# Amazing tale of a family outside society **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 30, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-tale-of-a-family-outside-society/648761 "2013-01-30T01:12:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-tale-of-a-family-outside-society/648761/1 "2013-01-30T01:12:42Z")
For over 40 years, [this](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) Russian family lived in a remote area of Siberia with no contact with the outside world. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-tale-of-a-family-outside-society/648761/2 "2013-01-30T01:47:18Z")
By coincidence, I happened to have stumbled upon that article earlier today. Fascinating stuff. (I found it through Neatorama) ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-tale-of-a-family-outside-society/648761/3 "2013-01-30T01:59:12Z")
Very interesting. Thank you so much for posting it. StG ---
**Author:** ![InsomniaMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ad7895/32.png) [@InsomniaMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InsomniaMama)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-tale-of-a-family-outside-society/648761/4 "2013-01-30T03:43:13Z")
I have never felt more suburban. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-tale-of-a-family-outside-society/648761/5 "2013-01-30T10:43:29Z")
Chickapeaski! ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-tale-of-a-family-outside-society/648761/6 "2013-01-30T11:46:18Z")
A beard tax! Now I’ve heard everything! That was fascinating, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-tale-of-a-family-outside-society/648761/7 "2013-01-30T12:33:05Z")
Amazing. ---
**Author:** ![orderfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orderfire/32/10908_2.png) [@orderfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orderfire)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-tale-of-a-family-outside-society/648761/8 "2013-01-30T15:49:13Z")
> [@PandaBear77](#): > > Chickapeaski! Win!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-tale-of-a-family-outside-society/648761/9 "2013-01-30T17:10:28Z")
This was the most interesting part, to me: > [@](#): > > As the Soviet geologists got to know the Lykov family, they realized that they had underestimated their abilities and intelligence. Each family member had a distinct personality; Old Karp was usually delighted by the latest innovations that the scientists brought up from their camp, and though he steadfastly refused to believe that man had set foot on the moon, he adapted swiftly to the idea of satellites. The Lykovs had noticed them as early as the 1950s, when “the stars began to go quickly across the sky,” and Karp himself conceived a theory to explain this: “People have thought something up and are sending out fires that are very like stars.” To have figured that out by himself! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-tale-of-a-family-outside-society/648761/10 "2013-01-30T19:03:38Z")
I’m stunned after reading that article. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-tale-of-a-family-outside-society/648761/11 "2013-01-30T19:30:56Z")
"he adapted swiftly to the idea of satellites. The Lykovs had noticed them as early as the 1950s, when “the stars began to go quickly across the sky,” and Karp himself conceived a theory to explain this: “People have thought something up and are sending out fires that are very like stars” For some reason that brought a tearful joy to my eye… ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-tale-of-a-family-outside-society/648761/12 "2013-01-30T19:31:05Z")
Incredible. The picture of their cabin with the long slightly sloping roof reminds me of the cabin built in the movie Jeremiah Johnson. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-tale-of-a-family-outside-society/648761/13 "2013-01-30T22:54:58Z")
That was incredible. I wonder whatever happened to Agafia? I did a quick google but couldn’t find any later stories on how she is doing now…the article doesn’t make it clear when anyone in the “outside world” last had contact with her. Seems like 1988? Could she really still be alive after 25 years of living alone in such incredibly harsh conditions? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-tale-of-a-family-outside-society/648761/14 "2013-01-31T03:56:27Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > That was incredible. I wonder whatever happened to Agafia? I did a quick google but couldn’t find any later stories on how she is doing now…the article doesn’t make it clear when anyone in the “outside world” last had contact with her. Seems like 1988? Could she really still be alive after 25 years of living alone in such incredibly harsh conditions? According to everything I can find online, yes, Agafya is still alive and still living alone in her cabin in the Tiaga. [ > [@](#): > > Agafya, although left alone, keeps living the life she is accustomed to, surviving off agriculture and fishing. She greets every day with a prayer and goes to sleep with one. However, her everyday life is exhausting. She is surrounded by wolves in winter and bears in summer. Agafya has refused to move to civilization or receive a pension, spending her time on household chores and prayers. Local authorities take care of the hermit bringing her firewood, foodstuffs and chickens and organizing volunteer trips to help her run the house and garden. ]([http://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/entertainment/the-lykovs/](http://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/entertainment/the-lykovs/)) The thing is, “local” means “about 150 miles away”. See also: [Stranniki: Agafia Lykov is Still Alive in the Taiga](http://stranniki.blogspot.com/2009/08/agafia-lykov-is-still-in-taiga.html) That’s from 2009, but I did manage to find this from 2011: [http://rpsc.ru/news/regional/obrashchenie-agafi-likovoj](http://rpsc.ru/news/regional/obrashchenie-agafi-likovoj) Apparently she wrote a letter to a newspaper in Moscow: [ > [@](#): > > An Appeal from Agafea Lykova > February 10, 2011 > > The Metropolitan of Moscow received a letter from Agafea Lykov, an Old Believer living in the taiga. This recluse asks similar-minded people who have the ability and desire to leave the world and come to help her with her house and farm. Just over a year ago, another such request was posted on the archdiocese website. > > Those willing to help Agafia Lykova, please contact by phone: > 8-909-508-82-11 > Utkin, Aleksey > (Altai Republic, the district Turochak village, st. Sadovaya, 6 kv.2) > > Here are some lines from the letter: > > "I bow to you before the damp earth, and I wish you from God good health, salvation and well-being, especially for those who [offer] rescue and welfare, and so be saved by the LORD God in the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and paternal church [protected] until the end of this age from all divisions, heresies and foes … " > > “With a great big bow to request of all: I need a man as an assistant, one whom I will not survive, [who] lives so not good, with weeks of being alone. Do not leave me for Christ’s sake. Have mercy upon a wretched orphan, who is in trouble [and] suffering.” > > “… People here [you] have a true Believer, the faith of Christ Believer, and people here I need firewood to cook, to mow the hay \<…\> I have weakened health and forces.” ]([Appeal from Agafia Lykova of LOST IN THE TAIGA - The Byzantine Forum](http://www.byzcath.org/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/363063/Appeal%20from%20Agafia%20Lykova%20of%20L)) The link in the OP has a link at the bottom to a Russian documentary which some awesome person has broken into 3 parts and posted on youtube, btw. To save y’all a click or two, here it is: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyQIGgeeYno](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyQIGgeeYno) ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-tale-of-a-family-outside-society/648761/15 "2013-01-31T04:51:49Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > That was incredible. I wonder whatever happened to Agafia? I did a quick google but couldn’t find any later stories on how she is doing now…the article doesn’t make it clear when anyone in the “outside world” last had contact with her. Seems like 1988? Could she really still be alive after 25 years of living alone in such incredibly harsh conditions? [This article](http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=10234) seems to be from last week, and has her still living at that remote homestead, alone, though having received some supplies and occasional visits from the outside world. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-tale-of-a-family-outside-society/648761/16 "2013-01-31T04:59:44Z")
> [@PandaBear77](#): > > Chickapeaski! I had a different reaction – “Squealski like a pigski!”