For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II

[farminator3000]

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/For-40-Years-This-Russian-Family-Was-Cut-Off-From-Human-Contact-Unaware-of-World-War-II-188843001.html

In 1978, Soviet geologists prospecting in the wilds of Siberia discovered a family of six, lost in the taiga

Warily, the three strange figures approached and sat down with their visitors, rejecting everything that they were offered—jam, tea, bread—with a muttered, "We are not allowed that!" When Pismenskaya asked, "Have you ever eaten bread?" the old man answered: "I have. But they have not. They have never seen it." At least he was intelligible. The daughters spoke a language distorted by a lifetime of isolation. "When the sisters talked to each other, it sounded like a slow, blurred cooing."

[harmonicon]

1. I read this last week - it's a fascinating story.

I recommend the article to anyone. I'd even consider reading the Russian book that was one of the primary sources for it.

[yurbud]

2. Russia is one of the few countries big enough for this to be possible.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Yet, there was that Japanese guy who held out on a So. Sea Island

for years after WW2.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. There were TWO of them, but on different islands, actually

I think one of them was on an island in the Philippines.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. ahhhh...thank you.

Now that you mention it...a near comatose memory cell fired up and I seem to remember there were 2.

[yurbud]

5. wasn't that an episode of Gilligan's Island?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. No, it was an episode of McHale's Navy (I was already interested in Japan, so I remember it)

The crew finds two American stragglers who don't believe that the war is over and suspect the McHale's Navy crew of being Japanese in disguise. They ask questions trying to figure out if McHale and crew are really American, but the answers to the questions have changed since World War II. (e.g. "What city do the Dodgers play in?" expecting the answer "Brooklyn" and getting the answer "Los Angeles.&quot Finally, they ascertain that one of the stragglers grew up in the same neighborhood as a member of the crew, and the crew member convinces the straggler by telling him what is located at a certain intersection.

So the McHale's Navy crew takes the American stragglers, who tell them that that there are also Japanese stragglers on the island. The Japanese refuse to surrender, but in a development I don't remember the details of, they convince the Japanese that being taken prisoner is like being sent to a luxurious resort.

[yurbud]

9. It was also an episode of the SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN

That amount of money today would buy him a really cool motorized wheelchair at best.

[jsr]

7. There is a book on Amazon on this - asking price $900

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Taiga-Fifty-Year-Religious-Wilderness/dp/product-description/0385472099/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

[treestar]

10. How sad

So strange they managed to live 40 years but then ended up dying youngish - the last one staying there alone was poignant.

[pengillian101]

11. Wow - what a story!

Thanks for sharing it here with us.

K&R and bookmarked.