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Benjamin Rasmussen

Packer and his companions lost their way in the rugged wilderness along the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River. Stories of their desperate journey still haunt the Colorado hills.

A “Plasma Donor” shot, created especially for the performance of Cannibal! The Musical, is served at a bar next door to the Dream Theater in Joplin.

Actors at the Dream Theater in Joplin, Missouri, splatter the audience with fake blood during a performance of Cannibal! The Musical. The play is based on the 1993 cult-classic film by Trey Parker of South Park fame.

A bartender pours an Alferd Packer Killer Kölsch, one of several Colorado themed beers on tap at Rock Coast Brewery in Loveland, Colorado.

Members of the Al Packer Chapter of E Clampus Vitus, a fraternal organization that works to keep the history of the West alive—and have plenty of fun in the process—sell raffle tickets at their monthly meeting in Colorado Springs.

Editor, publisher, and historian Grant Houston of Lake City believes the jury got it right: Packer was guilty. Not everyone agrees.

A ghost tour of Lake City’s historic district includes stories of duels, hangings, apparitions, and a murderous cannibal named Alferd Packer.

Packer has often been portrayed in popular culture as a crazed cannibal, as reflected in this model made for the long-closed Denver Wax Museum. Researchers say the truth about Packer is far more complicated.

Driven to desperation by cold and hunger, Packer ate the flesh of his unfortunate companions after cooking it in a tin cup, according to this testimony. A remnant of a 19th-century tin cup uncovered at Packer's campsite may lend credence to his account.

Packer confessed to killing one of his fellow prospectors, but only in self-defense. Some sleuths believe this Colt revolver, reportedly discovered at the site of the shooting, was the gun he used. Others remain unconvinced.