Carl McCunn, The Photographer Who Died In The Alaska Wilderness

Carl McCunn went into the Alaskan wilderness in March 1981, hoping to spend a few months taking photos, but became stranded and ultimately died by suicide that December.

In 1981, wildlife photographer Carl McCunn embarked on a months-long journey into the Alaskan wilderness. But McCunn never returned home.

He had made only vague plans about his return journey, and there was significant confusion about when and where McCunn was supposed to be retrieved, and by who. In the end, no one came for him. McCunn spent his final months in the wilderness, trying to survive and hoping to be rescued.

Almost a year after McCunn began his trip, state troopers found his body, alongside increasingly desperate journal entries he’d kept during his time in the wilderness. He had died alone, at the age of 3