(Picture © 2007 Johnny Beach All Rigths Reserved. WildEarthPhoto.com)

Investigating a Canadian Mystery

In his new book, my second cousin Mark Fremmerlid tells the story of Albert Johnson aka "The Mad Trapper Of Rat River", a man who went to extraordinary lengths to avoid the RCMP. The question of who he was has plagued authors, police and reporters alike. Now, a new theory emerges that explains why he shot a police officer during a routine RCMP visit, why he was so well prepared for the following seven week chase and why he chose to be "Albert Johnson".

An airplane, manned by Wop May, was also used to tracker this fugitive.

Finally, after 75 years, this true story is revealed. A fiction writer couldn't dream this one up. Mark researched this book for 25 years. It is loaded with never before published, well documented information, about our grand uncle Sigvald and The Mad Trapper Albert Johnson. In today’s edition of Møre, the local newspaper in Sigvald's Norwegian home town Volda, I wrote a piece about the story.

Mark Fremmerlid is a pilot with nearly 25,000 hours, most of this as a bush pilot in Wabasca, AB. He currently works as a medivac co-pilot for Can-West Corporate Air Charters.