Tucked away amid Vermont’s snow-covered landscapes, whispering through the trees is a secret as old as the hills themselves. Historians have been baffled by this narrative, and those who venture into its depths find their bones chilled.
Not only a tale from folklore’s archives, the tale of Vermont’s Frozen Hill Inhabitants is a mysterious riddle that begs the inquisitive to solve.
Come along as we dissect this wintry mystery and uncover the survival secrets that have been lying dormant in the cold, only to thaw and emerge when the glow of exploration thrashes them open.
A Cold History of Vermont’s folklore
A terrifying myth that has become ingrained in Vermont’s past can be found in the icy crevices of legend. Goosebumps have been left in its wake as the legend of Vermont’s Frozen Hill People has been passed down through the decades.
December 21, 1887, saw the story go public for the first time after a horrifying description from an Uncle William’s diary was published in the Montpelier Argus and Patriot.
The text described a period in American history when the Polar Vortex held sway over the country, and the people of Vermont persevered through the harsh winters with a determination as strong as the earth beneath their feet.
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Staying Alive in the Snow
In the story, a poor family of hill farmers, cut off from the outside world and struggling with the unforgiving weather, discovered that their food supply was insufficient to see them through the winter.
They had resorted to a grim and unimaginable measure in a desperate attempt to survive: freezing their sick and elderly alive and keeping them in a kind of suspended animation until springtime would thaw and allow them to regain consciousness.
The procedure was as scientific as it was gruesome. To let the gloomy power of the winter’s night to work on the selected family members, they were sedated, disrobing down to a single piece of clothing, and then spread out in the open. Their bodies became as white and still as the surrounding countryside as the moon’s soft light fell over the snow.
The family would uncover the frozen corpses from their coffins filled with straw when spring eventually broke through the winter’s curtain. Then they were immersed in hot hemlock medicine baths, and life sparked back into their limbs as the warmth soaked into their veins.
It was stated that the once-frozen people had sprung to life, healthier than before their protracted sleep, and prepared to help with the spring planting.
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Truth or Tale: What’s the story?
The truth of the legend of Vermont’s Frozen Hill People is still lost in the mists of time, despite being repeated and enhanced over the years.
Some others argue that it’s only an urban legend, a ghost story to pass the long, dark winters telling. Some murmur that the story might have some truth to it, a grim reminder of the lengths people would go to in order to survive.
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To Conclude
A spooky whisper in the chilly mountain air, the legend of Vermont’s Frozen Hill People is still an open mystery.
Whether it is a fanciful campfire yarn or a warning tale of despair, the legend lives on as a tribute to the strength of folklore and the hard realities that Vermonters formerly had to deal with. Regarding the reality?
That could always be a mystery, much like the secrets hidden beneath the winter snow.
