UPDATE: This article was also posted on the Pajamas Media site.
The story of the Donner Party, the ill-fated group of California Gold Rush pioneers who took one of history's worst short cuts off of the California Trail (the picture was taken on the eastern end of the trail, in Nebraska) only to find themselves trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains is legendary.
The unfortunate travelers spent the winter of 1846-47 stuck in what is now called the Donner Pass.
Food supplies were low among the pioneers, foraging opportunities were limited in the high mountains. What did they eat?
They ate each other!!! Or that's what school kids--to their snickering delight--have been taught for generations.
Not so fast, though, says Julie Schablitsky, a University of Oregon anthropologist.
From today's Chicago Tribune (free registration required), Schablitsky said , "It's possible no cannibalism took place at Alder Creek, (the Donner encampment) and it's also possible that proof simply can't be found. No body doesn't necessarily mean no crime."
(If only Johnny Cochrane was still with us, he'd turn the phrase a bit better.)
Descendants of the Donner Party, who have long maintained their ancestors' innocence, are thrilled with the delicious news.
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