>>2830743>>2830766>>2831349that whole story is such a can of worms
the latest theory amongst internet sleuths that have done A LOT of legit research on the case, is that a local town drunk and unstable violent dude had chased them off the main road, possibly with a firearm. he admitted to having seen them on the road but kept making up stories that varied in detail and made no sense about what happened
the other great debate is just HOW retarded were those guys. one of them had even served in the army, which doesn't have to mean he was very smart but he'd at least be able to distribute the emergency rations to the other tards and known some basic shit about survival.
of course the UFO and 'squatch communities have gotten on the case as well with their usualy schizo theories, personally I think that if it was supernatural things that made them get lost, it was the gnomes