Grandfathered In

Only in Nederland (and that's Ned er land not Need er land), would citizens celebrate for three days in honor of a frozen man.  I didn't attend Frozen Dead Guy Days last year and don't plan to attend this year.  I think many people in Eldora deliberately stay away from Nederland during Ned's many festivals.  There's only one main highway through town, Colorado State Highway 19, and no traffic signals, so getting around can be frustrating when there are a lot of visitors.  I must go to Boulder tomorrow so plan to get up and around and out really early before the revelers have recovered from their hangovers and started reveling again. [Photo source unknown].

 

The three-day event, this year's started today, honors Norwegian Bredo Morstoel whose body apparently is packed in dry ice in a shed somewhere in Nederland.  No kidding.  When I read the dry ice thing in an AP article on denverpost.com this morning, I was taken aback.  I thought he had been cryogenically frozen  which required liquid nitrogen.  One of my earliest memories is of my mother taking ice cream bars, packed in dry ice, to my sister's school class in Wichita.  I think dry ice barely kept the ice cream bars frozen for the trip to the school so I'm wondering about Mr. Morstoel's body. 

The information on http://www.legendsofamerica.com/co-frozendeadguy2.html outlines the strange story.  Bredo Morstoel, from what I can determine, had never been in Nederland in his life...only in death.  Born on February 28, 1900, in Isfjorden, Romsel, western Norway, Mr. Morstoel married in the late 1920s and he and his wife Anna had two children.  The Legends website says he was "Working as head of parks and recreation until his retirement in 1967."  It does not make clear whether this was a Norwegian federal or a more regional appointment, but goes ahead to say he was fond of painting, fishing, hiking and skiing.  Sounds like a nice, normal guy.  In fact, he looks a bit like my paternal grandfather.  But then there's the grandson! Photo courtesy of http://www.frozendeadguy.com/

Mr. Morstoel died two years after retirement "while at the family’s mountain retreat in Norway," according to Legends, "and was immediately packed in ice before making the long trip to Los Angeles, California, where he was cryogenically prepped and frozen.

"Morstoel’s grandson, Trygve Bauge decided that his grandfather should have the opportunity of potential immorality and made the arrangements....Bredo was kept at the Institute, while Trygve searched for a suitable place to store frozen bodies. Grandpa Morstoel remained at the California institute until 1993, when his body was packed in dry ice, shipped to Nederland, Colorado, and stored in a garden shed."

Legends goes ahead to say that "Cryogenic suspension requires a body to be frozen immediately after death to ward off physical decay, then maintained in a frozen condition until the time when medical science may be able to restore it to life. Suspendees are typically kept cool via liquid nitrogen, but due to budget constraints, "Grandpa Bredo” was kept on ice. [emphasis mine].

There's a lot more information about the grandson, called an "unorthodox young man" by Legends.  And the information provided about the mother may explain the grandson.

At some point, Trygve was joined by his mother, Aud, in Colorado and began to build a disaster proof house in Nederland in 1993. The grey castle-looking house was to be a bomb, earthquake, fire and flood proof house. Next to the sturdy structure was a small garden shed, where the pair moved their grandfather. Soon "Grandpa” Morstoel was joined by a body belonging to a man by the name of Al Campbell from Chicago. Bauge had hopes of constructing a proper cryogenics storage facility, but it was never completed. Bodies in cryogenic suspension are normally kept at about minus-320 degrees, but Morstoel and Campbell were held at a balmy minus-109....uh oh. [comment mine].

Grandson was deported in 1994 when his visa ran out and soon mother was facing eviction for not having any electricity or plumbing.  This led to the city fathers finding out about the bodies and passing an ordinance making it illegal to have "the whole or any part of the person, body, or carcass of a human being or animal or other biological species which is not alive on one's property."  But, fittingly enough, Grandpa Morstoel was "grandfathered in."

Legends says mother Aud was soon deported, Al Campbell [There's a branch of the story that would be interesting to investigate] was sent back to his family in Chicago and cremated and a Bo Shaffer was hired to take care of Mr. Morstoel's body.  "Once a month," Legends says, "Shaffer and two workers take three-quarters of a ton of dry ice from Denver to Nederland, open the homemade freezer box, fill it with the ice, check Morstoel's status, and then seal the shed back up again."

The town attempted to bury Mr. Morstoel, but his grandson kept the issue of cyrogenic preservation alive via websites and e-mail from Norway and finally the town decided to turn the entire bizarre episode into a festival.  Last summer, the town decided the festival was too expensive to continue, but a private party stepped in and agreed to run the event complete with a hearse parade, a look-alike contest [Photo source unknown]...

...frozen salmon tossing and coffin races.  A good thing too.  Part of the proceeds go toward keeping Mr. Morstoel frozen.

With the first snow falling in October and the last on Memorial Day, I guess anything for a good party.  How did you celebrate the weekend?  Teddee