The Blowhard
03-10-2002, 05:54 AM
Cryogenically frozen Norwegian honoured in Colorado festival
A small Colorado mining town held a two-day festival in honour of cryogenically frozen Norwegian.
The first Frozen Dead Guy Days saw the Grim Reaper leading a parade float and obstacle-course contestants carrying coffins.
The reason for the festival is the presence of Bredo Morstoel's cryogenically preserved body in the town of Nederland.
Morstoel died in 1989 in Norway. His grandson, Trygve Bauge, had the body frozen and eventually brought it to Nederland, near Denver, for storage.
Mr Bauge pays $650 (around œ458) a month to Bo Shaffer to keep Morstoel's body on dry ice, at 90 degrees below zero (minus 32 Celsius).
Mr Shaffer admits he doesn't subscribe to the belief that Morstoel can be brought back. "To me, it's just a piece of meat," he said. "I know Bredo's off doing something else."
Local officials initially resisted having the body stored nearby, passing an ordinance against it. But it couldn't be applied retroactively. Now people have warmed up to the idea.
Anyone who wanted to see Morstoel's resting place this weekend had to pay $25 (around œ18) and sign a waiver not to disclose the location of the shed where the corpse has been stored since 1993.
Several hundred people turned out for the town's macabre parade, featuring floats of coffins and a replica of the shed.
"We've always wanted to have a winter festival and business has been slow," said Teresa Warren, president-elect of the Nederland Chamber of Commerce. "I know some people think it's morbid," she said, "but we've lived with him for eight years".
Story filed: 23:33 Saturday 9th March 2002
<img src=http://www.ltrooster.homestead.com/files/hoodsAnimation.gif>
"If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead"
A small Colorado mining town held a two-day festival in honour of cryogenically frozen Norwegian.
The first Frozen Dead Guy Days saw the Grim Reaper leading a parade float and obstacle-course contestants carrying coffins.
The reason for the festival is the presence of Bredo Morstoel's cryogenically preserved body in the town of Nederland.
Morstoel died in 1989 in Norway. His grandson, Trygve Bauge, had the body frozen and eventually brought it to Nederland, near Denver, for storage.
Mr Bauge pays $650 (around œ458) a month to Bo Shaffer to keep Morstoel's body on dry ice, at 90 degrees below zero (minus 32 Celsius).
Mr Shaffer admits he doesn't subscribe to the belief that Morstoel can be brought back. "To me, it's just a piece of meat," he said. "I know Bredo's off doing something else."
Local officials initially resisted having the body stored nearby, passing an ordinance against it. But it couldn't be applied retroactively. Now people have warmed up to the idea.
Anyone who wanted to see Morstoel's resting place this weekend had to pay $25 (around œ18) and sign a waiver not to disclose the location of the shed where the corpse has been stored since 1993.
Several hundred people turned out for the town's macabre parade, featuring floats of coffins and a replica of the shed.
"We've always wanted to have a winter festival and business has been slow," said Teresa Warren, president-elect of the Nederland Chamber of Commerce. "I know some people think it's morbid," she said, "but we've lived with him for eight years".
Story filed: 23:33 Saturday 9th March 2002
<img src=http://www.ltrooster.homestead.com/files/hoodsAnimation.gif>
"If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead"