Seems frugal Vermonters in days of old would freeze family members during the winter months to save valuable food resources for younger, more productive members of the clan. Did they stumble upon the secret of suspended animation, something that still eludes us today? CryptoVille investigates!

We’ve all heard that people will do anything for money, and I guess that includes saving money and resources. If this tale is to be believed, frugal Vermonters would freeze their elderly and infirm relatives during the frigid winter months, only to revive them again in the spring. The idea was to save their meager food rations for more productive members of the clan.

Newspaper Record

According to Vermonter.com, an article appeared on the front page of the Montpelier Argus and Patriot newspaper on December 21, 1887 describing this bizarre ritual. The text was supposedly taken from the diary of reporter “A.M.’s” Uncle William.

“January 7: I went on the mountain today, and witnessed what to me was a horrible sight.  It seems that the dwellers there who are unable, either form age or other reasons, to contribute to the support of their families, are disposed of in the Winter months in a manner that will shock the one who reads this diary, unless that persons lives in that vicinity.  I will describe what I saw. Six persons, four men and two women, one of the men a cripple about thirty-years-old, the other five past the age of usefulness, lay on the earthy floor of the cabin drugged into insensibility, while members of their families were gathered about them in apparent indifference.  In a short time, the unconscious bodies were inspected by several old people, who said, “They are ready.” They were then stripped of all their clothing, except a single garment.  Then the bodies were carried outside, and laid on logs exposed to the bitter cold mountain air, the operation having been delayed several days for suitable weather.

            It was night when the bodies were carried out, and the full moon occasionally obscured by flying clouds, shone on their upturned ghastly faces, and a horrible fascination kept me by the bodies as long as I could endure the severe cold.  Soon the noses, ears and fingers began to turn white, then the limbs and face assumed a tallow look.  I could stand the cold no longer, and went inside, where I found the friends in cheerful conversation. 

In about an hour I went out and looked at the bodies; they were fast freezing……I could not shut out the sight of those freezing bodies outside, neither could I bear to be in darkness, but I piled on the wood in the cavernous fireplace, and seated on a shingle block, passed the dreary night, terror-stricken by the horrible sights I had witnessed.

            January 8: …We shall want our men to plant our corn next spring,” said a youngish-looking woman, the wife of one of the frozen men, “and if you want to see them resuscitated you come here about the 10th of next May.

            May 10: The men commenced work at once, some shoveling away the snow and others tearing away the brush.  Soon the box was visible.  The cover was taken off, the layers of straw removed, and the foodies, frozen and apparently lifeless, lifted out and laid on the snow.  Large troughs made of hemlock logs were placed nearby, filled with tepid water, into which the bodies were separately placed, with the head slightly raised.  Boiling water was then poured into the trough from kettles hung on poles nearby, until the water in the trough was a hot as I could hold my hand in. Hemlock boughs had been put in the boiling water in such quantities that they had given the water the color of wine.  After lying in this bath about an hour, color began to return to the bodies, when all hands began rubbing and chafing them.  This continued about another hour, when a slight twitching of the muscles of the face and limbs, followed by audible gasps, showed that life was not quenched, and that vitality was returning.  Spirits were then given in small quantities, and allowed to trickle down their throats. Soon they could swallow, and more was given them, when their eyes opened, and they began to talk, and finally sat up in their bathtubs.  They were then taken out and assisted to the house, where after a hearty dinner they seemed as well as ever, and in nowise injured, but rather refreshed, by their long sleep of four months.”

Real or Hoaxed

This happened too long ago (that we know of) to be able to say for sure if this really happened or if it was just a hoax. In fact, it could simply be a work of fiction by Uncle William, or the result of perhaps too much moonshine, or the Vermont equivalent.

Attempts have been made in recent years to cryogenically freeze corpses in the hope of bringing them back to life in the future when there are cures for whatever ailed the deceased. But science has shown even their best efforts result in cell death so they’d be unable to revive these people any time soon.

So, the idea of farmers being able to revive frozen relatives after four months without so much as a hiccup (or defibrillator) seems incredibly unrealistic.

By the way, doesn’t this photo of a body from Pompeii look suspiciously like the one above that is supposedly frozen through? I think something was photoshopped, don’t you?

That’s why I think the whole story is just that – a good folk tale to wile away long winter nights in front of the fire.

What do you think?

See you next time!

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References

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/vermont/frozen-hill-people-vt/

https://vermonter.com/vermonts-deep-frozen-folks/