History's A Disaster

Alfred Packer The Colorado Cannibal

• Andrew

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A winter crossing turned deadly when Alfred Packer led five men into the San Juans against Chief Ouray’s warning, then returned alone with shifting stories and other men’s gear. We trace the confessions, the trials, and the forensics that still complicate his guilt.

• Packer’s troubled past and failed careers
• The mining party’s formation and dire route choice
• Chief Ouray’s warning and the fatal decision to proceed
• Packer’s lone arrival and suspicious possessions
• First and second confessions with conflicting details
• Discovery of the bodies at Dead Man’s Gulch
• Trials, appeals, and a landmark sentence
• Media advocacy, parole, and late-life image
• Modern forensic findings and the revolver analysis
• Our take on motive, survival, and responsibility



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Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/


SPEAKER_00:

February sounds like a good time to go for a hike in the mountains of Colorado, right? Watch the snow cover the landscape. Take in the sights of the snow covered mountaintops. Get lost in the snowstorm with five other people you barely know. Use up all of your supplies until you're starving and looking at the guy next to you like there are cartoon turkey drumstick on legs. Sounds like a good time to me. And that's what happened in 1874 when Alfred Packer led a group of five men into the mountains. So, what happened? I'm Andrew, and this is History's A Disaster. Tonight we're diving into the life of an old West icon, Jeffrey Dahlmer's hero, the Colorado cannibal, Alfred Packer. And tonight's episode is brought to you by the Long Pig Sausage Company. The Long Pig Sausage Company is back with their take on an American classic, Rocky Mountain Oysters, with their very own Colorado Oyster. They're available now for a limited time at the low price of$9.95 a pair. Limit 5. Just be sure to use coupon code ITSDEFINTLYPORK at checkout. Alfred Packer, who also went by Alford, was born on January 21st, 1842, in Algany County, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. His parents were James and Esther Packer. He was one of three children, and in the early 1850s, they moved to LaGrange County, Indiana, where his dad was a cabinet maker. Old Alford unsurprisingly had a difficult relationship with his parents, so in his late teens, he said fuck it and moved to Minnesota to work as a shoemaker. And his illustrious shoemaking career got fucked up by the Civil War. So in April 1862, he enlisted in Company F, 16th US Infantry. However, he was discharged in December of the same year due to epilepsy, which caused him to suffer quote unquote fits. Despite this, this persistent shithead moved to Iowa to re-enlist there in Iowa's 8th Cavalry Regiment. You know, since they had such great record keeping in the Civil War, they let him in only to kick him out again months later. Can't be getting all shaky while you're trying to kill your fellow countrymen. Although he probably would have made a great distraction. Just saying. At some point during this time, he got his name tattooed on his arm, which is just weird. Could he not remember his name so he got it tattooed so he just had to look down to remember it? Fuck, I don't know. Either way, the tattoo artist fucked it up and spelled it Ulford, which apparently amused him so much he'd often go by Ulford. Either that or he did forget his actual name and thought Ulford was it. One of the two. So after his military service failed, he headed out west to try his luck in the goldfields. Can't make it as a soldier? Maybe he can make it as a prospector. Which apparently didn't work out too well either, because he eventually ended up working as a guide in the wilderness of Utah and Colorado by 1873. In November of 1873, a party of 20 men led by Robert McCrew set out from Provo, Utah to the gold country of the San Juan Mountains in Colorado. Out near Lake City, they encountered now 31-year-old Alford, who claimed to be a prospector and a guide familiar with the San Juan territory. Despite having no supplies of his own, or rifle, or really not much of anything but a cold revolver, he offered$25 to join the group, and since they desperately needed a guide, they accepted his offer. However, members of this expedition would later state that maybe Alfred had overstated his experience and qualifications. They apparently forgot to call his references. Throughout the journey, they claimed he was greedy with rations, lazy, obstinate, and obsessed with the amount of money other members carried. He often fought with one member Frank Miller and was characterized as a whining fraud by Preston Nutter. His epileptic seizures also put a little bit of a strain on the group. As they set out, the travel was slow going, game was scarce, and it was snowing heavily. Facing dwindling rations, the expedition was forced to eat livestock feed. By late January 1874, the expedition made it to the Oot Indian camp of Chief Ouray in Colorado, which is just near present-day Delta. Ouray shared his food and fire with the white men. He knew the country as well as anyone, and he warned his guests that to venture into the mountains at this time of year was to risk certain death. No Oot would attempt such a passage until spring. Despite this warning, on February 9th, Alford and five other men, George Noon, Israel Swan, James Humphrey, Frank Miller, and Shannon Wilson Bell decided to leave camp and head for the Los Pinos Indian Agency, just a measly 75 miles away. And unsurprisingly, no one was sad to see Alfred go. And seeing they wouldn't be swayed from this course of action, Ure gave him directions on how to get there. Follow the gulches for 300 trees, turn left at the rock shaped like a buffalo, then follow the river. It'll take you right there. Shouldn't take more than seven days. Alfred, being the excellent guy that he was, disregarded Ure's advice, led his party along a different path into the San Juan Mountains, and subsequently got lost. 65 days later, on April 16th, Packer emerged alone from the woods and made his way across the frozen lake bed to the Los Pinos Indian Agency near Sagawacha Colorado. He strolled into town all fat and sassy despite claiming prolonged near starvation and was spending money like it was going out of style. He carried a rifle, a knife, a steel coffee pot, and a satchel, so a whole lot more than he started out with. Initially, he told the agency men that he had been hired to guide five men to Breckenridge, but had become snowblind and was abandoned by his companions, forced to survive on his own with minimal ammunition and supplies. However, it wouldn't be long before other members of the original party soon arrived at the agency and immediately called out his bullshit. They stated that the men they knew would never abandon a companion. Preston Nutter and Oliver Lutzenheiser expressed suspicion, noting that the Winchester rifle Alford carried belonged to Israel Swan and a pipe he left behind belonged to Shannon Bell, both men who had gone missing. General Charles Adams, the Indian agent, was convinced to dispatch an officer to retrieve Alford for questioning under the guise of recruiting him for a search party. Confronted by General Adams, Alford eventually broke his silence, stating it would not be the first time that people had been obliged to eat each other when they were hungry. And if that's not just fucked up. Through tears, he began to confess, marking the first of many confessions he would give over the next three decades with details that just happened to change each time. In this first confession, he claimed that the group had endured nearly 20 days from Ure's camp and more than 10 days without substantial food. He said he had left camp to gather firewood and returned to find four men around the slain body of Israel Swan who had been struck in the head with a hatchet. Alfred claimed the others had butchered Swan and he joined them, just accepting the situation. Well, he's already dead, might as well eat him. He also said that several thousand dollars were found on Swan and divided among the men, and he just happened to take Swan's rifle. Within two days, out of meat again, Alford, Bell, Humphrey, and Noon secretly decided that Frank Miller would be next. Alford confessed that Miller was chosen for his soft flesh and was killed with a hatchet blow to the head while picking up wood. Miller's share of the money was redistributed and Alfred took Miller's knife. And it's kind of funny how he kept something from everyone, almost like he was collecting trophies. Or maybe it's because his dumbass came into the woods with nothing. Whatever. Anyways, Alfred was arrested and held in a Sega jail, and I know I'm mispronouncing that, which was a log cabin on the Sheriff's Ranch property. Months passed without evidence or bodies, and no formal charges were lodged against him other than an attempt on Lutzenheiser's life. Zegawatch County authorities were unhappy about the cost of keeping Packer, so someone slipped him a makeshift key and supplies, and he easily escaped in August of 1874, which pissed off the townspeople who were convinced of his guilt and constantly threatened to kill the man-eater. Also in August, John A. Randolph, an illustrator for Harper's Weekly magazine, discovered the remains of the five missing men at the foot of Slumgolan Pass, two miles southeast of Lake City in a pine-shaded gulch. This location, now known as Dead Man's Gulch, matched Alfred's description of where only Bell was killed. The snow had melted, revealing the bodies, and Randolph sketched the scene and alerted authorities in Lake City. This story, including his illustrations, was covered in the October 17th edition of Harper's Weekly. The discovery of the bodies, which showed evidence of murder and cannibalization, caused a bit of a stir. The accepted theory at the time was that Alfred, under highly overstated qualifications, had led the men to their deaths due to gross incompetence, or, more than likely, that he had purposely led them into the wilderness to kill and rob them. Local papers provided constant sensational coverage, fueling negative comments about Packer's character and imaginative theories that garnered national and international attention. Alfred remained at large for nine years, living under the alias John Swartz in Fort Feather, Wyoming, which was pretty easy to do up until really here very recently. You could up and move a few towns over, claim to be someone else, and no one would ever know the difference. Unless, of course, you had the misfortune of running into someone who knows the real you. Which is what happened to old Alfie here on March 11, 1883. Gene Frenchie Kebazon, an original member of the Utah Mining Party, who was smart enough to stay at Chief Ure's camp, ran into Alfred. He reported him to the local sheriff, who quickly apprehended him. Alfred claimed he fled due to fear of mob justice in Sega. General Charles Adams confirmed his identity, and Packer was transported to Denver for his second confession, which he signed on March 16, 1883. In this second confession, he changed his story. He claimed that after 20 days from Ure's camp and 10 days without substantial food, James Humphrey died of exposure. George Noon was then killed days later by Shannon Bell for food. Now only Bell and Packer remained. Packer stated that they agreed not to eat each other. But after more days of hunger, Bell rushed at Packer with his rifle, intending to beat him to death. Alfred then shot Bell with his pistol in self-defense. He confessed to taking valuables from the deceased, claiming they no longer needed them, but did not specify the items or amounts. Multiple people challenged his credibility, suggesting he had set a trap to kill and rob his group. Israel Swann's family reported he had$6,000 in cash in gold, which is roughly$167,000 in today's money, along with a valuable Winchester rifle, which provided a strong motive for murder. But he was not found with thousands of dollars and his spending had been pretty frivolous. Since the crime occurred in Hensdale County, Packer was sent to Lake City for detention and prosecution. His first trial began on April 6, 1883 in Lake City. The prosecution argued that Alfred's perilous journey with minimal supplies was a premeditated plan to kill and rob the men. Alfred pleaded not guilty. After a seven-day trial, he was found guilty of the murder of Israel Swann and sentenced to death by hanging, scheduled for May 19, 1883. Swann's death was presumed to have occurred around March 1st, and his remains showed signs of a struggle, while the others appeared to have been killed in their sleep. Alfred would turn around and win an appeal, and his murder conviction was overturned on October 30, 1885. There was something with the murder charge at the time, not being legal or there was some bullshit. A second trial was held in Gunnison in April of 1886, following a change of venue granted by the Colorado Supreme Court due to perceived prejudice in Lake City. Alfred again pleaded not guilty. On June 8, 1886, after a split trial, he was convicted of five counts of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 40 years in prison. He got eight years for each count, which was the maximum allowed. And this was the longest prison sentence in U.S. history at the time. When Alfred took the stand, he maintained his second version of events and requested a 40-year sentence only for Shannon Bell's death, which he claimed was in self-defense. This request was denied. And he was sent to the Cannon City Penitentiary. He would file five appeals, which would all get denied. He wrote letters to newspapers claiming unjust conviction by an unfair system and small-minded people. But in June 19, 1899, the Colorado Supreme Court upheld this sentence. Despite this, he would be paroled on April 8, 1901, after serving only 18 years of his 40-year sentence. His release was largely due to a campaign spearheaded by his old acquaintance, Dwayne Hatch, and later by Polly Pry, a reporter for the Denver Post. Pry had portrayed Alfred as a common man, a victim of circumstances forced into cannibalism to survive, who was crucified for violating civilized sensibilities. Her stories about him generated public support, leading to petitions to Colorado Governor James B. Orman, who would ultimately relent, and his last official act before leaving office was to parole Alfred, with the agreement that he would not profit from his story, which led Packer to hold deep respect for Pry, referring to her as his liberator. After his parole, he would go on to work as a guard at the Denver Post and later as a ranch hand. He spent his final years living in and around Littleton, Colorado. He was described as a kindly, charitable man, well liked by children, who would tell them stories of his early days in the Old West. He would die on April 23, 1907, at the age of 65 near Phillipsburg, Jefferson County, Colorado. His cause of death was cited as senility, trouble, and worry, which is kind of a fucked up cause of death, but clinically it would be described as he had a stroke. His dying words, according to the Littleton Independent, were I'm not guilty of the charge. Whether that's true or not, hell, I don't know. Packer was interred in Littleton Cemetery. His grave was marked with a veteran's tombstone listing his original regiment, a replacement for an original marker that was stolen. He was never successful in obtaining an official state pardon for his crimes. In 1973, the Cemetery Association cemented over his grave to deter grave robbing and vandalism. In 1989, James E. Starr, a forensic scientist and law professor from George Washington University, led a team that exhumed the victim's remains for modern forensic analysis, which ended up providing new insights. Their findings showed cut marks on bones confirming systematic butchering with a sharp implement. Skull fractures were consistent with hatchet blows from behind or above. No defensive wounds were found, suggesting the victims were attacked while unaware or unable to defend themselves. Nutritional analysis indicated prolonged starvation before death, which is kinda crazy. How the I don't know how they figured this shit out, since they had to have just been bones by now. Paramortum trauma, which is injuries at or near time of death, proved murder rather than scavenging of already dead bodies. Like I said, I don't know how the hell they figured some of this shit out. Like the cut marks on bones and skull fractures, yeah that makes sense, but they're skeletons by now, right? It's been over a hundred years. I don't know. Fucking forensics. More recently, David Bailey, curator at Grand Junction's Museum of Western Colorado, tracked down a Colt revolver found at the Packer site with three of its five chambers still loaded. Using an electron microscope, his team compared samples from the lead in the pistol's bullets and lead from soil beneath Bell's exhumed body. The samples matched, supporting Packer's claim that he shot Bell. Whether or not this proves his guilt one way or another, fuck, I don't know. Personally, I think the truth is some kind of combination of all of his confessions. Really, I think he was just an incompetent guide that got five men killed and ate them to survive. I just can't buy into it being a premeditated attempt at murder and robbery. Just doesn't make sense. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he killed the four men in their sleep and Belle woke up. Alfred would have had to shoot him then, because I doubt even in their weakened states that Alfred could have taken another man down by himself. But who knows, the truth died with Alfred Packer in 1907. And that was the story of the Colorado cannibal Alfred Packer. 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