The story of one survival: the hibernation of a depressed Swede (10 photos)

The guys stared in amazement at the thin hand that stuck out of the narrow crack, scooped up a handful of snow and disappeared into the car. What was it?





And there was one unusual story that happened to Peter Skyllberg at the end of 2011. Two local residents were snowmobiling on February 17, 2012 in the vicinity of the city of Umeå. And suddenly they saw a car covered with snow, which very vaguely resembled a vehicle, but looked more like a snowdrift.



The men decided that the car was simply abandoned in the forest as unnecessary. But there was some movement inside. Then a hand appeared from the slightly opened door, scooped up some snow and disappeared.



The guys pulled out an exhausted and barely alive man from the cabin. Which turned out to be 44-year-old resident of Örebro Peter Skyllberg. And the victim was taken to the hospital. Peter could barely move or speak, saying only the words “snow” and “eat.”



It turned out that the man spent two months in the car. At a temperature of -30 degrees there is practically no food. There were several food and drink packages in the cabin. But such an amount would clearly not be enough to maintain normal life activity for such a long time.

The car has run out of fuel. And Peter tried to maintain warmth with the help of a heater and a sleeping bag.



The police's first theory was that the man drove off the main road, got stuck in a snowdrift and was unable to get out. And since it was pre-holiday time, there weren’t very many people passing by. And no one came across Skyllberg. Then why did no one report the man missing? Was he completely alone?



Örebro city

But a slightly more detailed study of the biography showed that Peter’s story is not so clear. He had not communicated with his family for 20 years, and his relatives were not aware of his life. Neighbors in Örebro confirmed he had split up with his girlfriend just before Christmas and was given a judgment against him for debts totaling £150,000. The poor man's financial situation turned out to be such that he was unable to even pay for housing.



Peter

The prisoner of the snowdrifts refused to talk to the press. Doctors suggested that the debtor became depressed and decided to take his own life. Why did he move away from people? But, apparently, the man did not have the strength to commit suicide, and he decided to wait for death from cold or hunger. But the instinct of survival forced me to maintain strength at least with the help of snow.



But how could you survive in sub-zero temperatures without food for two months? Is this even possible? Experts suggested that the reason was the car, which the snow and frost turned into a kind of igloo, and a kind of “human hibernation.” The condition manifested itself as a maximum slowdown in metabolism and all life processes and was similar to the sleep that bears, raccoons and badgers fall into during the winter.



In any case, Skylberg's story is remarkable and demonstrates the fact that the capabilities of the human body are much greater than we can imagine.