Hunt for the mad trapper
 

Hi all, i read a story a while back about the hunt for the mad trapper, it is a true story and it was good read. Pretty fascinating story. I see that either discovery or history channel will air a show on it Thursday evening and will definetly be worth a watch.

I have to work the night shift and will have to miss it:mad2:, but thought some of you may want to check it out...let me know how it was!!!

Is this the one the mad trapper of Rat river? If it is Charles Bronson also starred in a version of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Hunt

It is on again Friday at 1 pm on Discovery for the people working the night shift.

Not a spectacular movie, it was made around Canmore. Any resemblance to the actual story is purely co-incidental.:lol: There was an eerily similar happening in northern BC, in the 1980's. Think the book about it was called Descent into Madness.
Grizz

Thanks for the heads up Shmag. I read that story a few years back and might try to catch the show.

Yeah, great story. i read an account of this incident as well. It was amazing how the Mad Trapper of Rat River (Albert Johnson) could elude capture for so long with a minimum of supplies and survive in temps near -40. I'll be watching for the movie as well.

Ya, I've seen the Charles Bronson version a few times and they certainly didn't let the facts ruin a good story. It was sad how they romanticized Albert Johnson and made the RCMP look like a bunch of bafoons. I've read several different books on the subject but my favourite is the one by Dick North. They did make men a lot tougher back in those days!

I just finished reading Adventures in the Arctic by Peter Freuchen. You want to talk about some hardy people.

Mad trapper!
 

My favourite story!

I have not seen the movie, but I got quite interested in the story a couple of years ago, when i bought a very old (40 yrs?) second hand book with the story.
Then I started researching it a bit more and there are actually 3 or 4 different publications with the actual story out there - some are a little more bloodthirsty than others. There is also a childrens book version (more teenagers, actually), but with the typical comic type illustrations that were popular in the 50ties and 60ties.

There is also a very interesting fact "research" book about the mad trapper, with original pictures, police documents (they are all at the RCMP museum in regina now) and detailed maps where his cabin actually was, and all the geographical details where the story unfolded.

The most accepted theory now is that the trapper is actually a skandinavian heritage, which could be one of the reasons why he did not like talking (language?)

The police fotos of his corpse after they found him are interesting. His weapon was -by the way- a savage rifle , (30-30) if I am not mistaken.

I always thought that the story is so interesting and full of riddles that it would warrant further research !

If anyone is interested, I can send the titles/authors of my mad trapper books

There is a Rudy Weibe book that is a fictionalized book based on the 'facts'. Good read, but its nice to know the actual story too.

The mad trapper books are awesome and my favorite's for sure.Its like Sheep said "they made men alot tougher back then" Can anyone imagine what a 200 pound load feels like in a trapper Nelson:huh: I don't want to.lol


Not a spectacular movie, it was made around Canmore. Any resemblance to the actual story is purely co-incidental. There was an eerily similar happening in northern BC, in the 1980's. Think the book about it was called Descent into Madness.
Grizz

This book is also really good and is worth buying. The guy in Descent into Madness was crazy.lol

In the bar at the hotel at Eagle Plains on the Dempster Hiway they depict the story and chase with pictures on the walls. Made for a very interesting evening drinking beer and reading the picture descriptions. I can't imagine climping a mountain range in snowshoes!

I have read Descent into madness and was amazed at what happened. Even more so is the fact that I have hunted that country and know what it is like. I would recommend that book to anyone as it opens your eyes as to how crazy people can get if left alone. It makes me think how to approach people that live in the bush as there are still people out there that live of the land and want to be lleft alone.

Just my thoughts Tinman

Been there many times. A really neat place to stop. Nice moose on the wall too.

I'll bet that muskox rug on the floor that everyone spills their beer on belonged to the mad trapper or his father, it is at least that old!

The book I read about it was probably 35 years ago and it had photos of him dead and alive as well as the RCMP members who were there as well as his cabin after they blew it up. It was a very interesting read.

I just know that, when travelling from Inuvik to WH, it was alway a nice break and a decent meal while we filled up. :)

Death Hunt
 

I've read the story and seen the movie both several times...never gets old...I try to watch/read it every few years...funny how your perspective changes as you get older.

Will always be one of my favourite stories.

I had the show on DVR and just watched it last night. It was ok, it was presented as more of CSI type show, to find out who he was and where he was from. In the end I had more questions than answers.
But it's still better than wasting an hour on castrationfest shows like grays anatomy, or any of the other doo doo shows on tv.
I think Pierre Burton wrote a bit on The Mad Trapper..he has a bunch of great books about the settlemnt of the west, and development of the north.

There's a little bar in Rolla that has a mad trapper night. We happened to stop in there the night it was going on. There was some critters in the bar that night. Instead of a parking lot full of trucks there was old snowmobiles and sleds full of firewood. I have a few tee shirts she was selling with Albert Johnsons picture on the back. The theme of the place was "How crazy can you get?" We left before things got too crazy, but it was winding up pretty good in there. One of my favorite bars I've been to, it's like a museum in there.

Interesting story, I've read a few of the books. I missed the show on TV though.

I have also read the book "Decent into Madness" and highly recommend it. I have always wondered whether that mad man had read the story about the Mad Trapper and perhaps tried to emulate him. And to think the only reason they caught him was because of a mis-fire or possibly many more people would have died apprehending him. I have also always wondered what the "connection" is between insanity and great physical strength ?

Keep Your Powder Dry
Dave.

So does the Dudley Dooright cartoon.

http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:...ey_doright.jpg

The Bronson movie is called, "Death Hunt", made in 1981. The principle actors are Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin. BOTH WWII veterans decorated with Purple Hearts, making their way through life, post WWII, as actors. Bronson, a B-29 gunner and Marvin a Marine sniper. Real men.

I liked the movie.

Ya I guess so but the Albert Johnson incident was real life where people lost lives. The movie was okay....just too bad that it was supposedly depicting an actual incident. Oh well, Hollywood never lets the facts ruin a good story. As a fictional movie it was good......just not as the story of the Mad Trapper.

I didnt really think the movie told the story of the mad trapper very well...

I enjoyed the documentary the other night..Pretty shocking that he had state of the art dentistry for the time...

I wonder why they never mentioned Wop May and his plane at all,without it they would never have caught him.

His strength and superhuman endurance was crazy...

Hence, the oft' used disclaimer: "Based on a true story". ;)

They seemed to at least get that notion across accurately in the movie. From what I can recall. Maybe I'll have to watch it again. :lol:

Sound like the same book as I have, The Death Of Albert Johnson by Frank W. Anderson. Published by Frontier Publishing Ltd. (Calgary) 1968.

Two Mad Trappers...
 

Canadian history is broad, especially up north.

As others have noted, there were actually two "mad trapper" types (at least!). Both were definitely not well-adjusted individuals but did have some solid survival skills, and were fit. Whiskey--I think the connection is maybe not between insanity and great physical strength but between a really hard life that leads to fitness plus having your back against the wall. I see the same sorta thing in other situations (climbing, polar exploration, many others). But yeah, interesting.

The original one was Albert Johnson, who got himself shot in about 1932 after a really involved chase that used planes, dogs, etc. to hunt him down. Good story, http://www.yukonbooks.com/shop/custo...productid=2290

The "descent into madness" guy was Michael Oros, and he got himself shot in about 1985. I think this is the slightly better book despite some really glaring holes in the narrative, http://www.amazon.com/Descent-into-M.../dp/0888393210

I have both books, both are good reads. Both these guys were (beyond being totally nuts) incredibly tough individuals--I doubt many modern men could do what they did in terms of distance travelled with that amount of weight on that gear.

There were some similarities in the "chase" after both men; new technology that both worked and didn't work (tragically in the Oros case, pretty successfully in the Johnson case), ideas, weather. Interesting to read both.

I kinda collect this sort of writing about Canada; lots of great bush pilot stories, adventures, physical history.

love a hard cover copy of Decent into Madness

So thats how they did it in '09.

His savage rifle and the meager supplies he carried are in the rcmp museum in Regina. They also display the single round he had hidden under the butt plate of his rifle. The true identity of Albert Johnson remains unknown his DNA was searched:

In 2009 a televised exhumation of Johnson's corpse was aired[5] in which DNA comparisons were made to confirm Johnson's identity. A forensic team sponsored by the Discovery Channel exhumed Johnson's body on August 11, 2007 and conducted forensic tests on his remains before re-interring it in an attempt to confirm his true identity conclusively. All candidates tested against were eventually excluded with 100 percent certainty. By analyzing isotopes in Johnson's teeth, it was determined that Johnson was not Canadian but likely grew up in the Corn Belt of midwest America or possibly Scandinavia.[6] It was also reported that he was aged in his 30s when he died.[7]

Is that by Vernon Frolick?