The body of Bredo Morstøl, a Norwegian man, has been frozen and preserved for over 30 years. Born in Norway in 1900, Morstøl lived there until his death at 89. Without prior consent, his grandson, Trygve Bauge, decided to cryogenically preserve and transport his body to the United States in 1990.
Morstøl’s remains were initially kept in liquid nitrogen at the Trans Time cryonics facility in San Leandro, California, for three years. Cryonics is the practice of freezing and preserving deceased bodies in the hope that future advancements in technology will allow for revival. In 1993, Bauge moved his grandfather’s body to Nederland, a small Colorado town.
Bauge stored the frozen body in a shed behind his home, using dry ice for preservation. However, after his visa expired, he was deported from the U.S., leaving his grandfather’s remains behind.
Local authorities discovered the frozen body and initially planned to remove it due to laws against storing deceased bodies or body parts on private property. Determined to continue the cryonics project, Bauge contested the decision from Norway, garnering support from local residents. Ultimately, it was ruled that the body could remain preserved since it had been stored prior to the laws being enacted. By 2002, Morstøl, affectionately known as Grandpa Bredo, became a prominent figure in Nederland’s tourism scene, inspiring the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival. This festival celebrates his preserved state with events such as coffin races, polar plunges, and frozen T-shirt contests.
However, the festival’s upkeep became expensive, prompting the owner of the Stanley Hotel in nearby Estes Park, Colorado, to acquire the festival and relocate Morstøl’s body to the hotel. There, a more traditional cryonics method using a liquid nitrogen bath was implemented.
James Arrowood, president and CEO of Alcor, a nonprofit cryonics lab in Scottsdale, Arizona, which has managed over 230 bodies since 1972, took charge of the operation. Last year, he sent a team of former Navy Seals to safely move the body. Around 4 a.m., they successfully transferred Grandpa Bredo from his container to a van and promptly transported him through the mountains to the hotel.