Even his victims could not deny the care that went into Knight’s raids. They would notice small scratches on door frames or even mysterious wood shavings here and there. Unlike other burglars, he never smashed windows or broke locks. Everything was more or less left in its original state.
The Portland Press Herald
“The level of discipline he showed while he broke into houses is beyond what most of us could remotely imagine,” remarked Sergeant Terry Hughes. “The legwork… the talent with locks, his ability to get in and out without being detected.”
It is estimated that Knight committed a total of 1,000 burglaries over the course of 27 years
The Portland Press Herald
Some have regarded Knight as the perpetrator of one of the “biggest burglary cases in the history of Maine.” But even with all the goods he smuggled, Knight still had to weather the elements. And when you live in the woods, the seasons don’t arrive neatly, single-file. They sneak up upon you blazing and biting.
When Knight arrived at his destination, summer still endured with its longer days and earnest sun. But even with the shimmering lake within reach, this landscape was not exactly a summertime paradise at first glance.
Worldwide Elevation Finder
Roads wandered in secret beneath suffocating sheaths of brambles and felled trees. The ground that was visible without so much as a swipe of the hand sunk unceremoniously with murky rainwater. So it was no beach resort. That Knight could manage. It would be the winters that proved unrelenting.
When it is numbingly cold outside, your best bet is often to keep moving. Indeed, that is exactly what Knight did to survive Maine’s brutal winters.
Gray Ghost Camps
Each night, he’d hunker down at about 7:30 PM and doze off. By 2 AM, he would be ready to start his day. He feared freezing to death and knew that the odds were against him when starting fires was out of the question. Just perspiring too much could do him in, his own sweat encasing him in a fatal ice cocoon.
At the same time, Knight never let a little winter chill get him down. When a draft came over his body, he reveled in it as one would the warmth of a woolen blanket.
Hora 7
Sometimes, the cold would be so intense it would seep beneath his skin and into his bones. Still, Knight persevered with nothing more than some mild frostbite here and there. The good thing about the winter is that few campers were around, making moving about a little less risky. Still, he couldn’t deny the bounty summer brought with it, especially when a whole summer camp settled nearby.
