It's not uncommon for stories like this to come out piece-meal, and then require assembly like a jigsaw puzzle. To make it even more interesting, some stories have spurious puzzle pieces that never belonged in the box to begin with, and just to make it more challenging, other pieces get trimmed out of recognition, so that it becomes impossible to determine where they go in the finished puzzle, and often even IF they go in the finished puzzle. Reports get stretched out of shape, misplaced, and misreported.... and then some get embellished in the telling, as they are passed around from mouth to mouth. Any investigator can tell you that no two people will tell the exact same story about the same event - it's always filtered through their own perceptions before it ever leaves their mouth. Stories told by different people during the course of an investigation are highly suspect if they agree in all particulars. It usually means they've gotten their heads together before the interview and compared notes to arrive at the same tale to tell.
I would start with the bags in this one. it's not at all clear which are the same, if any. There are potentially 3 to examine: 1) the one left at the camp by Byers for Herdman, in case of his return after Byers' departure, 2) the one reported by the fishemen, as having been left behind by Byers - I can find no links saying that bag was the same one as was left in camp rather than one he forgot to take from the fishing camp, so that conclusion seems to be a leap of faith, and 3) the one found by the trackers alongside alleged or presumed footprints of Herdman - how did they even know those were Herdman's footprints? What was distinctive about them that led them to that conclusion? There is nothing in the report to link any of these 3 bags as being the same one, so it's entirely possible that it was three distinct, different bags, and that at least one of them may not have actually been connected with the story at all,
It's the one found away from the camp, with the tracks, that intrigues me the most. Experienced trackers should have been able to tell us when the tracks were made, within around 8 hours or so, up to several days after the tracks were made. When were they made? Why did they believe them to be left by Herdman? was the bag found there actually the same one left in camp for Herdman? Or was it a different one? I don't see a potential for the bag left in camp to have been found BOTH in the fishing camp AND with Herdman's tracks... but that doesn't mean that potential isn't there, given the right puzzle pieces.
IF the tracks WERE Herdman's, and the bag found there WAS the one Byers left in camp for him, that changes the whole thing. it indicates that Herdman came back to camp AFTER Byers gave up the search and headed out for help... leading to the question of where Herdman was during that time, and why, if he could find the camp again, he suddenly couldn't find his way out of the woods... and WHY he would leave a perfectly good packed bag just laying there when he went elsewhere to walk off a cliff.
I would start with the bags in this one. it's not at all clear which are the same, if any. There are potentially 3 to examine: 1) the one left at the camp by Byers for Herdman, in case of his return after Byers' departure, 2) the one reported by the fishemen, as having been left behind by Byers - I can find no links saying that bag was the same one as was left in camp rather than one he forgot to take from the fishing camp, so that conclusion seems to be a leap of faith, and 3) the one found by the trackers alongside alleged or presumed footprints of Herdman - how did they even know those were Herdman's footprints? What was distinctive about them that led them to that conclusion? There is nothing in the report to link any of these 3 bags as being the same one, so it's entirely possible that it was three distinct, different bags, and that at least one of them may not have actually been connected with the story at all,
It's the one found away from the camp, with the tracks, that intrigues me the most. Experienced trackers should have been able to tell us when the tracks were made, within around 8 hours or so, up to several days after the tracks were made. When were they made? Why did they believe them to be left by Herdman? was the bag found there actually the same one left in camp for Herdman? Or was it a different one? I don't see a potential for the bag left in camp to have been found BOTH in the fishing camp AND with Herdman's tracks... but that doesn't mean that potential isn't there, given the right puzzle pieces.
IF the tracks WERE Herdman's, and the bag found there WAS the one Byers left in camp for him, that changes the whole thing. it indicates that Herdman came back to camp AFTER Byers gave up the search and headed out for help... leading to the question of where Herdman was during that time, and why, if he could find the camp again, he suddenly couldn't find his way out of the woods... and WHY he would leave a perfectly good packed bag just laying there when he went elsewhere to walk off a cliff.
Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’