[1] During his seclusion, Knight lived within a mile of summer cabins in a crude camp he built in a well-drained woodland obscured within a cluster of glacial erratic boulders.
Apart from the fear and notoriety his many burglaries created in the local area, Knight's unusual life also attracted widespread international media reports upon his capture.
In 1986, Knight abandoned his job and took a road trip throughout the South before abruptly driving back up to Maine, stopping only when his car ran out of gas.
[8] Knight survived the bitterly cold Maine winters, with temperatures regularly falling below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, by waking up during the coldest part of the night and pacing his camp until warm.
[10] A few residents interviewed by The Boston Globe have expressed doubt at Knight's outdoor survival skills, saying he might have broken into and taken refuge in vacant cabins.
[9] Biographer Michael Finkel later reported that around February 2013, a fisherman named Tony Bellavance (along with his son and grandson) discovered Knight in his camp,[9] two months before he was apprehended by police.
[9] Knight was captured by game warden Sergeant Terry Hughes on April 4, 2013, while burgling the Pine Tree Camp in Rome, Maine.
[9][12] Knight was largely reluctant to express any inkling of motives or insights gained through his experience, but he did offer, "solitude bestows an increase in something valuable ... my perception.
Finkel compared this observation to similar statements by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles de Foucauld, and Thomas Merton.