ANTHONY: NOW WE MOVE ON FROM THINGS IN THE WOODS TO PEOPLE IN THE WOODS, ONE PERSON IN PARTICULAR.
SHAYNA: HE WAS KNOWN AS THE LEATHER MAN, FOR REASONS THAT WILL BECOME OBVIOUS.
HIS STORY LIVES ON, MORE THAN A CENTURY AFTER HIS DEATH.
NARRATOR: THESE WINTRY WOODS MAY FEEL EMPTY AND ABANDONED, BUT THERE IS A LEGEND OF THE HERE, ONE THAT HAS -- LEGEND A FOOT HERE, ONE THAT HAS ENDURED FOR CENTURIES.
>> THERE IS NOTHING AS MAJESTIC AS THIS CAVE.
THIS IS A FIVE-STAR CAVE.
NARRATOR: THIS CAVE WAS A REGULAR HAUNT FOR ONE OF THE NORTHEAST’S MOST MYSTERIOUS FIGURES, THE LEATHERMAN, A WANDERING TRAMP FROM THE 1800S, SO NAMED FROM HIS OUTFIT MADE OF
DISCARDED SCRAPS OF BOOTS WHETHER.
-- BOOT LEATHER.
>> CAN YOU IMAGINE HIKING WITH 60 POUNDS OF GEAR, ALL THAT LEATHER HE ACCUMULATED?
IT IS TOUGH ENOUGH WALKING AROUND WITH A BACKPACK FULL OF CAMERA GATOR.
NARRATOR: OUR GUIDE TO THIS REMOTE CAVE IN NEW YORK, PHOTOGRAPHER AND HISTORY BUFF ADAM ACE WOLPENSKI.
>> I GO BY ADAM A.
-- ADAM ACE.
NARRATOR: ADAM TELLS US THE LEATHERMAN MOVED TOWN TO TOWN, CAVE TO CAVE, BUT THERE WAS METHOD TO HIS MOVEMENTS.
FOR YEARS, THIS MAN NEVER CHANGED A 350 FIVE MILE CLOCKWISE LOOP, SHOWING UP IN THE SAME TOWNS EVERY 34 DAYS, WINTER, SPRING, SUMMER, AND FALL.
>> THE LAST YEARS OF HIS LIFE, PEOPLE COULD ALMOST SET THEIR CLOCK BY HIS ARRIVAL.
NARRATOR: NORM MCDONALD, FROM THE TOWN CLOSE TO THE CAVE WHERE THE WEATHER MAN DIED.
-- LEATHERMAN DIED.
>> HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE CAME FROM THE SURROUNDING AREA TO PAY THEIR RESPECTS.
HE WAS A CELEBRITY.
NARRATOR: INDEED, THE CLOCK-LIKE COMING AND GOINGS OF THE LEATHER MAN WERE REPORTED IN NEWSPAPERS AT THE TIME, INCLUDING "THE NEW YORK TIMES." >> PEOPLE KNEW THE LEATHERMAN.
NOBODY REALLY BOTHERED HIM.
HE NEVER REALLY TALKED TO ANYBODY, AND HE JUST KEPT MOVING.
NARRATOR: NICK LEADS US TO SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT.
TODAY A YMCA CAMP, IT WAS ONE OF THE LEATHERMAN’S REGULAR STOPS.
>> IT IS REALLY NOT EVEN A CAVE.
BASICALLY WHAT IT IS IS AN OUTCROPPING.
WHAT HE DID IS HE UTILIZED THE SHELTER AREA AND BUILT WOODEN LEAN-TOS OUT THIS FAR.
NARRATOR: NICK SAYS THE LEATHERMAN WAS LEFT ALONE, FOR THE MOST PART, BUT HE WAS ARRESTED FOR VAGRANCY.
>> JUST LEAVE HIM ALONE.
NARRATOR: ADAM ACE CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE RECEPTION THE LEATHERMAN WOULD RECEIVE TODAY, IN THE UPSCALE TOWNS OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY.
>> PROBABLY LOCKED UP.
SOMEONE WOULD CALL THE AUTHORITIES AND SAY THERE IS A CREEPY DUDE LOOKING FOR FOOD, OR A RIDE, OR SOME MONEY.
>> THERE WAS SOME THOUGHT THAT HE MAY HAVE BEEN FROM QUEBEC, BUT WE HAVE NO EVIDENCE THAT HE HAD LIVED IN CANADA.
NARRATOR: STILL, A MYTH GREW AROUND THIS MYSTERY MAN, THAT HE WAS A FRENCHMAN NAMED JULES.
THE STORY WAS SOON DISCREDITED.
THE FULL STORY EVEN WENT SO FAR AS TO BE SET IN STONE AT THE SPARTA CEMETERY.
>> THIS WAS NOT HIS NAME.
NARRATOR: IN 2011, A DECISION WAS MADE TO MOVE THE LEATHERMAN’S GRAVE DUE TO SAFETY CONCERNS.
IT WAS TOO CLOSE TO A BUSY ROAD.
A NEW HEADSTONE WAS COMMISSIONED, THIS TIME WITHOUT THE BOGUS NAME.
>> WE PUT HIM UP HERE NEAR THE FLAGPOLE IN A MORE DIGNIFIED PLACE IN THE CEMETERY.
NARRATOR: SCIENTISTS LIKE NICK WERE HOPEFUL DNA FROM THE LEATHERMAN’S REMAINS MIGHT REVEAL CLUES TO HIS BACKGROUND, BUT WHEN THEY OPENED THE GREAT, THERE WAS NOT A TRACE OF THE OLD
FELLOW.
>> WE NEVER FOUND HIM.
HE GOT AWAY AGAIN.
NARRATOR: ALL THAT REMAINS OF THE LEATHERMAN TODAY ARE SOME ARTIFACTS AT THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AND THOUGH THE LEATHERMAN’S SECRETS MAY HAVE GONE TO THE GRAVE WITH HIM,
HIS STORY SHOWS NO SIGNS OF DYING.
>> IT IS A LEGENDARY STORY.
WE CAN’T REMEMBER THE POLITICAL ELITES, THE BIG BUSINESSMEN OF THE LATE 19TH CENTURY, BUT WE REMEMBER THE LEATHERMAN.
SHAYNA: FASCINATING.
IF THE LEATHERMAN STORY REFUSES TO DIE, MUCH OF THE CREDIT GOES TO AMATEUR HISTORIAN DAN DELUCA.
ANTHONY: HE WROTE A BOOK PUBLISHED IN 2008 THAT KEPT THE STORY ALIVE, AND THE BAND PEARL JAM ACTUALLY RECORDED A SONG ABOUT THE LEATHERMAN ON THEIR FIFTH ALBUM, "YIELD."
SHAYNA: COMBINE FRESH AIR WITH FINE ART IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.
>> IT IS CONSIDE