I did some Googling and found some interesting pics:
Here is a picture he took of himself. He wanted to leave record of what happened for his family
Here's the cover of his audiobook. Note the prosthesis, should come in handy for future climbs:
Posted on 09/21/2005 1:04:06 AM PDT by Gamecock
A schizophrenic artist who died after handcuffing himself to a tree after throwing away the key, may have tried to free himself, an inquest has heard. The skeleton of Richard Sumner - 47 when he went missing three years ago - was found in a remote area of Clocaenog Forest, Denbighshire, in April 2005.
Mr Sumner, from Crosby, Merseyside, may have changed his mind about killing himself but could not reach the keys, the Denbigh inquest was told.
The coroner recorded an open verdict.
Mr Sumner, at one time a scenic artist for opera productions at Glyndebourne, had suffered from schizophrenia since 1984.
The hearing was told he had attempted to take his life in this manner before and in 1996 had taken four days to free himself.
His skeleton was found by a woman who had become lost while walking her dog. The handcuffs attached to one arm indicated that Mr Sumner had attached himself to the tree and thrown the key to a point where he could not retrieve it, north east Wales coroner John Hughes was told.
However, Home Office pathologist Brian Rogers said the position of the handcuffs and marks found on the tree indicated that Mr Sumner had probably changed his mind, but could not reach the key.
"It's possible he took an overdose of tablets. It's possible he took poison. Clearly he had handcuffed himself to the tree and he had thrown away the key."
'Talented and intelligent'
When asked by Mr Sumner's sister, Patricia Jones, if he could say how long her brother would have taken to die, Mr Rogers said: "He could have been there for a few days. If you handcuff yourself to a tree you would die fairly quickly but maybe not as quickly as you would like."
Mr Hughes heard evidence that Mr Sumner was a talented, intelligent man who felt frustrated by his illness and who said he did not wish to be a parasite.
His sister told the court that her brother had spoken of taking his own life and she confirmed there had been three previous attempts.
"His idea was to kill himself but he couldn't do it because he couldn't upset everybody, including the people who would find his body," she said.
She said that was the reason he had gone so far into the wood - in the hope his remains would not be found.
Coroner John Hughes concluded: "It's clear that Richard John Sumner was a very troubled man and he was getting worse and he was very depressed."
He expressed his "sincere sympathies" to Mr Sumner's family but said he could not know for sure how he died or whether he really intended to take his own life.
"Sadly, I return a verdict of an open nature, an open verdict," he told them.
Production geek ping!
This better describes the tree, perhaps
A real man would amputate his own arm. Girly men shouldn't be out in the woods, IMHO.
From the BBC:
Trapped climber amputates own arm
A US rock climber used a penknife to amputate his own arm and escape to safety after a boulder pinned him down for five days in a remote part of the western state of Utah.
Aron Ralston, 27, and described as an experienced outdoorsman, was found by climbers on Thursday and airlifted to hospital.
Officials said that his condition was serious but that he would fully recover.
He had been hiking in Blue John Canyon near the Canyonlands National Park in Utah when his right arm was trapped by a boulder which came loose as he attempted to use it as a handhold.
On Tuesday his water ran out, and on Thursday he made the decision to sever his arm just below his elbow, applying a tourniquet and administering basic first aid before abseiling off a 70-foot (21m) ledge and beginning the hike back to his vehicle.
He was taken to hospital by a rescue helicopter - friends had alerted the emergency services when he failed to turn up for work.
At hospital, a calm Mr Ralston explained to stunned staff what had happened, adding that he had lost a lot of blood.
'Love of outdoors'
Calling Mr Ralston a "rare hero", Sergeant Mitch Vetere, of Emery County Sheriff's Office, said he was amazed by the climber's good condition considering the circumstances.
He also said that Mr Ralston had made the right decision to free himself, as the county's rescue teams might never have spotted him.
"Our rescue team said that they never would have seen him from under that boulder," he told the BBC.
"The only way we would have seen him is if we had stumbled into him."
Mr Ralston's mother said that her son, an experienced climber, survived because he was in peak physical and mental condition.
"He was able to rationally consider alternatives relative to his situation," she told the Associated Press news agency.
"His spirits are high and he anxiously looks forward to returning to his love of the outdoors."
Maybe they did...
No evidence left to ever know...
You give a whole new twist on a tree hugger.
If an artist screams in the woods for help when nobody is around, does he make any noise?
Died for his art?
LOL!
One of those newsy shows did an hour specia on that guy & how he got out. Stoned Phillips or someone like that. It was quite interesting.
Now that's what I call peotic justice.
I did some Googling and found some interesting pics:
Here is a picture he took of himself. He wanted to leave record of what happened for his family
Here's the cover of his audiobook. Note the prosthesis, should come in handy for future climbs:
Alternatively, his murderer placed the key just out of reach to torment him as he died. The torment was retribution for all the crummy art the artist produced
A glimpse of Cindy Sheehan's future, at least if she keeps hassling Hillary.
I say life.
Ping.
Perhaps "scenic art" wasn't his only talent. Perhaps he was also a mime.
"If a tree falls on a mime in the forest,
and there's no one around to hear him,
Does the mime make a sound?"
So that suicides will be investigated. Otherwise you would have people reporting "suicides" and the police would not even be required to visit the scene of the crime. Lots of potential for abuse there.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.