“Frozen Dead Guy” celebrates his 20th year being frozen

The small mountain town of Nederland, Colorado has always been known for their eccentricities. The weirdest of them all is Bredo Morstoel, better known as Grandpa Bredo, the “Frozen Dead Guy.”

This year, Grandpa Bredo will celebrate his 20th year of being cryogenically frozen. His journey began in Norway after he died from a heart condition in 1989. Instead of being buried, he was packed with dry ice in preparation of being shipped to the Trans Time cryonics facility in Oakland, California, where he was placed in liquid nitrogen for nearly 14 years.

But liquid nitrogen isn’t cheap. In an effort to save a little money, Bredo’s grandson, Trygve Bauge had his grandfather shipped to Nederland. Bauge and his mother Aud Morstoel then kept their cryogenically froze family member in a Tuff Shed next to their small Nederland home. The mother and son once had dreams of beginning a cryogenic facility of their own.

After Tryvge’s visa expired and his mother was evicted for living in a house without plumbing or electricity, it seemed as though Grandpa Bredo’s journey was approaching its end. Morstoel took it upon herself to go to a Nederland reporter and share her father’s story, which turned Grandpa Bredo into a media sensation, and a source of pride for the town of Nederland.

Every March, an annual celebration is held in Nederland to commemorate grandpa Bredo and his highly unusual post mortem story. The weekend-long celebration is complete with a coffin race and polar plunge, it has become a global sensation.