 with no traditional grocery store and no movie theater.
People were searching their property for him, said one resident, a longtime rancher who asked that he not be identified.
"There's nothing that makes sense," he said. What happened to him does not seem to square with what happened in the movie.
Riddle is dozens of miles from the nearest wilderness area, residents say.
"It's 2½ miles from the major interstate; it's right in town in Riddle," Huston said of where Croom's car was found.
"There are houses and people, and it's well-populated, so if he wanted to do an 'Into the Wild,' it wasn't the appropriate place."
The cult of "Into the Wild"
Krakauer's account of McCandless' life has taken on an almost cult status among countless free spirits who dream of shedding the trappings of modern life and living off the land.
"There were similarities," Croom said of his son's disappearance.
In the book, McCandless cut off communication with his parents and traveled to Alaska, where he lived in a school bus before dying of starvation.
Like McCandless, Johnathan Croom apparently traveled with very few belongings: perhaps a small backpack and his phone, his father said. Left behind in the Honda was the teen's ID card, plus a sweatshirt, blanket and jug of water, things someone might need to survive in the wilderness.
Johnathan Croom's camping experience was limited at best, his father said, not much more than camping once or twice.
Several reports describing travelers with an apparent interest in McCandless and the abandoned "Magic Bus" parked near Healy, Alaska, outside Denali National Park have surfaced recently.
In May, a police helicopter reportedly rescued three German men who had hiked into the wilderness looking for the bus. An Oklahoma teen inspired by the movie reportedly went missing in Oregon in March after telling his parents he wanted to "live in the wild."
In 2010, a Swiss woman reportedly drowned in an Alaska river during her trek to visit the famous bus.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/27/us/into-t ... ?hpt=hp_t2
(CNN) -- Before he went missing, Johnathan Croom had developed an obsession with the movie "Into the Wild," in which a young man leaves society to go live off the land.
The movie's main character dies. So did Croom. The 18-year-old's body turned up in rural Oregon Monday, authorities say.
It was 1,000 feet away from his abandoned car, which officers found last week.
They suspect no foul play and are investigating the death as a suicide, said Dwes Hutson, public information officer for the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. Hutson didn't say why investigators suspect Croom took his own life.
In the movie based on Jon Krakauer's 1996 nonfiction book, a young man by the name of Chris McCandless disappears.
Emulating 'Into the Wild'
Over the past six months, Johnathan's father, David Croom, said his son had shown a growing interest in the movie and possibly wanted to emulate McCandless' actions.
"He's been watching the movie a lot," Croom said before his son's body was found. "Maybe he said, 'I want to do it.' That's our theory, because he kept talking about the movie."
Johnathan's green Honda CRV was found on a lonely road in the quiet country town of Riddle, Oregon, on Wednesday, two days after he was supposed to start college at Mesa Community College.
He was last seen at a friend's home in Seattle, where he'd been visiting. His father assumed he was driving back to Arizona through Washington and Oregon before he went missing.
The teen has been a main topic of conversation in Riddle, a logging and ranching community of about 1,300 with no traditional grocery store and no movie theater.
People were searching their property for him, said one resident, a longtime rancher who asked that he not be identified.
"There's nothing that makes sense," he said. What happened to him does not seem to square with what happened in the movie.
Riddle is dozens of miles from the nearest wilderness area, residents say.
"It's 2½ miles from the major interstate; it's right in town in Riddle," Huston said of where Croom's car was found.
"There are houses and people, and it's well-populated, so if he wanted to do an 'Into the Wild,' it wasn't the appropriate place."
The cult of "Into the Wild"
Krakauer's account of McCandless' life has taken on an almost cult status among countless free spirits who dream of shedding the trappings of modern life and living off the land.
"There were similarities," Croom said of his son's disappearance.
In the book, McCandless cut off communication with his parents and traveled to Alaska, where he lived in a school bus before dying of starvation.
Like McCandless, Johnathan Croom apparently traveled with very few belongings: perhaps a small backpack and his phone, his father said. Left behind in the Honda was the teen's ID card, plus a sweatshirt, blanket and jug of water, things someone might need to survive in the wilderness.
Johnathan Croom's camping experience was limited at best, his father said, not much more than camping once or twice.
Several reports describing travelers with an apparent interest in McCandless and the abandoned "Magic Bus" parked near Healy, Alaska, outside Denali National Park have surfaced recently.
In May, a police helicopter reportedly rescued three German men who had hiked into the wilderness looking for the bus. An Oklahoma teen inspired by the movie reportedly went missing in Oregon in March after telling his parents he wanted to "live in the wild."
In 2010, a Swiss woman reportedly drowned in an Alaska river during her trek to visit the famous bus.
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18 years old.
His entire life ahead of him.
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
i've been there after a breakup at 17.
the problem with being 18 is that you do not see beyond the tip of your nose.
i would have told him that the most important relationships of your life have not even happened yet. :(
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
You do not even know what a true relationship is.
And to make a stupid decision, that costs you your life? Over a teenage crush?
Unreal.
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
We need to remember that its possible that no one had that crucial conversation with the young man while his heart was bleeding. I have two children that are/have reached this critical age, like you said, where they can't see past the end of their nose... All we do is try to prepare them. And try some more.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Yesterday evening, I caught a bit of an interview with the boy's father - seems like a caring, concerned and loving parent.
Obviously I didn't know this young man, and while I can relate to the melodrama of that age...what the fuck was he thinking? Is being prepared for the environment over which you want to triumph not an option? Why is McCandless considered a hero - someone this boy and others have aspired to emulate?
Over time, I've seen various posts in this forum from people older than he was, who are into this Into the Wild shit (and sorry for calling it shit, but when you just cut off from those who love and have nurtured you, over some martyr-like swan song? Sadly short-sighted, no matter your age).
It's ironic how in looking to "live", many do the opposite.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08 ... woods?lite
PORTLAND, Ore. -- The father of an Arizona teenager whose body was found Monday evening near his abandoned SUV in the woods of southern Oregon said his son was "a young man who had a broken heart."
The body of Johnathan Croom, 18, was discovered about 1,000 feet from where his vehicle was found abandoned last week, Douglas County sheriff's spokesman Dwes Hutson said in a statement.
Hutson said the Apache Junction, Ariz., youth's death was being investigated as a suicide but he provided no additional information. He didn't return a call for comment.
In a telephone interview from Oregon, David Croom said his son was grieving the end of a recent relationship with "someone back in Phoenix."
"He was a young man who had a broken heart and headed out to try to find himself," the elder Croom said. "We're looking forward to finding out exactly what happened."
He thanked everyone who helped search for his son and added, "Please pray for our family."
The father said he had no specifics on a cause of death.
The teen had talked with his parents about the book "Into the Wild" and told a friend he wanted to run away.
Croom's SUV was found Wednesday in Riddle, a town of 1,200 people just off the state's main north-south thoroughfare, Interstate 5.
His mother, Monica Croom, had said he was traveling alone and on his way back from Seattle, where he visited a friend. The teen was due in Arizona on Aug. 17 to start college in Mesa.
Hutson said earlier that text messages between Croom and a friend indicated Croom wanted to run away.
Hutson said Croom also talked to his parents about Christopher McCandless, whose journey to Alaska was documented in the book "Into the Wild." McCandless gave up his worldly goods to live in the Alaska wilderness, only to die there, perhaps from eating wild potatoes.
"I think we have kind of a combination there," Hutson said earlier Monday. "He talked with his parents about 'Into the Wild,' and in text messages we've looked at, he does specifically talk about running away, kind of just running away from his life."
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
first of all, christopher mcandless wasn't running away from anything - he was living his life as he saw fit from his own point of view ... one can disagree with his ideas and philosophy but i don't think they should be characterized as being abandoning of his previous life
secondly, as it relates to the first point - christopher mcandless didn't commit suicide nor seek death ... regardless of what story you believe in terms of the days leading up to his death ... the fact is that he at no point in his journey was seeking death ...
The Into the Wild thing was first brought up when his whereabouts were unknown and he walked away from his vehicle/money/identity. There was also a book called How To Survive In The Woods found in his car.
Now that he's been found 1000 feet away, I think he just wanted to call it quits.
It's strange all around...
He wanted to run away from his current life, but he was about to go off to college and do just that.
Hopefully his parents get some kind of letter or answers for closure.