Trapper Nelson - Decline

Decline

Upon his return to the Loxahatchee, Nelson discovered that his wife had a new lover. He divorced his wife, and after that Nelson would buy cars for the women he wooed, paying for them in installments to ensure they would stay for at least a while.

Focusing again on his zoo, he found that property values were skyrocketing. Nelson got a subscription to the Wall Street Journal and added more and more land to his sprawling camp. Shortly after he began his forays into real estate, a health inspector declared his zoo unhygenic and demanded he install lavatories. Nelson did, but the Health Department found them "unsatisfactory", and in 1960 he was forced to close his zoo. With no income, the taxes on the land became too much for him, and he ended up borrowing $100,000 ($780,000 in today's dollars) to pay them.

Nelson already had a deep-seated mistrust of the government, and the closing of his zoo was, to him, enough to confirm his paranoia. He became more and more closed off. He began to dam the river leading to his camp to keep boats away, and installed fences and padlocks to discourage land travelers. He put up signs around his land reading "Danger: Land Mines". As added discouragement, he kept a 12-gauge shotgun with him at all times.

He began to develop severe stomach pains, refused to see a doctor. He distrusted them because his brother-in-law had died after having a pacemaker installed. It was speculated among friends that the pains were from cancer, but they could have been an acid condition.

By the 1960s Nelson had become so reclusive that he would not let even trusted friends visit him without first sending a postcard to ask his permission. He ventured into town once a week to check his mail at the post office, and would sometimes buy steaks, but for the most part he remained holed-up in his cabin. Years later, his nephew recalled his uncle's change in personality: "During the last 10 years, his eyes seemed to lose their sparkle. He became a lonely man, and a rather sick one."