If morbidity doesn’t freak you out, and the idea of an annual event celebrating the death of a frozen body is something you’d want to be a part of, the Frozen Dead Guy Days Festival is the place you have to be at.
On its way to commemorate its 15th year in 2016, Colorado’s Frozen Dead Guy Days is a festival that has already become a worldwide spectacle. Thousands of enthusiastic fans participate in this outrageous event thatΒ celebrates the story of Bredo Morstoel , a Norwegian who died in 1989, and whose body is kept frozen on dry ice in a Tuff Shed, high above Nederland.
According to the tale,Β Bredo’s family, after his death, wanted to preserve his body in dry ice and ship it to a cryonics facility. But due to several unforeseeable circumstances, the family couldn’t manage to do the same. This was until a local man, Bo Shaffer, stepped forward as caretaker of the corpse. Gathering a team of βcryonicistsβ, he maintained the body at -60 degrees Fahrenheit hauling 1,600 pounds of dry ice and packing it around the body. After the media picked up the story, both local and nationally, Grandpa Bredo slowly turned into a legend, giving birth to the idea of the festival, as the perfect way to attract more visitors to the town.
The festivities at the Frozen Dead Guy Days are just as bizarre as the very factor that led to the popularity of the festival. Bathed in an atmosphere of a frat-party, with just as much beer drinking and hilarious contests, the events include a Frozen Dead Guy Look-alike contest, coffin races, ice-turkey bowling, frozen t-shirt contests, and frozen salmon toss, to name a few. Apart from these, there exists a parade of hearses, as well as food and beer stands under large, heated festival tents. The highlight of the three-day fest is the Ice-Queen pageant and a ‘Blue Ball’ featuring live music.
(Images Courtesy: Frozen Dead Guy Days/Facebook)