CANNIBAL CORRESPONDENCE ....

THE MOST CELEBRATED COLORADO CONVICT WAS WOOED AND LOVED DESPITE HIS LIFE SENTENCE FOR EATING HIS CAMPING COMPADRES.

- KELLEN CUTSFORTH

Why do some women become infatuated with heinous serial killers and mass murderers confined in jail cells? Why, in some unusual cases, do they go so far as to W open communications with these men? Mental health professionals refer to this disorder as hybristophilia. In popular culture, the ailment is referred to as Bonnie and Clyde syndrome. The condition is usually characterized by a woman who will communicate with a high-profile criminal to try and kindle a relationship with them.

This syndrome is not solely a 20th-century phenomenon. In fact, the most notorious cannibal of the Old West, Alfred Packer (or Alferd, depending on which spelling you accept), received "fan mail" from several adoring women while he was incarcerated for his crimes.

Packer is infamous for committing cannibalism during the winter of 1874 after guiding a group of five men into Colorado Territory's San Juan Mountains during a horrendous snowstorm. After arriving by himself at the nearby Los Pinos Indian Agency, Packer spun a story about his comrades having left him while they searched for food. He stuck to this tale, saying he was unaware of what happened to his companions, even though he carried large sums of their money and possessed a rifle known to have belonged to one of the men.