Posted on 01/18/2016 11:46:38 AM PST by Decombobulator
A 70-year-old hermit who has spent her entire life in the Siberian wilderness has been introduced to the 21st century after being airlifted to a hospital for leg pain.
Agafya Lykova was born in the wilderness after her family fled civilization in 1936, The Guardian reported. On Wednesday she called for help using an emergency satellite phone and said she had pain in her leg, according to a release from the Kemerovo regional government.
Lykova's remarkable story first surfaced in the late 1970s after geologists flying overhead discovered her remote family, the Siberian Times reported. When contacted, her family reportedly had no idea World War II had started or ended.
The family of six had relied solely on the land after her father, mother and two oldest siblings fled civilization to escape the Stalinist USSR and religious persecution roughly 80 years ago. The family are "Old Believers," a sect that split off from the Russian Orthodox Church. In the wilderness, Lykova's parents had two more children; Lykova was the youngest of two boys and two girls.
"The Old Believers were being killed because of their beliefs. Children were losing their fathers," she told Vice News during an interview at her home in 2013. "That's when we removed ourselves from materialistic society and stopped any contact with it."
With her father's death in 1988, she became her family's sole survivor. Then last May, her one friend, neighbor and fellow hermit, 77-year-old geologist Yerofei Sedov, died, leaving her entirely alone.
(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.com ...
Never heard someone describing the escape from the USSR government in 1936 as fleeing civilization.
Just about the years of Stalin’s great purges...
Did I miss something?
The family had taken it with them when they fled Communism in 1936.
I watched a documentary about her a while back. Quite the story.
I think the government gave it to her for emergencies after she refused to come out of the forest.
All of Stalin's years were purge years, some more, some less.
In the case of this family, as I recall it, some Komsomol, spotted the family working in a field and opened fire. One of the brothers/uncles was killed. The remainder fled into the wilderness.
Over the years,they moved deeper into the wilderness in order to avoid contact with Red Army deserters, escaped Gulag prisoners, escaped POWs and the Red Army units that periodically made sweeps in search of deserters and escapees.
Circa 1978, a team of Russian geologists discovered the family living about 6K feet up a mountain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM78V0eXa5c
Here’s a documentary on her and her family. They made it to the Siberian wilderness and lived a very primitive life all alone. An amazing story.
They were “discovered” and had been communicating using radios and then sat phones. They did not want to move back to “the world” but they were not Luddites when it came to technology.
It is a fascinating story. I guess it shows that humans can adapt and thrive in the harshest of environments.
Amazing how the 70 yr old 'hermit' know what a satellite phone was and how to operate it?Did I miss something?
The family was rediscovered in the late 1970s.
“Never heard someone describing the escape from the USSR government in 1936 as fleeing civilization.”
It hit me like a ton of bricks too. But consider the source... The Guardian and HuffPost.
The other thing that struck me was them using a satellite phone to call for help. Hardly a stone age implement.
Just noticed this too...
“Then last May, her one friend, neighbor and fellow hermit... “
A community of hermits!
The was a long article a while back telling their story. It was very interesting. The dad, original hermit, watch Stalin’s boys kill his brother. He started running east and didn’t stop.
I wonder how many other people did the same.
Sounds like a good place to dump our drug dealers.
If you stretched out a tape measure a half mile long signifying when the human race started up until now, the last couple inches is when the industrial revolution started.
Of course, the life expectancy was about 35, but still.
yeah, her “neighbor” is probably separated by 40 miles.
I’d like to “Like” her facebook page / S
“But consider the source... The Guardian and HuffPost.”
Surprised they didn’t say “fled Paradise.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.