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Russian family lived alone in the Siberian wilderness for 40 years (2013)
- idunnoman1222 2y agoAll the kids died of pneumonia caught from the visiting geologist. What a cute story.
- kzrdude 2y agoWell. I wonder if the new gift of salt in their diet contributed to kidney failure.
- nighthawk454 2y ago> In the fall of 1981, three of the four children followed their mother to the grave. According to Peskov, their deaths were not, as some have speculated, the result of exposure to diseases to which they had no immunity. Both Savin and Natalia suffered from kidney failure, most likely a result of their harsh diet. But Dmitry died of pneumonia, which might have begun as an infection he acquired from his new friends.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- madarco 2y agoI'm not sure... several parts of this story seem unbelievable to be honest.
- chikenf00t 2y agoWhat parts seem unbelievable?
- skzv 2y agoThe Vice documentary mentioned in the article is really great [0]. Best of luck to Agafia. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt2AYafET68 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt2AYafET68
- hnthrowaway0328 2y agoI wish I could do that in Canada. Not totally isolated but a few kms from a main road with a chalet and something. Solar for power, Starlink for network and I can die in that chalet. But building and maintaining are going to be hell because I know exactly zero about those.
- tantalor 2y ago[flagged]
- slwvx 2y agoEncouraging suicide is a terrible, no good, expletive move.
- cgh 2y agoLiterally the only things stopping you from doing this are money (to buy a rural lot somewhere, tools, a truck and so forth) and time. You can learn most of your skills with YouTube and practise, not kidding. Thanks to YouTube, we renovated a borderline crappy house, built outbuildings, landscaped, etc. with essentially no construction experience. I am still kind of amazed by this.
- Loughla 2y agoI'll add, there are also databases of home improvement projects available through your local library. That way you can fully evaluate the YouTube video to see if the creator is wildly unsafe or something.
- alexey-salmin 2y ago> When in recalling the “first world war” with Karp Osipovich the geologists engaged him in conversation about the last one, he shook his head: “What is this, a second time, and always the Germans. A curse on Peter. He flirted with them. That is so.” It's almost the "which one, first or second?" joke but IRL
- cgh 2y ago"Always the Germans". My Dutch friends will laugh pretty hard at this. It fits in with yelling "Hey, where's my bike?" at German tourists (the Nazis confiscated Dutch bicycles in WW2 to limit movement) and referring to people from the eastern part of the country as "spare Germans".
- IncreasePosts 2y agoAt a certain point, we gotta say "Hey, Germany, you don't get to be a country no more, on account of you keep attacking THE WORLD"
- christophilus 2y agoFor those not in the know, it’s a reference to Norm MacDonald: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uXdtafGdIVM&pp=ygUWbm9ybSBtYWNkb25hbGQgZ2VybWFueQ%3D%3D https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uXdtafGdIVM&pp=ygUWbm9ybSBtYWN...
- usrnm 2y agoYeah, but Peter actually flirted with the Dutch, not Germans. Nobody just sees any difference ;)
- kgeist 2y agoBack in Peter the Great's times the Dutch and Germans were called with the same word in Russian. I think it was the case in English, too. IIRC that's why they call it Pennsylvania Dutch, even though it's German.
- tsimionescu 2y agoI remember watching a documentary about them, without much context. The old lady who is still living alone out there was talking a lot about how the Patriarch (an Orthodox equivalent of the Pope, more or less) corrupted their old faith, and she was cursing his name a lot. By the way she was speaking, I thought she was talking about some events that must have happened during her father's life, maybe his childhood - I assumed she was upset about some communist era Patriarch who probably was too friendly with the regime or something. Looking it up later, I realized she was an Old Believer, and the Patriarch she was cursing was in fact Nikon, who corrupted their faith in 1652... I found it deeply fascinating how powerful and alive this almost 400 year old grudge was to this woman.
- kgeist 2y agoIt's basically Old Believers' entire identity - opposition to the official church.
- Muromec 2y agoNot to the official church, but to Ukrainians bringing it into the alignment with the common Orthodox canon at the time. What happened isn’t purely lithurgical change, they imported a lot of monks who can read canonical greek texts with them. It’s a repeated historical pattern — top down reforms brought by “enlightened” leader to make the country more European, more Orthodox or more communist. This was even before Peter cutting beards of the entrenched nobility and was sold on the orthodoxy, autocracy and nationalism thing by the usual suspects.
- kgeist 2y agoOne of the reasons for the reforms was to "go back to the old roots", because the Greeks peformed some rituals differently from Russians, and the opinion was that the Russian rituals were "corrupted" but, interestingly, some of the "restored" canon was actually later Greek innovations while the Russian Church preserved the older ways. For example, they started to cross themselves with 3 fingers instead of 2 fingers in Constantinople only in the 13th century. In my opinion, an unnecessary and misguided reform.
- dingdingdang 2y agoThis story sure has done the rounds. I like it both in the particular and thematically speaking so perhaps there's a good non-tragic variation* on it out there to be found..?
- tetrisgm 2y agoThose poor people missed TikTok, Tiger King, and all the other amazing things we have to offer. Glad they lived what they wanted
- ivan_gammel 2y agoWhen I was 6 years old I was confused just like you about the age of things. I mean, they were discovered before the Digital Age and missed only The Beatles and TV.
- tetrisgm 2y agoI suppose the lazy ad hominem could be met with: and to this day, you are confused by things like sarcasm. Have a great day
- ivan_gammel 2y agoYour sarcasm was factually incorrect to the point where it did not make sense. First, you chose the wrong tech for it. As a matter of fact, the only survivor from that group is in active contact with modern civilization - even being personally informed about certain space launches. She isn’t on TikTok, of course, but she is not different from many other people. Second, they didn’t live the life they wanted. They were refugees fighting for their survival in a very harsh environment. It‘s ethically questionable to say that they have chosen this life over TikTok.
- drdaeman 2y agoMy first thought was rather that they missed modern medicine, balanced diet and even basic kitchen utensils. Not some entertainment. And I'm not even sure they truly wanted to live that way. I'm no psychologist, but it reads like they were severely traumatized by their religious zeal. While I respect their agency, I suspect their behavior was much less voluntary than they believed. I don't know how I should feel about it, but I'm not glad they had to suffer, even if it was voluntary (or "voluntary"). It's so fucked up. The only thing I'm sure is that [unregulated] religion can sometimes be such a memetic cancer. It's somewhat comparable to those modern-day homeless that are scraping by on the streets but refuse to do anything about it. (I don't really know what to make of those people either.)
- fuzztester 2y agoReading the post title, the film Dersu Uzala by Akira Kurosawa comes to mind. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dersu_Uzala_(1975_film) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dersu_Uzala_(1975_film) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Kurosawa https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Kurosawa
- sampo 2y agoThe book is even better. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dersu_Uzala https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dersu_Uzala
- fuzztester 2y agodidn't know, thanks. sad ending of the real life guy. this article - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dersu_Uzala https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dersu_Uzala - says he was murdered, maybe for the new rifle that Arsenyev gave him as a parting gift when Dersu realized he could not live in the city and decided to returned to the woods.
- renewiltord 2y agoWell, that brought up a memory from childhood. My parents borrowed this on a tape and my brother and I would go about calling the Sun “a very great man” and the Moon “another great man” because that’s what the character says about them.
- kunley 2y ago[flagged]
- degun 2y ago[flagged]
- bdjsiqoocwk 2y ago[flagged]
- hamstergene 2y agoIt's because the current state propaganda pressures people with constant "they are same bad just hide it better" rhetoric, which itself is copied from Cold War era whataboutism. My parents and relatives say the phrase "America has all the same..." literally every time anything political comes up, which is a pretty odd thing to say for people who aren't even able to read English-language media, least of all been here, which they admit but the next time say it again anyway. It intensified after 2013-2014 and hasn't been true at all during ~1995-2010. It clearly comes from Putin's government insecurity about their comparative performance, rather than from any Russian cultural trait.
- selivanovp 2y ago[flagged]
- bdjsiqoocwk 2y agoYeah but. Why the USA? If I say "Russia invaded Ukraine", why do I always get the response "but the USA.." and now any one of many other countries that also invade. What is the connection? The USA has nothing to do with this. No, let me explain to you what is actually going on. What's going on is that Russians have a chip on their should the size of Texas. A deep rooted sentiment of inferiority, that triggers every time you say something bad about their country, which they hate, and respond by attacking the country they admire but can't admit. Without looking at polls, what do you think is the percentage of the Russian population that answered Yes to the question: if given the chance to move to the USA, would you? If you believe what you're saying, you probably think this is a very small number.
- the5avage 2y agoI was always fascinated by siberia. Pretty sad that visiting it will be off the table for many years now.
- gonzo 2y agoIDK. The results of the US election could change this, too.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- ivan_gammel 2y agoIt's relatively safe for foreigners to visit Russia at the moment. Just stay away from military objects and rare public protests, and don't do generally stupid things, like praising Ukraine in a restaurant full of people (you may get both support and a visit by police). You will also need a lot of cash.
- fennecbutt 2y agoThat does not sound safe at all, it's irresponsible of you to suggest such a thing, imo.
- orenlindsey 2y agoThis is their homesite on Google maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/CkPRPxPuQuCg3q749 https://maps.app.goo.gl/CkPRPxPuQuCg3q749 Seems to be sort of a tourist attraction now. The nearest road is about 55 miles away according to the measuring tool on google maps. There's several nature preserves/parks in the area that protect the site. I guess people hike to it now.
- sleroq 2y ago"No wheelchair accessible entrance" sign killed me.
- aojdwhsd 2y agoThis reminds me of a two-part documentary about a family living in the Russian far east: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BGo1vMdHEo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BGo1vMdHEo
- pj_mukh 2y ago“You can’t breathe. There are cars everywhere. There is no clean air. Each car that passes by leaves so many toxins in the air. You have no other option but to stay at home.” Mmm, stay in a forest for 40 years and come back out a New Urbanist. Typical.
- aziaziazi 2y agoHaha not bad but that would be more funny to me if I didn’t experience it every Holliday back. One week in the mountains is enough to reset my tolerance and get bitter tickle as soon as back in urban home.
- grecy 2y agoI’m walking the Camino in Spain. After A single day out in the wilderness the smell of traffic is terrible and very noticeable. Flying from my home in the Yukon to LAX is like landing in Mordor. The air is disgusting, the brown smudge, etc.
- kregasaurusrex 2y agoHow the family found out about satellites is very interesting to me- such an unexplained phenomena wouldn't make sense to some groups (ie, flat-earthers deny their existence altogether), where they would have observed Sputnik zooming across the sky while only being visible at dawn and dusk. With such perfect recurrence the Lykovs would have been able to deduce that the object followed ordinary orbital mechanics against the backdrop of the celestial cosmos rather than being a supernatural object, especially that Sputnik was only in the sky for a couple months in 1957. Later ones would have have likely indicated they were a product of man; I'd personally ascribe it to being supernatural in origin!
- dmitry-vsl 2y agoI think this is a fabrication by the journalist. Overall, it seems to me that there was an ideological agenda behind this story. In the USSR, no topic could cause a stir in major media outlets without an ideological directive.
- HarryHirsch 2y agoThe family would have heard about airplanes, they were from Perm Oblast, which isn't exactly remote. It isn't exactly a big leap to think that what they were seeing was the lights of airplanes. Ships carry lights for safe navigation, and if you fly at night you also carry lights for safety.
- croisillon 2y agoi sometimes wonder what it was to live in early human times and make sense of everything: time, phenomena etc. i am not religious but i guess back then i would have ascribed anything to gods
- _def 2y agoYou would need to come up with the concept of gods first though
- 2y ago
- TaurenHunter 2y agoThat reminds me of the documentary Happy People: A Year in the Taiga https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcHbZZPce_ZMUuYr5u6sxy3gsxLYLKiPv https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcHbZZPce_ZMUuYr5u6sx...
- harikb 2y agoWell... Not that being connected to the world has helped others... > According to Google Trends, searches for "Did Joe Biden drop out" started spiking around 6 a.m. on election day and continued to rise over the course of the day until reaching its peak at midnight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS4vphcHGmo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS4vphcHGmo
- penguin_booze 2y agoAs long as I internet, just tell me where to sign up.
- timonoko 2y agoNobody ever mentions this area was wilderness, because the invading Muscovites totally decimated indigenous population known as Hakassi. For various reason, the Finnish version of wikipedia is more informative. https://fi-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Hakassit?_x_tr_sl=fi&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp https://fi-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Hakassit?_x_t...
- cpursley 2y agoI hate to tell you this, but most of the major powers did all sorts horrible things during that time period. Especially my people group, who were arguable the most effective at it. And fwiw, the late Soviets tried to course correct regarding ethnic groups. My wife (half ethnic Komi, another Finnish group), was taught that language in school. Don’t get me wrong, the Finish and Finnish ethnic groups (and many others) got a raw deal, but it’s no reason for the blanket Russophobia that we see on hn so often.
- timonoko 2y agoUkrainian what? "Noko" was a clan and castle year 1000 in Western Finland.
- cpursley 2y agoNice to know, thanks and sorry for the mistake! Finish culture is one of my favorites and Helsinki is amazing. Ditto on sauna culture.
- tim333 2y ago>blanket Russophobia Sure most major powers did horrible things in the past. But now? How many other major powers are launching bloody invasions of their neighbors?
- cpursley 2y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States#21st-century_wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_Uni... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_United_Kingdom#21st_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_United... Thankfully we got to keep SWIFT and our McDonalds since those invasions were all totally justified...
- grecy 2y agoEvery time this story comes up I ask. How did they light fire, and what vessels did they use to boil water? I ask this after years of adventure is the Yukon wilderness, where we play the game “if the canoe flipped and we lost everything, could we survive?”. Often the answer is “not unless we luckily rescue our rifles or lighters or gps beacon. Maybe we could walk out in a month. Maybe.
- Tor3 2y agoI'm not sure what the answer is, but for the record whenever I spent a few weeks in the mountains as a younger person, I never brought rifles, lighters, or gps beacons (or any other electronics). I did have matches though, in a waterproof bag. But I also had steel and flint. Knife. And a fishing rod. In fact the most useful modern society thing I brought would be soap.. if you have it you don't think much about it, if you don't then you realize how very useful it is.
- grecy 2y agoI’m impressed! What did you boil water in? Just eat with your fingers?
- Tor3 2y agoI brought a pot.. metal, made for this.. I thought that was a given. It would easily last forty-fifty years (re the original article). Not that I would need the pot all the time, fish I would grill in various ways, e.g. on a stick on a fire, or just leaving them on a flat rock close to the fire. The pot was for soup of some kind which I didn't eat very often. As I don't drink coffee when I'm on a mountain hike I wouldn't bring a coffee pot. A knife is a must, if I didn't already mention that. The main point is that I wouldn't need a rifle, a lighter, or a GPS. I wouldn't even have thought of it. Not that there was much GPS around when I was a teenager. A paper map though, that's useful sometimes.
- grecy 2y agoGPS we carry to save our lives. Even 10 days out in the Yukon without gear in late September would be brutal. Like I said, we often gave ourselves 50/50 of surviving - either build some kind of cabin and stay the winter (need rifle and axe minimum) or walk out.