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

[ethiostar]

A very interesting read.

Old Believers had been persecuted since the days of Peter the Great, and Lykov talked about it as though it had happened only yesterday; for him, Peter was a personal enemy and "the anti- in human form"—a point he insisted had been amply proved by Tsar's campaign to modernize Russia by forcibly "chopping off the beards of Christians." But these centuries-old hatreds were conflated with more recent grievances; Karp was prone to complain in the [View Full Quote]same breath about a merchant who had refused to make a gift of 26 poods [940 pounds] of potatoes to the Old Believers sometime around 1900.

Things had only got worse for the Lykov family when the atheist Bolsheviks took power. Under the Soviets, isolated Old Believer communities that had fled to Siberia to escape persecution began to retreat ever further from civilization. During the purges of the 1930s, with Christianity itself under assault, a Communist patrol had shot Lykov's brother on the outskirts of their village while Lykov knelt working beside him. He had responded by scooping up his family and bolting into forest.


That was in 1936, and there were only four Lykovs then—Karp; his wife, Akulina; a son named Savin, 9 years old, and Natalia, a daughter who was only 2. Taking their possessions and some seeds, they had retreated ever deeper into the taiga, building themselves a succession of crude dwelling places, until at last they had fetched up in this desolate spot.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor...188843001.html

[burmafrd]

amazing story of survival. Yet at the same time were they really living? Always so close to starvation and so alone? I wonder.

[Shunpike]

I am truly impressed, shocked.

Can't imagine. 40 years of wilderness. Wow. Just wow. A very very interesting story.

Thanks for posting this.

[5Stars]

That was a very, very interesting article! Also, it is amazing how the human species can adapt if necessary for anything they encounter.

[dreghorn2]

Thanks for posting ethiostar, can't believe i hadn't heard of that family before.

Amazing story.

[5Stars]

Originally Posted by dreghorn2

Thanks for posting ethiostar, can't believe i hadn't heard of that family before.

Amazing story.

Dude! That family did not even know YOU existed! They did not even know a World war happened! Of course you have never heard of them!

[danielofthesaints]

You know how pissed off I would be if I came back to society after 40 years and the Cowboys had not won a 6th superbowl! I feel sorry for Eagles fans that went into the wilderness right after the merger and came back today to an empty trophy case

[poke]

if it would mean i would never hear another story about how great
Ray Lewis is/was I would gladly go live with them !

[ethiostar]

Originally Posted by Shunpike

I am truly impressed, shocked.

Can't imagine. 40 years of wilderness. Wow. Just wow. A very very interesting story.

Thanks for posting this.

Originally Posted by dreghorn2

Thanks for posting ethiostar, can't believe i hadn't heard of that family before.

Amazing story.

Glad to share it with you all.

Originally Posted by 5Stars

That was a very, very interesting article! Also, it is amazing how the human species can adapt if necessary for anything they encounter.

I believe we are one of the most adaptive species in existence. Culture, brain power, and opposable thumbs help

[burmafrd]

Frankly I think it is no cooincidence that so many of them died soon after they were found.

[Stryker44]

Originally Posted by burmafrd

Frankly I think it is no cooincidence that so many of them died soon after they were found.

How come?

[ethiostar]

Originally Posted by burmafrd

Frankly I think it is no cooincidence that so many of them died soon after they were found.

True for two of them at least.

Perhaps the saddest aspect of the Lykovs' strange story was the rapidity with which the family went into decline after they re-established contact with the outside world. In the fall of 1981, three of the four children followed their mother to the grave within a few days of one another. According to Peskov, their deaths were not, as might have been expected, 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.

[burmafrd]

they had lived that long and then suddenly die of kidney failure? Highly questionable that came from nowhere.

[Blitzen32]

Originally Posted by burmafrd

they had lived that long and then suddenly die of kidney failure? Highly questionable that came from nowhere.

What are you implying?

[burmafrd]

Originally Posted by Blitzen32

What are you implying?

you have heard of germs and viruses-right?

You have heard that people isolated like that have no immunity to diseases common in the rest of the world- right?

So do the math