Interesting Holiday


It's just the thing to brighten up a cold winter day, a sort of "Frosty the Snowman" festival. But this one honors a "Frozen Dead Guy," the most famous "resident" in the town of Nederland, Colorado.

That's right. The people of Nederland, about 40 miles northwest of Denver, are holding a festival this weekend to honor the town's most famous dead resident -- Bredo Morstoel, who died in his native Norway in 1989.

His devoted grandson Trygve Bauge shipped the body to Colorado and preserved it in a makeshift cryogenics laboratory in a shed in his backyard for a day in the future when granddad could be thawed and brought back to life.

But Bauge, who had never bothered to become a legal U.S. resident, was eventually deported and soon town leaders learned of the odd preservation. They quickly passed a law preventing anyone else from freezing a dead body.

Morstoel was of course "grandfathered" under the law and his remains have not been disturbed.

"He's still there. Things are still going well for him," state lawmaker Tom Plant of Nederland told colleagues as he proposed proclaiming Saturday "Frozen Dead Guy Day." But he was turned down cold by the legislature.

That won't stop the festival, which features a coffin race, according to Teresa Warren president-elect of the Nederland Area Chamber of Commerce (news - web sites).

"We needed a winter festival," she said. "It's an opportunity to laugh at ourselves." Nederland is near Eldora Ski Resort and local businesses have been trying to figure out a way to get skiers to stop and spend a little money in town instead of just passing through, she said.

Besides the coffin race the town will offer a tour of the shed where grandpa is still being preserved at minus 109 F.

There will also be a pancake breakfast and a "grandpa look-alike contest."

And it's definitely a posh affair. At the Grandpa Ball, Chip and the Chowderheads will be the featured entertainment.

A portion of the proceeds will go toward keeping Moerstel's body frozen, Warren said.