Scientists: Donner Family Not Cannibals [Donner Party story debunked?]

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 1/12/06 | Scott Sonner

[The Right Stuff]

Thanks! It was as humorous as I remembered!

[Petronski]

I like The Saint too. It's well done, for what it is. It's a better Bond film than the last half dozen Bond films.

[durasell]

Yeah, maybe that's it. Kilmer is a good actor, though crazy as hell. If you ever get a chance watch Dr. Moreau (sp?) carefully. There's a scene when all hell breaks loose on the island, he is actually filmed with a pillow up the front of his shirt doing a dead on impersonation of Brando...what maniac decided to cast Kilmer and Brando in the same movie?

[Riley]

It can be. I think I'm going to cut it down to two soon, and one of those will be the consumption of beer.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Have to give the Donner's a pass on this one.

[tubebender]

If Mr. Donner and his followers had waited 160 years they could have stopped at the soon to be built Cabelas near Reno and picked up all kinds of winter gear and freeze dried food plus a GPS unit...

[sharkhawk]

A good example of this drive to survive is the soccer team whose plane crashed in the Andes. A movie "Alive" was made about their experiences. It is a scary question, What would you do to survive? These young men didn't kill anyone, yet had to resort to cannibalism to survive. Chilling.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Not likely; What I understood was they were thinly slicing muscle tissue (legs, thigh, calves, etc.) off of the bodies of the deceased members, NOT burning and cooking the whole body. So, no burned bones at all.

The bodies had been dead for a while (kept (unburied) in the 12 foot+ snowdrifts, so the meat had to be boiled to become edible. I think the researchers were looking for the wrong info: Besides the stigma of cannibalism is so great that the survivors, no matter how hideous, would NEVER have admitted it unless they actually did it.

Also, even after the first rescue parties made it back across the Sierra Mountains, a few still ate their dead, since final rescue didn't happen until almost April.

[sandbar]

>>>As I've said before, I'm a barbarian, my clan comes first, last and always. While most other people cling to the veneer of civilization with all of it's taboos and mindless restrictions like a drowning man to a life preserver, I'm not so constrained.>>>

I agree wholeheartedly! I've had vegetarians ragging on Nugent and say they would rather starve than eat a deer. I said "You have obviously never starved".

[Redleg Duke]

I was told that the reason there are so many Portugese in the Santa Clara Valley was that they were the only thing that the Donner Party wouldn't eat!

[Monterrosa-24]

"...Then they butchered their mules.....later their horses. They were still starving..."

Ha! An early version of Atkins !!!

[Dr.Zoidberg]

I've seen it, it's a good flick.

I do have to wonder just how much those guys actually knew of basic survival techniques, the movie portrayed them as fairly ignorant. The will to survive makes up for a bit of knowledge, but that only goes so far.

Still, it was an enjoyable and thought provoking film.

[BIGLOOK]

Good point!

No one asked why Hyenas don't starve during famines though. It's because the have jaws that can crack bones to get at marrow.

Use the info....call it the Monterossa Diet....and make a fortune:>)

[Dr.Zoidberg]

I've been hungry, real hungry. Eat anything I could find, beg or steal hungry.

I spent quite a few months homeless during the late 90's. A long story I won't be recounting. It was a learning experience I will never forget.

Most veggieburgers are ignorant pampered children who have never been more than 30 minutes away from mommy and daddy's table or bankcard. I find them ridiculous at the best of times, worthy of contempt at the worst. And to be ignored at all times.

Man is a pinnacle predator. We are not meant to graze like cattle.

[Nachoman]

Hey, Sasquatch has to eat something.

[tubebender]

You could be right. In California Saquach eats Fruits and Nuts...

[FreedomCalls]

There's a Monty Python sketch for almost every possible occasion. :-)

And if you find yourself thinking about and trying to match a Monty Python sketch to every occasion, that's something else altogether. I suggest you get out more often. ;-)

[Riley]

I suggest you get out more often. ;-)

I'm a computer geek (and I'm okaaaaay), we don't do that.

[Intolerant in NJ]

"The Donner Party's experience was bad, but it wasn't as bad as everybody's been told,"...clearly it wasn't a total disaster - according to the History Channel, one of the survivors later became the owner of a successful restaurant in San Francisco......

[flying Elvis]

Check your college library. If you go to a medium to large school, a lot of the time they will have good new releases and some hard to find classics.