For most preppers, densely populated areas are nightmare scenarios. If a disaster happens, they fear that neighbors will turn on each other. Most distrust the political climate here and abroad. Others come from a long line of live-off-the-land folk who want to continue the lineage and become less dependent on store-bought, prepackaged foods. They left Florida for a 53-acre homestead in North Carolina, where they’ve planted “gardens of survival” designed to look like overgrown underbrush. Some, like Rick and Jane, fled self-described “cushy, corporate lives” after a traumatic incident-in their case, getting roughed up in a parking garage.
Ultimately, preppers are united by the goal of not going down without a fight. They’re not all anticipating a rapture: Preoccupations range from super-viruses like Ebola to natural disasters to man-made catastrophes. Preoccupations range from super-viruses like Ebola to natural disasters (solar flares, hurricanes) to man-made catastrophes (an ISIS attack, socioeconomic collapse leading to utter mayhem). “TEOTWAWKI” is instantly recognizable as shorthand for “the end of the world as we know it.” But that “end” means something different to everyone. They carry “BOBs,” or “bug-out bags,” knapsacks stuffed with provisions necessary to “get out of dodge” when “TSHTF” (the shit hits the fan).
When the sole Yankee outs herself, one person jokingly threatens to lynch her with a paracord. Organized by “Prepper Rick” Austin and his wife, a blogger who goes by “Survivor Jane,” the weekend attracted participants from Tennessee, California, Kentucky, Texas, Ohio, and Georgia. After all, it’s just target practice.įor four days last month, the campground-nestled in a remote part of the foggy Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina-hosted a crash course in survival. None of the 600 campers even seems fazed by the blast piercing through the stagnant humidity. No one hits the ground, screams, or ducks for cover. The crack ricochets off of evergreens and elms and oaks. A shot rings out in the Orchard Lake Campground.
0 kommentar(er)
