Russian family goes 40 years without human contact

[tshile]

I thought this was incredible story. It's long, so make sure you're ready to spend 10-20 minutes reading before you start

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histo...ontact-Unaware-of-World-War-II-188843001.html

 

[Nobody]

Without reading it yet, they're probably the happiest people on Earth

 

[Jugband McGillicuddy]

Without reading it yet, they're probably the happiest people on Earth

LMFAO!

I thought exactly the same thing!

 

[tshile]

Yeah, I figured that would be part of it.

But reading it gave me the reality shock that:
a - yes, you indeed can make it on your own, even in the harsh environment of northern russia
b - it is really, really, really hard.

they went about 20 years eating nuts and berries, and whatever one of them could 'hunt' for. by hunt I mean chase an animal for miles through snow with no clothes and bark for shoes, until the animal is exhausted (or trap it, if you were lucky enough).

 

[Nobody]

it is really, really, really hard.

If it's been longer than 4 hours, I suggest you go see a doctor

 

[Special K]

Wow, I'm a wuss. I couldn't do that.

I spent several months in Madagascar and eventually started getting frustrated that my french wasn't great and my malagasy was zilch. I missed speaking english to people...so whenever a new ex-pat came along who spoke minimal English, I was all over him/her, lol. I remember watching this idiotic Ashton Kutcher movie I had on my computer about 50 times just so I could hear fluent English. Pathetic.

So, based on the fact that I started going crazy not being able to properly communicate with people surrounding me...I'm pretty confident I'd go bonkers without human interaction or luxuries you have available to you because of the work of other humans.

Seriously, not aware of WWII? That's incredible.

 

[Snydershrugged]

What an amazing story! Thanks for posting it! How interesting is it that they seemed to have decent health all the way up til they started having more contact with modern life, then bam. 3 die close together. (and not related to disease immunity)

 

[Lanky Livingston]

I go through moods where I don't really want to see other people, but after a long weekend of zero human contact, I'm ready to re-join the world. 40 years? That just sounds impossible, lol.

 

[Dead Money]

Great read... initially I thought they were just found which would have been truly unbelievable. The hardships they must have endured make the story very inspiring!