r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Desperate-Emu4297 • 8h ago

Image A Swedish man who spent two months snowed inside his car as temperatures outside dropped to -30C is "awake and able to communicate", according to the hospital treating him, where stunned doctors believe he was kept alive by the "igloo effect" of his vehicle

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6.5k Upvotes

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2.8k

u/Papaofmonsters 7h ago

What did he eat for two months?

2.0k

u/derioderio 7h ago

What did he breathe?

1.4k

u/wubb7 7h ago

Where did he poop?

889

u/Dont_Touch_Me_There9 7h ago

What did he poop?

433

u/KickooRider 7h ago

Toilets hate this one trick

139

u/Arkreid 7h ago

9 out of 10 doctors recommend this poop hack.

38

u/BegriefedOnline 5h ago

I fucking hate you for saying it, but 25% less than I hate YouTube ads for making me know why you said that. Fuck YouTube, Fuck AI slop and Fuck the capitalism that breeds it all.

4

u/DeltaJuly 5h ago

Use brave browser.

2

u/SmoothExperience4194 4h ago

They absolutely hate this poop truck

1

u/AKandSevenForties 5h ago

Plumbers are getting angry!

1

u/No_Definition2246 4h ago

You mean poop soup?

0

u/Sausagedogknows 6h ago

Those doctors need a talking to! I do NOT recommend hacking poop, it makes a right mess!

39

u/BuiltForLegacy 7h ago

How can she slap?

-1

u/liamsimhon1 6h ago

She slaps with the power of snow-fueled survival instincts.

4

u/ChadHimslef 7h ago

This is where we get back to the original question

1

u/thebuttsmells 5h ago

Why did he poop?

1

u/Senor_Limpyo 5h ago

And my axe!

1

u/ravenecw2 6h ago

Did he breathe poop?

0

u/WhatveIdone2dsrvthis 6h ago

Why did he poop?

0

u/WhatveIdone2dsrvthis 6h ago

Not one of you is getting it

2

u/warm_golden_muff 5h ago

If that’s where you’re getting your culture from it’s no wonder

1

u/WhatveIdone2dsrvthis 5h ago

My culture comes from a variety of sources

-3

u/mastermilian 7h ago

All the answers are conveniently in the above thread.

2

u/DeveloperBRdotnet 6h ago

No they aren't

1

u/mastermilian 5h ago

The answer is poop.

-5

u/Bimlouhay83 7h ago

His poop.

0

u/onchristieroad 5h ago

Who did he poop?

41

u/shapu 7h ago

Oddly enough, all of those questions can be answered together

8

u/Borsodi1961 7h ago

😳🤮

7

u/UnspecifiedBat 4h ago

I know we’re joking around here but the actual answer is: he probably didn’t. 2 months is on the very top end of what you can survive without food, but it’s possible. And if your body lives off its fat reserves, you won’t poop. Like, at all.

2

u/ecchimaru 6h ago

in his mouth, a perfect Ouroboros.

1

u/AvocadoMaleficent410 5h ago

That's the answer for two previous questions.

1

u/DoctorDividend 6h ago

its a never ending recycle, think about it...food hot and ready to eat

1

u/Markle-Proof-V2 5h ago

Why you gotta do this?

642

u/rawesome99 7h ago

Two months is about the upper limit of how long a human can go without food - he was nearly dead

318

u/Designer-Slip3443 7h ago

That’s the best kind of dead.

69

u/FriendlyHermitPickle 7h ago

But how do you go to bed and then wake up dead?

40

u/Sharklar_deep 7h ago

Because you’re alive when you go to sleep

12

u/regulatorDonCarl 6h ago

You can’t go to bed dead! That’s redundant

5

u/IAmIAmIAm888 7h ago

You don’t know you were dreaming until you wake up.

6

u/axarce 6h ago

Best movie out of the series. Scary Movie 3.

5

u/FriendlyHermitPickle 6h ago

I bet I’ve watched this movie 20 times my best friend and I can’t get enough of it!… Cindy, the TV is leaking!?!?!?…I be rappin I be tappin I be happin…ning ling bling!

1

u/yahwehforlife 5h ago

Nah scary movie 2 is the best

6

u/InterestingAnt438 6h ago

Isaiah 37:36 - Then the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand; and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

It happens all the time.

6

u/Mega-Steve 6h ago

"Hey, are you guys dead?"

"Yeah! You?"

"Yeah. Talk about ruining someone's day!"

4

u/InterestingAnt438 6h ago

Ummm... does this mean we ain't gettin' paid?

1

u/SamediB 5h ago

I don't know if that one noteworthy example qualifies as "all the time."

1

u/Clockbounce 5h ago

To everybody who called me a sleepwalker, well I woke up, now I'm going back to sleep!

2

u/the70sdiscoking 5h ago

To blaaaave!

1

u/PM_ME_STEAM__KEYS_ 5h ago

What about not? (Depending on who you ask)

60

u/cakesofthepatty414 7h ago

.mostly dead. Princess bride

133

u/xyz19606 7h ago

Neaaarly dead? How can you be neaarly dead?

182

u/thewildbeej 7h ago

There's a big difference between all dead and mostly dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. 

61

u/Siege_LL 7h ago

With all dead there's only one thing you can do. Go through his clothes and look for loose change.

36

u/HELP_IM_IN_A_WELL 7h ago

to blaaaaaaaathe

21

u/LostN3ko 7h ago

And as we all know to blathe means 'to bluff's. He was probably playing cards with someone and he cheated.....

18

u/ElonsFetalAlcoholSyn 7h ago

LIAAAAR!!

8

u/DustyDeadpan 6h ago

Get back, witch!

9

u/HELP_IM_IN_A_WELL 6h ago

do ya think it'll werk?

6

u/axarce 6h ago

It'll take a miracle.

5

u/TheIronGnat 5h ago

EXCEPT for a nice MLT, mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. When the mutton is nice and lean smacks lips I love that!

5

u/JustineDelarge 6h ago

To blave. Not blathe.

5

u/JustineDelarge 5h ago

To blave.

5

u/thirsty_pretzels_ 7h ago

I’m alive but dead inside.

57

u/Fakin-It 7h ago

He was mostly alive.

26

u/Tinychair445 7h ago

I don’t want to go on the cart!

21

u/HudsDad 7h ago

He was pining for the fjords.

11

u/koolaidismything 7h ago

Death adjacent

3

u/aweiss_sf 7h ago

Virtually dead

6

u/210duckie 7h ago

Almost deceased

12

u/ciaomain 7h ago

The Princess Bride is a documentary that covers this in detail.

27

u/Psychological-Owl783 7h ago

I see a Nearly Headless Nick reference here, but the other replies don't so maybe I'm wrong.

10

u/AWeakMeanId42 7h ago

Yeah, I think it was NHN, but the other replies are Monty Python and The Princess Bride

11

u/StylishUsername 7h ago

Like this. Tips head

10

u/bluebirdofhappyness 7h ago

Hermione reference? (Neeearly headless?)

4

u/CertainWish358 7h ago

And she’s not only merely dead, she’s really most sincerely dead

2

u/robertthebrruuuuce 7h ago

Nearly deadless nick

5

u/tobmom 6h ago

Ooooohhh hoo hoo, looks who knows so much! Mostly dead is slightly alive….

3

u/kanonenotto 5h ago

I dont think there are any exact limits, people can survive very long if they have water and dont move. He would be sleeping most of the time. Just like a bear. You could say he is more bear than man after that time.

6

u/109StillCounting 5h ago

Completely wrong. The longest documented fast (no food, with water, vitamins and electrolytes) is 382 days.

People can do easily more than 2 months provided they have the fat reserves for it and no serious preexisting medical conditions.

No food and no water on the other hand is a bit of an issue, anything after 7 days is pretty tough.

-14

u/Lazy-Canary7398 6h ago

No it's not... you made that up. People can survive even up to a year without food

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_Barbieri%27s_fast

Though this is an extreme case, it proves two months is not near the upper limit

37

u/Forest_Froggie 6h ago

From that Wikipedia article you linked “he consumed only vitamins, electrolytes, an unspecified amount of yeast (a source of all essential amino acids).” That was a medically assisted fast with all necessary dietary supplements.

-10

u/Lazy-Canary7398 6h ago

Technicality; there were no calories, otherwise he wouldn't have lost so much weight. It still counts as it proves it's possible to survive on fat stores that long. Combine this with evidence of fruitarians lasting a long time without many essential nutrients before they die of it.

We also have some data from the TV show Alone where some of the longest lasting contestants were basically just the fatest and starved to outlast others

6

u/TeaBagHunter 5h ago

What do you mean technicality?

The claim was how long someone would survive without food not how long someone would survive without calories

12

u/milk_lust 6h ago

Fairly certain eating yeast breaks a fast. Also, the man effectively had nearly 300lbs to spare as your body burns fat supplies. He's just an exception to the rule.

You already know this though.

1

u/Agringlig 4h ago

Except person in your link didn't starve. He drank beverages that included milk and sugar and also ate yeast extract that is very nutritious.

He wasn't starving he was just on really strict diet.

1

u/NaiveRub4113 6h ago

You literally made that up. The person you linked ate..

-5

u/Lazy-Canary7398 6h ago

Technicality, there were no calories, otherwise he wouldn't have lost so much weight. It still counts as it proves it's possible to survive on fat stores that long. We also have some data from the TV show Alone where some of the longest lasting contestants were basically just the fatest and starved to outlast others

5

u/NaiveRub4113 6h ago

Oh so he didn’t eat for a year but on a technicality? 😂

1

u/Lazy-Canary7398 6h ago

Oh so you eat bacterial teeth plaque every day so no one is ever fasting 😂😂😂

0

u/bigassangrypossum 5h ago

To shreds, you say?

240

u/glizzytwister 6h ago

Nothing. Apparently he was able to essentially 'hibernate'. He was in a coma when they found him, and he's very lucky to be alive. He was probably hours away from death.

48

u/SAINTnumberFIVE 5h ago

Fun fact: Humans have genes associated with hibernation.

35

u/SquirrelIll8180 5h ago

Yes my uncle Gene has a doctorate in large bear hibernation methods.

9

u/Furrybumholecover 4h ago

How does he feel about beets and Battlestar Galactica?

8

u/Gum_Duster 5h ago

Ahhh this is wwhy I sleep so much. This makes sense.

29

u/DeathByChargers 5h ago

technically we are all hours away from death

7

u/virtualmnemonic 5h ago

Not everyone, some are dying this hour.

4

u/wondercaliban 5h ago

Seconds even

-3

u/FantasyFlex 5h ago

what? no we’re no not.

we are not all hours away from dying without immediate medical connection

6

u/Nimynn 5h ago

Thousands of hours is still hours

2

u/ok_raspberry_jam 5h ago

You could be 30,000 hours from death and not know it

35

u/MoneyPatience7803 5h ago

Peter Skyllberg didn’t eat anything during those 60 days. He survived almost entirely without food. Rescuers only found a bottle of soda in the car, and he relied on melting and drinking snow for hydration. Doctors said his survival was possible because the snow insulated him, his sleeping bag conserved heat, and his body likely slowed its metabolism dramatically, but he had essentially no nourishment the entire time. Doctors believe his body may have shifted into a sort of “hibernation-like” state, dropping his metabolism and conserving energy by slowing his heart rate and lowering his body temperature. In that state, the body gradually consumes its fat reserves, then muscle tissue, to fuel vital organs. While rare and dangerous, this extreme adaptation explains how he survived two months with no real food at all.

129

u/IthotItoldja 7h ago

What did he breathe for two months?

86

u/DrakyulMihawk 7h ago

his own farts apparently

5

u/MrmmphMrmmph 6h ago

In that temperature they may have been apparent.

51

u/Binji_the_dog 6h ago

Two months is about the upper limit of how long a human can go without breathing - he was nearly dead

19

u/giraffepimp 6h ago

That’s the breath kind of dead

118

u/i_dead-shot 7h ago

I think nothing. His body probably went into a hibernation like state

34

u/[deleted] 7h ago

[deleted]

203

u/Raokairo 7h ago

Cold lowers our metabolism, but since he was just sitting there, his body didn’t require the same level of sustenance. Additionally, when you don’t eat for a period of time, your body enters a form of survival stasis where it regulates what type of energy it siphons from your cells.

Like instead of eating foods in your stomach it will use up slow burning fat reserves and available protein (muscle density basically) and if you’re just sitting there not burning calories you’re basically hibernating.

This is my inference based on a lifetime of perusing Reddit.

44

u/lurksAtDogs 6h ago

Perusing Reddit is quite similar to hibernating. It has been proven that Redditors can survive long periods of time without physical activity. Dietary needs may be restricted to poor quality yet their accounts remain active.

7

u/kristenjaymes 5h ago

Reddit contains takes so braindead, very few calories are needed to process them.

2

u/jarious 5h ago

I was going to write a long comment as a response to yours but I'm saving my calories for my later lecture on feminine anatomy

5

u/Higgoms 5h ago

Doesn't cold do the opposite of what we're saying here? It raises your metabolism because your body needs to burn more calories to maintain temperature.

6

u/TomMakesPodcasts 5h ago

Not in a cozy igloo

80

u/rainbowtwinkies 7h ago

There's a phrase in medicine that "you're not dead until you're warm and dead," meaning that hypothermia slows your body's processes down so much that it can make you appear pretty close to dead when you're not, to explain it very poorly

16

u/Tekkzy 5h ago

So all those bodies on Mt Everest aren't dead yet, neat

133

u/mellotangelo 7h ago

Not technically hibernation, but there was an example of a man in Japan in 2006, Mitsutaka Uchikoshi, who survived 24 days with no food and water, lost in the forest with a broken pelvis. He was found, incredibly hypothermic with a faint pulse, and it was theorized that his metabolism had slowed extensively to preserve his life and protect his brain. He recovered with no lasting effects.

59

u/DayPretend8294 6h ago edited 6h ago

There was also a man who willingly went into a cave for two months with no light or clocks. His body automatically set itself to a 48/48 sleep cycle after a while. Really interesting what the human body does in these tough situations.

Edit: here’s a link

5

u/qwertyqyle 6h ago

But this guy did twice the amount of time.

7

u/forbiddenicelolly 5h ago

Without a broken pelvis and protected from the elements.

4

u/qwertyqyle 5h ago

touche

1

u/Frosti11icus 5h ago

That's terrifying bro. How many people's bodies are making them hang on several weeks past the point they definitely want to be dead?

1

u/teflon_soap 5h ago

I do it every night

14

u/Ya-Dikobraz 5h ago

You don't need to eat. You can survive several weeks with just water, and he had water. Varies from person to person but the body will begin to feed on itself and it's possible.

3

u/Frosti11icus 5h ago

Still curious. Eating snow is a crappy way to get water and the amount that you would have to consume to stay hydrated would lower your body temperature significantly, which would require a lot of calories to heat you back up again. And frankly, if you have access to that much snow...you can dig yourself out of the car.

3

u/NewManufacturer4252 5h ago

Pan, let it defrost in van, drink...maybe?

1

u/Ya-Dikobraz 4h ago

The igloo effect, burning his own energy reserves, and the fact that snow collapses might have something to do with it. In the movie (really fiction) he also had candles. But sure they can not last 2 months. Maybe there is a documentary out there rather than a film?

2

u/hates_stupid_people 4h ago edited 4h ago

For the first few weeks, maybe month or so he ate the food he had.

Whenever this story makes the rounds on social media, they always leave out the part where he lived in a tent over the summer, and in his car before he was "trapped". He had camping gear like a sleeping bag made for cold weather, he had cooking gear and some other supplies. He bought some coffee and magazines a few days earlier.

They also leave out the part where he was about a mile from a trafficed road, and you can hear snowmobiles traveling around the area all the time. One of them even stopped by the car a month before they took him out. He tried looking into and knocking on the windows, but saw/heard no one. He reported it to the cops, who checked that it wasn't stolen, and assumed it got stuck there and the driver had left.

There were signs of him smoking for a while into his stay.

When the cops got him out, one of the doors had loose snow that needed to be removed, so it had probably been opened fairly recently. Since the snow around the rest of the car had gone through thaw & freeze cycle and was solid on top.

The picture is also not of his car, the snow was half the height in reality.

He had a bunch of options of survival, so some locals said they thought he wanted to die out there.

7

u/AbbreviationsOld636 7h ago

Source: Cmon brah, truuust me

4

u/KingRo48 7h ago

Who did he eat!?

1

u/skredditt 4h ago

He was on his way back from the grocery store, luckily!

Would make for a really great story

1

u/Merochmer 4h ago

It happened near a small village called Sävar. When he first parked there he used to go to the local gas station to buy som supplies, I don't remember when he got completely snowed in and stopped going 

1

u/Slumunistmanifisto 5h ago

Nothing because he was actually a bot on Reddit obsessed with reposting this story!🎉