25 Brutal Truths About Colorado's Old Max and the Cannibal It Held

The prison, the cannibal, and the record the legend left out. This is the real history of Old Max and Alferd Packer, told from the documents. About this video In 1874, a hired guide walked out of Colorado's San Juan Mountains alone. Five men never did. This documentary counts down twenty five brutal, documented truths about Alferd Packer and Old Max, the stone prison at Cañon City that held him. Built from trial transcripts, confessions, warden reports, and forensic studies, it asks the one question the legend never has. Was the cannibal really the darkest thing inside those walls? Sources and further reading Michael L. Radelet, The History of the Death Penalty in Colorado (University Press of Colorado, 2017) Harold Schechter, Man-Eater: The Life and Legend of an American Cannibal (Little, Brown, 2015) Paul H. Gantt, The Case of Alfred Packer, the Man-Eater (University of Denver Press, 1952) James E. Starrs and Katherine Ramsland, A Voice for the Dead: A Forensic Investigator's Pursuit of the Truth in the Grave (Putnam, 2005) Robert Perske, Deadly Innocence? (Abingdon Press, 1995) Wayne K. Patterson, Slaughter in Cell House 3: The Anatomy of a Riot Office of Governor Bill Ritter, posthumous pardon of Joe Arridy, January 7, 2011 Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, case record of Patrick F. O'Neill, Cañon City, October 3, 1929 Denver Public Library Digital Collections, Western History photographs of the Colorado State Penitentiary Museum of Colorado Prisons, Cañon City, Colorado About this channel This video is made for educational and informational purposes. Our goal is to widen your knowledge of America's institutional history and to give you content that is valuable, accurate, and grounded in the documented record. Every script on this channel is written by a human. Our team also brainstorms the visuals and storyboard internally. Thank you for being here. Hit subscribe, and every week we will open another sealed ward together.