Yesterday, author Jon Krakauer posted an article in the New Yorker that claims to solve the mystery once and for all on how Chris McCandless died …
“Considering that potentially crippling levels of ODAP are found in wild-potato seeds, and given the symptoms McCandless described and attributed to the wild-potato seeds he ate, there is ample reason to believe that McCandless contracted lathyrism from eating those seeds.”
You might recall that Chris McCandless was the tragic figure in the Krakauer book and Sean Penn movie “Into The Wild“. While this latest research will not bring McCandless back, Krakauer points out that it may “prevent other backcountry foragers from accidentally poisoning themselves”.