Wednesday 15 July 2009

Cabin


The unabomber's cabin - beautiful photos by Richard Barnes.

Part of the fascination with this cabin is the fact that the entire 10 by 12 foot structure and contents was transported across the country to be used as evidence in the trial. Later it sat in storage for a while before finally being installed as an exhibit in the classily named 'newseum' in Washington D.C. There is something a bit magic about the place of the cabin in the wilderness in the imagination. On the one hand it signifies bucolic peacefulness, simple living, communion with nature, and a haven from the corruption of society. On the other hand, the very same qualities that make it so much about purity, nature, tranquility - it's isolated, has no running water or electricity - are also summoned as unarguable evidence of the dangerous, seditious, 'life of a mad hermit'...

Interesting observations on this here and here.